It was my own fault.
Last night at 8:45…I’m teaching and I get this sudden pain. Just like a few days ago. It’s in my chest, feels like a heart attack, but I’m guessing it’s gallstones. I had my first gallstone attack 18 months ago. Blue light job to the hospital, ECG…blah, blah.
On my….the pain is excruciating. I can stand up, I’m white and sweaty. I think I’m going to pass out. I manage to get to the end of the lesson and quickly hurry parent and student away.
Oh the pain…..the pain…I can’t stand it. It’s worse that labour. DH wants to call 999. I want to pretend it’s not happening. It will pass. I can’t…it’s not passing. He phones work (works nights) and asks for a night off holiday.
My gawd….the pain (I’ve said that before haven’t I!
)
We decide that he will take me to A & E. No idea how I managed to walk to the car. I feel boneless. My body is like jelly. Have I been stabbed? What’s going on. I can’t talk….I can’t breathe. I try taking deep breaths, but there isn’t room in my chest.
Outside A&E. What should I do? I can’t get out of the car. I hate the attention I might bring to myself, but there’s no alternative. DH must go into the hospital and panic. This could indeed be a heart attack? I imagine doctors, paramedics…anyone... Rushing out with stretcher and resuscitation equipment, along with some morphine. Oh please…give me some morphine. Make the pain go away.
Instead he appears with a wheelchair. I get in, but can’t stay. I walk with his support. We get to reception and wait for the lady to come off the phone. Hey! I could be dying!!
“Chest pains….help!! OMG help me” She asks my age and makes another call. I’m then told to ‘follow the red triangles (down the corridor…first to the right, then the left….5 miles later….”)
Don’t they understand? This doesn’t happen on the television? Chest pains…isn’t that sort of an emergency? I get to the next reception. OMG, the pain….the pain….I can’t stand it…I’m going to pass out. What shall I do, shall I scream and make a fuss. Please somebody help. I’m clinging hold of DH trying to stay upright.
They send me to a room and ‘sticker me’. Attach me to an ECG thingy and go away again. They come back some time later to ask me to stay still. They don’t understand. I’m writhing on the bed. I need pain relief. Eventually they come and give me morphine. Okay…I admit, I’m shocked. By now, I’ve been in agony for about 1 hour. I’ve been in the hospital for 30 minutes and eventually, they’ve started asking questions. Where’s the pain? Have you a history of heart disease?
Still. Within seconds, the morphine is working. I’m feeling slightly drunk and nauseous. The pain is in gentle waves. They leave me there for another hour and return again to check the ECG.
I express concern. Will I have to stay overnight? I want to go home. I have no more pain…must I stay. They say “yes”. I want to go home. I want to pretend none of this has happened.
I send DH home and manage to doze on and off despite the bright light shining in my eyes and the noise of people coming in and out, the doctor dressing the man next door “shall we put your trousers on next?”, “Where did you put your socks?”. I’m drifting. I’m taken for chest xrays and returned to my ‘bed’.
2:45am and the doctor comes back. My heart is fine. My blood tests are fine. I feel a fraud. It’s okay…she understands…she tells me that gallstone pain can be dreadful. Phew.
She asks me about my diet…as in, what I’ve been eating. Damn. Just when I can’t proudly recite off a healthy fare. Typical. Instead I tell her my guilty secret in numbers. 2,600 calories, 52% fat, 17% protein, 31% carbs. She must think I have a serious problem here. Not by the excess food, but my ability to analyse it in percentages. Scary
She explains that if the body is used to eating healthy food, and you increase the fat levels (I usually keep it at about 30%), the gallbladder will suddenly do x to get rid of xx..something with the bile…something..something.
She suggests I go back to eating healthily She tells me to try and get some sleep. I can go home in the morning. I don’t understand. It’s morning now. 2:45am. Can’t I go home now? Okay….she phones DH and he comes to collect me.
Get home at 3:15am. All is well. Covered in little sticky tabs from chest to ankles. Wearing a bracelet with my name spelt wrong, but I’m home, pain free, though still a bit spaced out.
