Return to ER (I should be a very boring television series)...

Well, last night I started to experience more pain in my lower back. I thought I had a UTI all last week and was just finishing my antibiotics so I was very frustrated to noticed increased urinary frequency and pain as well. I figured perhaps i had a kidney infection and as the pain did not seem to be getting better, I finally decided I needed to return to the emergency room. as i had my 30 minute drive there, initially I began to feel kind of stupid as the pain was not so bad. I figured, i jumped the gun and perhaps this pain did not warrant an Emergency Room. before the drive was over, my pain began to increase and I realized I had probably made the right decision.

By the time I reached the triage area, I was starting to have difficulty talking but somehow provided my info and was pretty quickly placed in a room. Fast forward to 5 hours later...

The end result is that although the doctor was kind of a jerk at first and assured me the pain I was feeling could not be kidney pain but must be joint pain, my urinalysis (which took 3 plus hours to get the results) showed some blood, so they finally believed I did not have joint pain. Unfortunately, I did not have a UTI either. One CT scan later, and I had my confirmation...kidney stones, 3 of them to be exact. I have one in each kidney, and one little darling (well big for kidney stones) in the tube between my kidney and bladder. The pain again had improved after a 5 hour visit in the ER, so I was sent home with some new meds and a referral to urology.

Today, they actually called me and I have a urology appointment for tomorrow morning to hear what happens next (other than waiting and pain!).

Update...

I guess I passed a kidney stone! Okay, I might have to agree it was almost as painful as childbirth. This was an 8/10 on the pain scale but I still have to give childbirth a 10/10! All I can say today is please let it have been passed and may it be the last one ever.

I am awaiting test results, but they may or may not confirm anything. I really need a day off of work to recover from all of my medical ailments these past few weeks, but alas, I am here at work.

Wow what a crappy day...

Okay, it started out okay. Carlos had to come over to the Valley to meet with tax person about his mom's taxes and I had a light load today so I met him for lunch. But after getting back to the office, I noticed I had a sharp pain in my back, low and to the left just over my butt. It escalated and eventually I felt nauseated and vomited. I still had to see a patient and the pain just kept increasing. I no longer felt I could drive or even walk so good. Urgent care was not open yet so I finally felt bad enough I walked over to Emergency. While checking in I vomited yet again (lucky me made it to the bathroom in time). I then sat for over an hour to see the triage nurse. The pain was horrible, I could hardly sit still. I had the chills. Then it began to ease just in time for triage! The nurse advised me not a good day to be in Emergency and I was in for many hours wait! And I was still feeling better, no more vomiting, nausea, pain much improved. Thank God, but crap, what to do? I called appointment center but no openings with my doctor until 4/11. But I still did not want to wait in Emergency all night when my symptoms had improved. I told nurse I was going to leave and he mentioned I might have passed kidney stone.

I still don't know what to do. I emailed my doctor and we will have to see what he says, and if pain ever returns, I guess. I do feel kind of gassy and was thinking it was a reaction to lunch, but never felt sharp pain in low back before. It felt nothing like heart burn really. It did not really feel like when my gallbladder had to be removed. The pain was actually much worse this time and in different location. With my gallbladder, I could not even really identify location and I did think it was heartburn.

I need to try to move on and hope it never happens again. Wow, is this karma? Is someone trying to help me have even more empathy for my patients with pain? It sure seems like a week full of medical issues.

Ankle Update

I made my way into work today with my ace-wrapped ankle and my crutches and decided I did not feel the medical advice I was given was sufficient to last me 4 to 6 weeks! Walking from parking lot to the office on crutches took forever and the little ace wrap did not seem sufficient to protect me from further injury when i was trucking all over a huge hospital. After my first patient, I checked myself into the walk-in clinic and talked to the doctor on call. He was much more informative. Apparently, I probably tore a couple of my tendons on my ankle (I was advised we have 3 main tendons there.). I really will take 4 to 6 weeks to heal at the minimum and I will be wearing an ankle brace for quite a while, especially if I plan to keep hiking! He said the key to healing a sprain appropriately was to keep ankle at a right angle and avoid future twisting. So I got fitted into a "boot" to keep my ankle fixed in place. This did seem to help me walk a bit without the crutches and once it does not hurt to walk, I can lose the crutches. However, the boot is the biggest darn thing I have seen! It looks like it was made for Big Foot. I hate it but I hate the crutches more and hope it allows me to dump the crutches in a few days.

Rotator Cuff Tendonitis

Well, I am not sure if I mentioned I have had some shoulder pain for months now. Actually, my left arm started hurting in October and i was convinced it was because of my flu shot!! My doctor finally convinced me that it was more likely due to my shoulder and I began to realize that it was quite possible I injured my shoulder while doing the boot camp.

Which makes me wonder if i have ever posted about boot camp? I started boot camp back in February 2007. I had always wanted someone to kick my butt and make me exercise and get in shape. I did like it for a while. By 6:30 every morning I had already completed an hour workout, sometimes even climbing a mountain before I even made it in to work. I felt powerful. The downside was that it was very black and white. Every person was expected to do the same workout and I felt compelled to do things that ultimately were not so great for my body. My knees began to hurt. I had shin splints for several weeks and I am fairly certain using the weights and doing military push-ups are what injured my shoulder! The other downside was that even though I spent about 8 months working out 5 hours a week with heavy cardio, weights, etc., I never lost a single pound!!!! I only gained weight. Ugh. I know that is not the main point, but who wants to work their ass off and be fatter than when you started!

Okay, anyway, the reason this is relevant today is that I finally had my ortho consult today. The doctor was very nice. He x-rayed my shoulder and he confirmed I have rotator cuff tendonitis. The good news is there is no arthritis and no tear, but it just needs to heal more and if it does not they can try another cortisone shot. He also ordered no more boot camp and stated he had three new patients this week thanks to various boot camps!