In the Hospital

Well, folks, I'm in the hospital. Ugh! This has been a horrible experience so far, but not because of any of the hospital staff. Everyone has been very kind and caring. Unfortunately, my body is my biggest enemy here.

I came to the ER yesterday because of chest pains and got admitted for 24-hour observation, but I have a bad feeling that I'm going to be here longer than that. They tried to do a cat scan with contrast dye, but my veins did not cooperate. It took FOREVER and 6 tries before they got an IV started that had any chance of working, and then it didn't. As soon as the dye started going it, it burst, and my arm got filled up with that fluid. To say it was painful is putting it mildly.

Including every IV attempt, all shots, and every time blood has been drawn, I've been stuck over 10 times in about 17 hours. Did I mention that I hate needles? Well, I do, and this experience has been very traumatic!!

The initial blood work showed only a couple irregularities. One test, which can indicate a potential blood clot, came back slightly elevated. The doctor didn't seem to think that I have one, but he has to rule it out. Also, my digoxin levels are low. (Digoxin is the medicine I take every day for my heart.) Other than that, everything seemed to look normal.

Today, they are going to do a different test that doesn't require dye to be injected so forcibly. If it doesn't work, they'll try something else tomorrow. If it does work and doesn't indicate a blood clot, they will do some cardiac tests tomorrow, starting with a stress test. (At least, I think that's what I understood them to say. Right now, I'm just a little out of it.)

I was going to add a couple pictures to this post, but for some reason, I can't get into photobucket today. Anyway, it's probably better that I didn't. The one with my arm all swelled up with that fluid is pretty gruesome.