Weekly Chaos & ER Visit #5

I have to say, this week has not been the best for me, but it has not been my worst. More than once this week I have questioned whether a trip to the ER was needed or if I should see my Primary Care doctor, but we will get to that.

To start off the week, Philip had to go out of town for school, leaving on Sunday and did not return until late today, Friday. For the last decade or so, we have only spent a handful of weeks apart, so it gets pretty lonely without him at home. Bilbo and the kitties, as well as myself, we will all be more than happy to see him return.

I went back to school last week, so this was just another week to be completed.  I was up until midnight working on papers and participation that was due Monday, each week taking me longer to get motivated and finish the work. Only 26 more weeks until my degree? I am clearly counting down to completion. This Monday I will finish my current course, only to begin a new one on Tuesday.

Tuesday, I called the Veteran’s Choice Program and TriWest Healthcare, AGAIN, about that long-lost General Surgery consultation that was supposed to happen December 13th. Remember, I had the smashogram and ultrasound just days prior to that appointment, with its own Choice Program problems in scheduling, mind you. Well, I had called the original day of the appointment, to complain about their mixup, and I was told that it would be rescheduled sooner rather than later.

And then I had also called last week, with the representative who didn’t know why my appointment hadn’t been redone, so she ‘put in a note’ for it to be handled in five to seven days. It wasn’t.

So, calling again this Tuesday, I got the same runaround, but I was told to wait 24-48 hours this time, that I would be contacted, and that the representative had now notated this request as ‘Urgent’, seeing how this was the third call I’d had to make. They didn’t call in 24 or 48 hours, so I had to call, yet again.

On Thursday I called…again. This time speaking to another representative and going through my entire spiel all over, to find out the original hiccup was that the wrong approval paperwork was sent over. But I already knew that from day one. This representative told me to wait up to 24 hours, as her supervisor would handle the scheduling and get back to me quickly. She even ‘guaranteed her to return my call same day’. She didn’t.

Now, I will have to wait until Monday to harass the Veterans Choice Program some more.  I even warned the representative that I had more than enough time and nothing better to do than to worry about my appointments and my health so I WOULD return the call, each time even more outraged than before. So, we will have to wait and see if they return my call to schedule the appointment… I’m willing to bet money that I will have to be the one to call them.

As for my Crohn’s, I thought I had a bowel obstruction early this week. I had no office work or other issues, nada, and that is definitely not normal for my body.  I even had to start adding spoonfuls of Golytely to my water and coffee to help induce something, anything, because it was so unusual for me. I was terrified for a blockage, even just a partial, and at times I felt like I was puking more than usual but nothing changed for days. Long story short, no obstruction and no ER. At least not yet…

My throat and tonsils have hurt this week, beyond the normal vomiting pains on a nightly basis. I have woken up coughing a few times this week, with some swelling and irritation on my throat and tongue, lymph nodes a tad larger and I always stay slightly feverish. I have tried to self-diagnose, whether it be strep throat or thrush, and I’ve read that either could be a possibility, with my already weakened immune system and all of the medications I’m taking. I called Primary Care to get their insight, but alas, another phone call goes unreturned.

On Wednesday I had a dentist appointment, a routine cleaning with an added bonus. I got to have my Twinkles Dental Jewelry applied to my tooth! Yes, dental jewelry! No, not a grill, as Philip likes to joke. I received my jewelry, an 18k White Gold circle with a real diamond inside, and I have been waiting excitedly to have it put on.

When I got to the dentist and explained to them what I had and where I wanted it, I went to get it from my purse and realized I left it at home. I was beyond mad at myself, as I had driven to the appointment mainly for the jewel!

I got my scheduled cleaning, and when I tried to reschedule it to be attached on another day, the dentist told me it could be done at that very moment, so I had to rush home and back to the dentist office. Luckily, I live only a few miles away.

I drove all the way home just for my jewel, and I rushed back to the dentist office, ecstatic that I didn’t have to wait to have it done.  The dentist who was in charge of attaching it had never heard or seen tooth jewelry before and the entire dentist office was intrigued with my jewel.

The piece is so tiny, when the dentist went to attach it, she dropped it! We spent a good 15 minutes searching the office floor for it and even had to have other dentists come help us search for it. Lucky me, we found it, and the dentist attached it before we could lose it again. I am so happy with the way it turned out. I can see it sparkle in the mirror and in photos, and I absolutely love it.

After the dentist, I got to do some shopping and run errands. It’s not a real outing for me without a bathroom photo, and funny enough, my sister sent me a similar photo later, to which I recognized that she was using a handicap stall. It’s pretty bad when I can recognize bathroom stalls, but I blame the Crohn’s disease for that.

Thursday night I had a scare that really left me feeling distraught, disoriented and overwhelmed.  I lost consciousness for the first time, I woke up in my kitchen floor.

Over the past months, I continue to get dizzy spells, feeling lightheaded with that almost blacking out feeling. I have never passed completely out, I can usually shake myself back to reality as my vision starts to turn black and knees buckle.  I have mentioned it to my doctors, with these occurrences beginning even before I started the Gabapentin for nerve pain.

Thursday night, I was Snapchatting Philip, sending him short pieces of Space Jam. Yeah, it was on VH1 and I couldn’t help but watch it. I sent him a snap and went to let Bilbo outside, as he was whining by the back door. Next thing I know, I woke up, Bilbo licking my face, with me unaware of where I was or how long I had been there.

