The Amazing Shrinking Woman

The T3 I took Thursday when I got home from the hospital knocked me out for a good chunk of Friday. I woke up long enough to call work and tell them I wasn’t going to be able to come in then passed out for another couple hours. I really needed the sleep since I’d gotten almost none the night before and was now in day 3 of constant pain. Pain is tiring after a while but when it’s strong it stops you from being able to escape via sleep which seems uber unfair to me. 😛 lol

I decided to go to the hospital for 5pm because that is when parking gets cheaper lol

I got to the admitting desk, showed them my note from the doctor I saw the previous day saying I needed a CT scan, got a new wristband and was plunked in to a huge chair that lays flat if needed. They thought it would be less painful then a bed. They were wrong lol To be fair though no position was comfy so I don’t think a bed would have been any better pain wise, shrug.

another wristband. least I didn’t have to change in to a gown this time!

Even with the note there was some confusion about the CT scan so I had quite a wait. I took a book with me just in case I was there a long time but couldn’t focus on the words due to how much pain I was in. My brilliant idea turned out to be not so brilliant. Ah well, I tried!

Eventually I ended up getting the CT scan then of course I got brought back to my oversized chair and had to wait for the results. Oh, and I got more blood drawn. From the same arm! Seems a tad cruel if you ask me lol. Goes to show how good the vampires are though, I have no bruises from the needles even though I was poked in the same spot two days in a row. Yay for no bruises!

Left: the maple leafs painted on the ceiling of the CT department. Right: me waiting in my chair

Eventually the doctor came to see me, a different doctor from the night before. The results of the CT scan showed: something in my hip. What the hell is it with these test results?!?! All they can say is there is “something” there *rolls eyes* Not helpful!

The doc had a list of potential things it could be, ranging from bacterial infection to gout to unknown. She doesn’t think infection is likely because I don’t have a fever and the hip isn’t red and/or swollen. Gout is also unlikely cause of my diet (I eat lots of veggies) but that lands us in to the unknown section of the list. The decision was made to send me home with a prescription for strong pain meds that will not make me drowsy so I’ll be able to function and have me wait 24 hours to see if the hip starts to get better on its own. How is this a good decision? *confused face*

This conversation was had at around 10pm which meant I was being sent home, after now being in constant pain for 3 days, with a prescription I wouldn’t be able to fill until the next day because pharmacies are closed and all I could do was wait and see.

I know it makes me a wimp but on the way to my suv I started crying. The idea that they weren’t fixing my hip or even diagnosing it and that I was going to have to deal with that level of pain for at least another day was just too much for me to take. Yeah yeah I know, woe is me right? *rolls eyes*

I took another T3 that night when I went to bed but it wasn’t strong enough to stop me from waking up all through the night from pain, sigh.

Luckily the same friend who insisted on driving me home from the hospital the first night was willing to take my pain med prescription to the pharmacy and get it filled for me, oh, and get me some apple juice lol Hey don’t judge! When I am sick or in pain I want apple juice, it’s how I roll! 😉 The pills cost me $5.05, without my health care coverage they would have cost $25.25.

These pain pills come with strict rules, must must must be taken with food. And not like have a snack and take a pill but have a meal and when halfway done eating the meal take the pill, then continue with the meal. Like I have to sandwich the pill within my stomach between lots of food. Weird.

Because I got the pills late in the day I was only able to take two of the three per day I am supposed to take. They kinda helped but not so much I was able to walk without the crutches. I still had to lift my leg with my hands to be able to get in to bed, or on my living room chair… Oh yeah, I don’t think I mentioned that, the pain is wicked bad but I’ve also lost mobility so getting dressed, taking stairs, getting on to furniture, anything that involves the leg lifting upwards is pain pain pain! and soooo not happening unless I use my hands to lift the leg. I learned early that if I force the thigh muscles to relax it’s much less painful then if I flex the muscles. Don’t know why but whatever I can do to lessen the pain I will do! 🙂

The next step is getting the hip aspirated, which means the hip will be numbed and a big ass needle will be poked in it and it will suck out some of whatever is in my hip so it can be tested and doctors can finally know what is going on in there. They want to wait before doing it because the procedure itself opens my hip up to potential infection and they want to avoid that if possible.

I’m torn at this point on what to do. Today would’ve been the day I go back and get the hip aspirated based on the wait-and-see-if-I-magically-get-better-approach. The pain isn’t as bad anymore but I’m positive that is because of the pills and being able to rest the hip for two days straight, not because whatever is wrong with it is magically getting better on its own. But since the pain is lessened that technically puts me in the category of “not supposed to go back to the hospital”. See the dilemma?

I decided to not go back today based on the lessened pain however, tomorrow I have to go to work so I figure I’ll see how the hip is after I’m done work. If, even on the pills and with the aid of crutches it is in a world-of-pain then I’m gonna go to the hospital right after work and yet again try to get this figured out. Hopefully without the hip being aspirated because the idea of a big ass needle being poked in my hip does not appeal to me at all! Ick!

Tags: CT scan, doctors, hip aspiration, hip pain, hospital, pain medication