So my mom drives me to the ER, the wait wasn't too awful long I guess but then I was pretty out of it for a time so I guess my memory's a bit off. :-/ The last flare-up I had sent me to the ER too, because urgent care said they couldn't help me. They hooked me up with an IV because I was dehydrated and had some kidney involvement to the flare up. They did an EKG because of my fast heart rate (average of 130), and when the IV was done, they gave me a script for a z-pack and a course of prednisone and sent me home. That was the first time (that I'm aware of anyway...) that I've had any kind of organ involvement with my MCTD. Its kinda scary to think that something so important can be affected so easily and how fast things can go downhill.
I was really hoping that this time would be like the last. Yes, my symptoms were more intense, I had ridiculous swelling of my legs, feet and hands, and I hurt so bad EVERYWHERE, that I could barely move, and when I attempted it I think I even whimpered a little. Drinking water made me feel nauseous (I even threw up a few times, which is totally not normal for me) and the only thing I could keep down was tea, and I thought I was drinking a lot. Turns out, not so much. When I got in to see the Dr, I was somewhat encouraged by the fact that she was at least familiar with my disease! That almost never happens! Turns out, she's the sister of one of the other Dr's in my Rhuematologist's office. She ran a few tests, we discussed my symptoms and how I was feeling, etc. When the tests came back, we were all shocked at my kidney issues. Can't remember what the levels were, but they were desperately low. My mom said the only time she's ever seen anything worse was from dialysis patients, which-you know- is encouraging...(insert sarcasm here).
I was also having sharp pains when taking deep breaths, so I was breathing with short slow breaths to keep from pain and coughing. I think this is when I got sent for chest xray #1, but again, I'm a bit foggy on the details. I also had a lovely visit from respiratory during which they made me do a breathing treatment that tasted like crap and made me cough but produced nothing, fun thing was, couldn't really stop coughing after, awesome!
Some time later someone came back in and informed us that I was not going home, but that they were admitting me. Fantastic....
So this sucketh exceedingly (not to wax scriptural or anything...). Are you still there? Update?! You can e-mail me...or twitter me...but if I don't hear, I'm going to stalk you till I do.
ReplyDeleteCharly
you weren't kidding about the stalking...lol! :) Sorry to worry you. No this happened back in April (already twittered you about it, but thought i'd update the blog a bit. :) ) I really should have put dates in the story...woops! From April 15-21 I was in the hospital. Thought I'd tweeted about it, but apparently only updated facebook...will continue the story soon. It was a long time, so a multi-post story... Thanks for the concern!
ReplyDeleteOK--so I'll quit worrying! For now. I did tell you my Dad's family is Jewish, right?! Worry, guilt. It's genetic.
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog via Charly's. I appreciate you blogging about your MCTD journey. My 9 year old has MCTD with Dermatomyositis, arthritis, Scleroderma features, Raynaud's and asthma. (I'm hoping it stays asthma.) MCTD sucks, but we can help raise awareness & help people.
ReplyDeleteI would love to hear the rest of your ER story. I'll be looking for your next update.
Oh, and because of ignorance in the medical community and the general public relating to MCTD, I copied some facts from different websites and printed them out. I keep them with me at all times now. I credit the sources so people can refer back if they choose, but this way the docs don't freak when her white blood cell counts come up low, or her liver enzymes are elevated. And then I don't hear about how we're so lucky that it isn't leukemia. (Which she would likely already have been in complete remission from if it were.)
ReplyDelete