I lied there, looking to the ceiling, and I remember not knowing anything, with no sense of time or place, only confusion.

It had to be one of the scariest moments of my life, not knowing what happened or how I got somewhere unfamiliar. Heck, I didn’t recognize the kitchen ceiling, so I had absolutely no idea what was happening. That’s not a fun way to feel, let alone a way to wake up. I was shaking and downright bothered, it took me a minute to regain myself.

Even looking at myself in the mirror after, I just looked wrong or off in my face, if that makes any sense. I immediately called Philip and the plan was to call Primary Care today and leave another message for them to call me back.

I am unsure if this means that my dizzy spells will lead to more unconsciousness, if this was a one-time deal, or if I should worry about it happening again. I really hope I never experience that ever again.

I called telephone care at the VA today and tried to leave a message with my doctor, but instead, they had a triage nurse return my call. She told me that I should have gone to the ER as soon as my unconscious spell happened, but that either way it was not something normal. She requested that I go to the ER once Philip came home this evening, just to get checked out.

This makes 4 Friday ER Visits in the past year with 1 Monday visit.

On the way to the ER, oddly enough, someone in a truck next to us rolled down his window and took a photo of us. How weird is that?!

Tonight was going to be a ‘date night’, but I can’t help that I fainted or how long the VA takes. Hopefully, we can get in and out of the ER fairly quickly, but we know how that goes.

My left side bottom is slightly tender and my right hand has ached worse today, so I’d they do scans I’ll have them looked at. We assume they’ll do blood pressure tests just in case my blog pressure got too low and was the cause of me blacking out.

So, here I sit, in the waiting room of the ER, waiting to be brought back to be seen, and I’ll continue to write as much as I can until we leave. I’ve been given a medical bracelet to add to my collection, and we know how much I love those. So far, one hour down.

At hour 2, I was taken back to a Triage room instead of into the ER area. A resident doctor checked off symptoms in a questionnaire, gave me a small look over to check my breathing, eye, reflexes and my ears. He suggested possibly a migraine seizure or low blood pressure, but that’s something to be figured out.

I was taken back to waiting room #2 for the ER not long after the resident doctor evaluated me. I got an EKG with a low blood pressure test, with me laying, sitting, and, standing to test the difference. I also got the dreaded pregnancy test and a few blood tests, like CBC (complete blood count), since I do seem to have recurring rectal bleeding, even though I have never been anemic in blood tests.

The doctor didn’t believe me when I told him there was no real chance of pregnancy, even after we explained our fertility situation to him. He tried to offer up hope, telling us “it only takes one”, referring to good sperm, but we assured him that after 50 months of trying, most of our hope for a happy accident had been lost, and we were more than sure I wasn’t going to be pregnant.

The EKG nurse actually recognized me, she knew I had been in for an EKG before, Ann’s she even remembered which room I was in. She handed me a hospital gown but I am not a modest person, so I just let her run her tests while I laid there in my bra and leggings. She tried to give the gown to me again, but I just put my dress back on. Putting the gown on means I’m staying there for a while, and I wanted to be out of there as soon as possible.

And finally at hour 3, we were told all of my tests came back normal, EKG was good, blood tests done, the pregnancy test was negative, no shock there, and we were okay to leave.

We left with no real suggestions on why I lost consciousness, other than Vasovagal Syncope, which is just a drop in blood pressure. I was told to update all of my doctors this upcoming week and to go from there. Luckily, I see neurology next week.

I’ll have a Mental Health appointment this upcoming week, too, as well as seeing Neurology. I received a new supply of Gabapentin, 90 days worth, so I guess the VA thinks that this pain is something I’ll deal with for a while.

But, the silver lining, I did get to do some painting and making Valentine’s for Philip and my brother early this week, I printed out some It Could Be Worse Blog stickers, and I got my new Cure For IBD hoodie! I think everyone I know needs one of these!

I also prepped for a photo shoot I’ll get to do this upcoming week with LaSirena Designs and Klix Imagez Photography.

It’s been long overdue for another fun shoot with them, so I look forward to some laughs and to seeing the photos! The hair trial run makes me even more excited!

Otherwise, the week was filled with random insomnia and body pains, more issues, vomiting, hand cramps, and a nasty cold sore to top it off.

So, to be fair, it has been a whirlwind of a week. It began slowly with some mid-week tooth flair, and it ended with another unexpected Friday ER trip. It’s always another day and another issue, I blame Friday the 13th and my terrible luck.

But, date night is officially a Go, we had dinner, and now I am sitting on the couch finishing this post while Philip watches his Bigfoot shows. A happy ending to a chaotic week.  So, It Could Be Worse.

* In addition to my tooth jewelry, I was given another FREE TOOTH JEWEL to use in a GIVEAWAY! That’s right, I will be hosting an Instagram giveaway starting next Friday, going until February 1st.  I will update you this upcoming week in a blog post specifically about the giveaway, and I will have all of the fun details for you then. Make sure you check out my Instagram and keep following It Could Be Worse blog to stay tuned on how to Enter to Win!

* If you can’t wait and want one for yourself immediately, then head over to Twinkles.net to purchase them. They have a number of White Gold and Gold pieces, with crystals as another option.

Thank you for reading, and for keeping up with My Crohn’s Journey.

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Previous Posts on It Could Be Worse:

Remicade Infusion Day #3

‘Tis the Season

Time Wasted

Remicade Infusion Day #2

The Week In Between

Remicade Infusion Day #1