Last night at 8:45…I’m teaching and I get this sudden pain. Just like a few days ago. It’s in my chest, feels like a heart attack, but I’m guessing it’s gallstones. I had my first gallstone attack 18 months ago. Blue light job to the hospital, ECG…blah, blah.
On my….the pain is excruciating. I can stand up, I’m white and sweaty. I think I’m going to pass out. I manage to get to the end of the lesson and quickly hurry parent and student away.
Oh the pain…..the pain…I can’t stand it. It’s worse that labour. DH wants to call 999. I want to pretend it’s not happening. It will pass. I can’t…it’s not passing. He phones work (works nights) and asks for a night off holiday.
My gawd….the pain (I’ve said that before haven’t I!
)We decide that he will take me to A & E. No idea how I managed to walk to the car. I feel boneless. My body is like jelly. Have I been stabbed? What’s going on. I can’t talk….I can’t breathe. I try taking deep breaths, but there isn’t room in my chest.
Outside A&E. What should I do? I can’t get out of the car. I hate the attention I might bring to myself, but there’s no alternative. DH must go into the hospital and panic. This could indeed be a heart attack? I imagine doctors, paramedics…anyone... Rushing out with stretcher and resuscitation equipment, along with some morphine. Oh please…give me some morphine. Make the pain go away.
Instead he appears with a wheelchair. I get in, but can’t stay. I walk with his support. We get to reception and wait for the lady to come off the phone. Hey! I could be dying!!
“Chest pains….help!! OMG help me” She asks my age and makes another call. I’m then told to ‘follow the red triangles (down the corridor…first to the right, then the left….5 miles later….”)
Don’t they understand?
This doesn’t happen on the television? Chest pains…isn’t that sort of an emergency? I get to the next reception. OMG, the pain….the pain….I can’t stand it…I’m going to pass out. What shall I do, shall I scream and make a fuss. Please somebody help. I’m clinging hold of DH trying to stay upright.They send me to a room and ‘sticker me’. Attach me to an ECG thingy and go away again. They come back some time later to ask me to stay still. They don’t understand. I’m writhing on the bed. I need pain relief. Eventually they come and give me morphine. Okay…I admit, I’m shocked. By now, I’ve been in agony for about 1 hour. I’ve been in the hospital for 30 minutes and eventually, they’ve started asking questions. Where’s the pain? Have you a history of heart disease?
Still. Within seconds, the morphine is working. I’m feeling slightly drunk and nauseous. The pain is in gentle waves. They leave me there for another hour and return again to check the ECG.
I express concern. Will I have to stay overnight? I want to go home. I have no more pain…must I stay. They say “yes”. I want to go home. I want to pretend none of this has happened.
I send DH home and manage to doze on and off despite the bright light shining in my eyes and the noise of people coming in and out, the doctor dressing the man next door “shall we put your trousers on next?”, “Where did you put your socks?”. I’m drifting. I’m taken for chest xrays and returned to my ‘bed’.
2:45am and the doctor comes back. My heart is fine. My blood tests are fine. I feel a fraud. It’s okay…she understands…she tells me that gallstone pain can be dreadful. Phew.
She asks me about my diet…as in, what I’ve been eating. Damn. Just when I can’t proudly recite off a healthy fare. Typical. Instead I tell her my guilty secret in numbers. 2,600 calories, 52% fat, 17% protein, 31% carbs. She must think I have a serious problem here. Not by the excess food, but my ability to analyse it in percentages. Scary
She explains that if the body is used to eating healthy food, and you increase the fat levels (I usually keep it at about 30%), the gallbladder will suddenly do x to get rid of xx..something with the bile…something..something.
She suggests I go back to eating healthily
She tells me to try and get some sleep. I can go home in the morning. I don’t understand. It’s morning now. 2:45am. Can’t I go home now? Okay….she phones DH and he comes to collect me.Get home at 3:15am. All is well. Covered in little sticky tabs from chest to ankles. Wearing a bracelet with my name spelt wrong, but I’m home, pain free, though still a bit spaced out.
