Thank God It's Over

I never want to go through another ct scan again! The ct scan itself wasn't that bad, but the preparation, the nervousness and the crap i dealt with afterwards was for the birds. When I woke up yesterday morning, my stomach was already doing flip flops. By the time I got to the hospital, my hands were shaking so much that I couldn't sign my name legibly and I thought I was going to pass out. I made it through registration though and they took me back to radiology to wait. I kept telling my mom that I hoped it took forever to call me back, but unfortunately they called me so fast I didn't even have time to get comfortable. Dang, don't they know people are supposed to WAIT in a hospital? Geez!

They took me into this big room with several different curtained areas, each containing a hospital bed. The told me to go into one where I had to get into a gown and then they started on the blood work. That was NOT fun. Even though I'd drank enough water to replenish an entire lake the day before, it seemed, apparantly I was still dehydrated and every time they'd find a vein to put my IV in, it would collapse. Lucky me now has exactly 11 little holes with 11 not so little bruises in her arms!

When they finally got the IV in, the nurse took my blood pressure. I was so nervous and worked up at the point, my bp read something like 166/85! The nurse kept asking me if I had high blood pressure and I kept telling her that normally I don't. It didn't sink in to her what I was saying though. When the doctor that was going to do the myleogram came in though, he realized that I was pretty nervous and he offered to give me some good drugs to calm me down. NOW, we're talking :)

Once they gave me the feel good drugs, I didn't have a care in the world. I didn't feel them insert the needle into my back for the dye, I didn't feel them flip me over onto a different table to wheel me into the ct lab, I didn't even care when they went to take me to x-ray and my IV tube got caught between the gurney and was just about ripped out when they transferred me from it to another one. Nope, didn't care at all.

After all that fun stuff was finished, I got to lay flat on my back for 2 hours. They were nice enough to feed me lunch, but that was a real pain to do laying flat on my back. Mom helped though so I managed to get some food into my rumbling stomach. All this time, the nurses kept checking on me to see how I was feeling. I told them the only problem I had was a bit of nausea. Not a problem, they said, it would wear off. Okie dokie.

I laid there for 2 hours pretty much staring at the ceiling. They had tvs in the room, but I couldn't see the darn things in the position I was laying. I tried to sleep, but every time I closed my eyes the bed would start spinning so I kept them open. When the two hours were almost up, the doctor who did the myleogram came in and said that to him it looked like i do indeed have a disk problem, but he wouldn't go into detail because that "isn't his area of expertise". But, at least now I know that I don't have some big tumor or a alien being growing in my tailbone.

After the 2 hours were up, mom and I started the drive home. I thank God for my mom every day, but yesterday I thanked him doubly. If it weren't for her, I don't think I'd have made it home. The nausea got the best of me about halfway and I ended up getting sick. Not fun, but mom had came prepared. She knew from past and personal experience that vomit was a huge possibility after any type of stay in the hospital and had stocked her car with a big bucket, wet wipes, breath mints and bottled water. She was never a girl scout when she was younger, but she rocked the "Be Prepared" motto that day.

I finally made it home and was so thankful to get into my own bed. Drs. orders were to stay in bed the remainder of the day and believe me, I was very happy to comply. I think I slept longer yesterday then I have since I was a baby. I didn't even hear my husband come to bed that night. I was dead to the world.

When I woke up this morning, however, I was sore. Not just sore at the injection sight, but sore all over, like I'd been hit by a truck. My arms hurt, my back hurt, my sides and my legs hurt. I just felt like crapola! When the nurse called from the hospital this morning to check in on me, she could tell by the tone of my voice that I wasn't feeling right. I told her what was going on and she said that was probably just from laying around all day yesterday, but to keep an eye on it and if I got worse to call back. Thankfully, I'm feeling much better now. I am still sore and I am still moving slow, but I'm almost back to normal....well, as normal as I can get anyway.

Now the waiting begins. I hope that someone cancels at the neurologist so that I can get in sooner then July 24, BUT I'm also dreading that appointment because I know that the possibility of surgery could come up. But, I will just go with it when it happens. i can't change the results so why worry about them now, right?