GodsGirl : Monnie > journals > reading "FML"
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So, in the last few weeks I've had a virus, the flu, which then turned into bronchitis. I was taking more codeine than a pharmacy could even stock. My fever went down and my cough was starting to get better, then I woke up at 3:30am yesterday morning with the most extreme stomach pain, above my belly button. It wasn't an abdominal pain, it was like a hunger pain. I felt like I hadn't eaten anything in a year. I even got the wanting to vomit thing. So I had a cookie, thinking it would settle my stomach. Half an hour later, the pain was still the same and I still wanted to puke, so I went to the bathroom and made myself puke. Again, nothing. So I sat in bed, reading up on what a stomach ache could be caused by and how I could get rid of the pain. All I found was stuff saying it was probably gas or constipation and I knew it wasn't, so I called this healthline we have here. They have nurses that ask you things and tell you where to go from there. I was told to go straight to the emergency room. This was 3 hours later at 6am so you can image I'd have been in enough pain to just go for it (yay for ambulance cover).
At around 6:30 I got to the hospital, got looked at by a few nurses, one of whom had a sleeve, so that occupied me. One of them told me it could be withdrawl symptoms, one of them told me it was probably constipation from the codeine. Idiots. About half an hour after that, I finally got taken through to the emergency ward when a bed became available. I wasn't seen by a doctor until 10am. I was in that fucking hospital bed, in extreme agony, for 4 hours before I was seen by a doctor. It gets worse. The doctor was AMAZING. He listened to me and looked at things based on what I said. He didn't suggest the stupid things I'd already said it definitely wasn't. He said he thought it was acute gastritis caused by an infection in my stomach lining (because the only other 2 causes are excessive alcohol consumption and long term use of ibuprofen, and we all know I don't drink and I've taken one packet of Nurofen in my whole life) and he'd order a blood test to make sure. In the meantime, he gave me a tablet to take. The first nurse that came in and took my blood had a lot of trouble. I mean, I warned him that my blood comes out slowly but he couldn't even find the vein. He moved the needle around in there for 5 minutes. The my nurse, the one who'd been looking after me all day, came in and he tried in the other arm. Same deal. Third time lucky thank fuck but they only got 4ml of blood. It was only just enough to test, but the tests came back positive for acute gastritis. This basically means I have ulcers in my stomach and I can't take painkillers to get rid of the pain. It also means I can't drink on my 21st, but that doesn't really bother me too much.
Mum and I were in the same hospital and we were discharged at the same time. We also got a free cab home. Since I was a little kid, mum's always saved the little packets of food they give you in hospital and brought them home to me. I don't know why, but I love them. Something about the freshness and convenience I guess. Mum's been in there for a week. I have enough butter, strawberry jam, apricot jam, coffee, sugar and milk to last a month lol.
Anyway, like any internet savvy gal, I took pics.
Viewing 21 comments on this page
Monnie
Hopefully this is the last of it :)
Martini07
I hope so too
wychlea
Aaw, I'm sorry! You get big hugs today! You better have as much fun on your birthday as humanly possible! : )
<3
iacchius
Thats awful, I hope you get to feeling better very soon. On a happier note, I dig the zelda tattoo. I have link on my side with cloud and manny calavera. I'll take a picture later and post it, maybe it'll make ya feel better =)
Monnie
Hehe it's going to be a whole sleeve. I have the Deku Tree and Link and Zelda on the top part of my arm ;) I heaps want to see your link, you have to take a pic for me!
Monnie
Oh that looks awesome! The colours are perfect!
thebeat
One of them told me it could be withdrawl symptoms, one of them told me it was probably constipation from the codeine. Idiots
nurses don't diagnose, they treat after a doctor's diagnosis (and most of the time keep the doctors from killing you when they're diagnosis turns out to be wrong. it happens). they were merely speculating based on symptoms, they're not idiots for doing so. I'm glad one of them had a sleeve though! I'm always a bit nervous being a nursing student with tattoos but i guess it just depends on the ward you work in whether or not it even matters.
Anyway, i hope your health is restored soon :)
Monnie
If nurses don't diagnose, they shouldn't be saying anything until you're seen by the doctor >.<
thebeat
Nurses give what's called a "possible diagnosis" whereby they give a standardized statement about the health of a client for the purpose of providing care. Nursing diagnoses are developed based on data obtained during the nursing assessment which they will then pass on to a doctor. Obviously they can't tell by looking at you that you had gastritis, and more often than not, those in the ER which stomach problems who have been taking unregulated amounts of codeine, are there because they have a dependency to it.
Monnie
Well yes but you don't get a dependency after a week...
totaltech
We (as in, yes, sigh, the ex and I. It's like I didn't do anything before we met, honestly) have had problems with more or less the full spectrum of the medical profession in the US and the UK basically treating her, and usually by extension. me, like a crack addict. Or retards. And of course it only gets worse when she, in extreme agony starts wailing for something, anything to fix the problem. "That's your stereotypical crack addict response right there."
While I'm sure most of the time it's a pretty safe bet one or the other is true, and I understand the reasons behind doing making generalised calculations on what is likely to be wrong with you, it doesn't make it any less FUCKING ANNOYING when you're sat there and they're all Dr House on your ass. (Everybody lies.)
So in that respect, you have my sincere sympathies. Being the partner stuck in the middle between a wailing girlfriend and a suspicious as fuck nursing staff isn't much fun either.
thebeat
oh i wasn't saying you were in any such situation, merely justifying their suspicious diagnosis due to the fact that unfortunately, a few bad eggs spoil the hospital "experience" for everyone in that regard. It sucks, but it's the world we live in.
Micah
omg you're shirt rocks. Though hospitals do not, especially all those people who like to dig needles in you *shudder*
Worse feeling ever. They don't even give a shit their. Makes me want to kick their teeth in.
Denali
Oh lady....I hope that you end up feeling better. Thats awful to hear about your ulcers but eventually they will go away right? At least you have an excuse to lay on the couch & eat chocolate while surfing the internet for hours on end ;)
Monnie
I ended up back in hospital again last night and they said I have to stop eating! No chocolate for me :(
Denali
Oh lady!!! I'm so sorry, well lets look on the bright side. You'll lose some weight? :D
Denali
Not that you needed too or anything, I totally reread the comment & was like, uh-oh. That came off sounding bitchy. haha. Just thinking of what I would be thinking if it happened to me.
Monnie
Haha no, when the doctor said to me that I had to stop eating, I had to stop myself from jumping in midair and cheering. That's actually the best part about all this :P
BradSabbath
Good to the health system occasionally works (well at least in the case of the Doctor)
Get better soon, and i'm sure you 21st will be still great, even without alcohol ...
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=( hope that you get better *hugs*