Visit to the ER

It was to my surprise to learn that I dislocated an arm at just a few years old. I have no memory of it whatsoever. My mother says that she took me to the doctor, and all I did was flinch a bit when he reset it. No tears.

So when it was all I could do to hold back tears while trying to breathe last Thursday night, Mom figured something was probably not quite right. My usually-high tolerance for pain was being stretched. Each inhale brought a knife-stabbing pain in my chest, and I had to resort to breathing very quick, short breaths. My parents decided it was time for a hospital visit, so we all hopped, skipped, jumped, or gasped (in my case) to the car for the ten-minute ride to the hospital.


Perhaps it was judgment for my lack of grace toward my sister's cold earlier in the week. If I have an unusually high tolerance for pain and discomfort, hers is unusually low. Regardless, I had passed the point where I could "suck it up and bear it," yet the entire ride to the emergency room all I could think was, This is ridiculous. I have never needed the hospital and can't believe I have to go right now, and The devil just wants to discourage me from having such a productive, encouraging week! It had been a week full of neat God-moments.

My aunt, a nurse who has worked at our town hospital for many years, was ready and waiting to catch me in a wheelchair at the door when we arrived at the fairly busy ER. She wheeled me to the check-in desk, and I literally sank down into my chair as I saw many pairs of eyes from the waiting room turn to see who was the next unfortunate soul to take up a spot on the waiting list. To my mom I said, "All I want to do right now is crawl into a hole."

Once checked in, we had to wait for my name to be called. I guess patients are seen in order of seriousness of the emergency. And I guess my body decided against my will that it didn't want to wait and was going to do something about it. After several minutes my pain sharpened even more, a nausea came over me. My aunt called for a bucket, but personnel didn't seem to think the need was that urgent. We waited. and my eyes started to lose focus...

and I saw spots....
and a blackness started to cloud my eyes....
and I felt a bit distant from everything...
in fact, for two moments I even felt distanced from the pain....
I wonder what it feels like right before you die...
then,

PUKE!!!!!

Ugh, if I wasn't embarrassed enough already, I threw up all over my lap and the wheelchair. The sudden upchuck reversed the fainting spell I was very much hoping to fall into so I would stop feeling the pain.

Why am I one of those people who vomits in a crowded emergency room? Amazingly enough, a small man appeared with his mop and trash can and practically had it cleaned up before I got it all out. It still would have been easier if I had a bucket in the first place.

Throwing up must have moved me up in line a bit because soon after, I was called back. During the next fews hours I got to experience the embarrassingly thin hospital gown, baked sheets to protect against the cool hospital air, an EKG, a chest X-ray, a shot in the hip, discovered I have a great heart and blood pressure, and finally, that my problem was pneumonia. So much to-do over a lung infection!

The pneumonia put me in bed for over a week, and a visit to the doctor on Wednesday revealed I had a small complication called pleurisy, which just means the lining of my lung has inflammation. He gave me another medicine, and my motivation is slowly returning. Last night was the first time I didn't wake up needing pain meds in the middle of the night... but I did wake up with an odd craving for pretzels, same as the night before. The first five days, my pain significantly curbed my appetite, and I didn't eat much.

Since Wednesday I have eaten three meals each day. When I have an appetite, you can be assured that I am on the mend.

I hopefully will come away from this with a bit more respect for my body's need for rest. If anything, I must never forget throwing up all over myself in the ER, and that will be precaution enough to keep me out of there in the future. I sure hope I never have need to do that again.