Party in the ER

Since leaving the Doc-in-Box that afternoon my side still has not let up on the pain. Phillip and I went out for a planned date at the Stardome comedy club and we went to dinner. I have never laughed so hard and it was such a nice relief to go, relax and laugh for a couple of hours. We got home and headed off to bed. An hour later I woke up with even worse pains in my left side. I thought to myself, "This is just not right." I moaned and groaned, paced around the house, took a bath, sat on the couch and rocked back and forth praying for some relief. I tried to lay back in bed and finally I hopped up, grabbed some clothes from the closet slid on my shoes but did not lace, poked Phillip until he woke up, told him I'm headed to the emergency room, kissed him goodbye and drove as fast as I could to the hospital.

When I got to the emergency room which is only about 10-15 minutes from the house I couldn't find a parking spot it was so packed! Great! I'm going to die right there on the floor of the emergency room. That's not the way I pictured going out. I ran in, grabbed my paper work, tripping over my still unlaced shoes and got to work. I still don't know how the nurse read my handwriting because I'm sure it was unledgeable. So I sat and sat and sat and then sat some more. Then I rocked back and forth and cried and tried to fit in like the other crazies that I was sitting around. If I'm not sick now you better believe I'm leaving here tonight with something much better than I walked in with. As I was sitting there in my chair trying to find some peace I heard this lady yelling, "Sir. Sir? SIR? Can you hear me sir? Wake up! Wake up sir! I turned around and there was a man on the floor passed out. Great! The nurse kept yelling at him and hitting his back. What kind of hospital am I at? You'd think if the man was passed out that she may try and get the 100's of doctor's that are here in a hospital where we are all coming to get help from. Finally the guy started swatting at the lady. He's drunk! Passed out! Great! This stupid guy that had to much to drink is going to get seen before me. This is going to take forever. Atleast he wasn't dying on the floor like I thought he was orginally.

So 3 1/2 hours later I get into a room. They ask me for the 3rd time today if I was pregnant. No. Just a little FYI Doc, just before a girl in their child bearing age shows up at the ER with lower abdomen pain doesn't mean she's pregnant. After telling him NO for the 3rd time he proceeds to tell me that they are going to do a pregnancy test. Whatever dude. If you find amusement in that then so be it. They do a urine sample and hook me up to an IV so get some fluids in me. The nurse first tries to put the IV in my hand and after poking and prodding my vein turns and she can't get it in. Next, my arm. That one wasn't easy either but she got it to stick. Then the X-ray tech comes in and gives me this drink so that she can do a Cat-scan on my abdomen. It was this bitter lemon-lime concoction that I had to choke down so that they can scan me. Little did I know I had to wait 2 hours for this stuff to get in my system. Meanwhile this is like 4:30 in the morning, I haven't slept and I'm clutching my purse because I'm scared that if I do fall asleep someone will steal my purse. Am I crazy or what? Finally at 6:30 am they come to get me for my CAT-scan.

Dr. Tubbs, yes that was the ER doctor's name, walked into my room, looked at me and said, "your fine you can go home." EXCUSE ME? I am not fine. Come again. "You have a 1.8 cm cyst on your ovary. I'll get your papers to discharge you and you can go home. Follow up with your OB/GYN." He walked out of the curtain and I yelled for him to come back. "Are you going to give me some pain medicine?" There's no way I'm leaving this place empty handed, without something good to ease the pain. "Yeah there'll be two prescriptions for you." Not very good bed-side manners sir. The nurse comes back in to remove my IV and send me on my way. On the way out I have to pay my $150 copay and hope that they won't see me back here any time soon.

What I find funny about this diagnosis is that back in November I had a 4.0cm cyst with absolutely no pain. So why would this 1.8cm cyst cause me so much pain? When we do our fertility treatment the optimum follicle size they want to trigger ovulation is between 1.6cm and 1.8cm. This 1.8cm cyst that I have on my ovary would be perfect if I could just ovulate it. Then I could get pregnant on my own and life would be glorious! If only life worked out the way we want it too.

Diagnosis: Ovarian Cyst