not how I expected the afternoon to go
Yesterday, about noonish, I began having a burning sensation around my sternum.
When I still had it today, I decided I'd head to the hospital after lunch.
Hopped on a bus, walked from the city stop down the road to the hospital and got hooked up for an ECG, had my blood pressure taken, had some blood taken via one of those little doodads in my hand. They call them gelcoes, so there I was with a gelco in my hand for several hours, answering a hundred and one questions, staying calm, don't want that blood pressure going up. I almost fell asleep, I was so calm.
Eventually one doctor decided the burning sensation could be from the constant coughing which is a side effect of the blood pressure medication and possibly a little reflux, which I've never suffered from before, but with all this new stuff, why not have a little reflux, just to complicate things.
So they had me drink down a little cocktail of mylanta and anaesthetic, to see if that would help. It did, but not much. I don't recommend it, that anaesthetic put the back of my throat to sleep faster than I could say Yuck.
I now have a prescription for a different blood pressure tablet, one that doesn't cause the dry coughing, and also for reflux tablets.
Then I got cleared to go home, so I peeled of all the sticky tabs the electrodes had been attached to and got dressed, then sat and waited for someone to remove the gelco.
Half an hour later, along comes a nice little nurse, removes the gelco and applies a pad of gauze and finger pressure for about a minute, which is usually long enough.
When she removed the pressure and the gauze, a geyser of blood fountained into the air, ran all over my hand, then dripped on the floor.
I have NEVER seen my blood move that fast.
We got it stopped with another minute of finger pressure, cleaned me up and I was good to go. Headed for the door and waited around for my daughter.
Ten minutes later I headed back to the emergency room and they all panicked.
Was I bleeding again? No. I had simply forgotten to pay.
Big sighs of relief as I paid the Medicare component, which will be refunded to my account, this saves the hospital having to put in the claim.
So now I'm home again, have had coffee, brought the rubbish bins in, settled Lola and am contemplating dinner.
When I still had it today, I decided I'd head to the hospital after lunch.
Hopped on a bus, walked from the city stop down the road to the hospital and got hooked up for an ECG, had my blood pressure taken, had some blood taken via one of those little doodads in my hand. They call them gelcoes, so there I was with a gelco in my hand for several hours, answering a hundred and one questions, staying calm, don't want that blood pressure going up. I almost fell asleep, I was so calm.
Eventually one doctor decided the burning sensation could be from the constant coughing which is a side effect of the blood pressure medication and possibly a little reflux, which I've never suffered from before, but with all this new stuff, why not have a little reflux, just to complicate things.
So they had me drink down a little cocktail of mylanta and anaesthetic, to see if that would help. It did, but not much. I don't recommend it, that anaesthetic put the back of my throat to sleep faster than I could say Yuck.
I now have a prescription for a different blood pressure tablet, one that doesn't cause the dry coughing, and also for reflux tablets.
Then I got cleared to go home, so I peeled of all the sticky tabs the electrodes had been attached to and got dressed, then sat and waited for someone to remove the gelco.
Half an hour later, along comes a nice little nurse, removes the gelco and applies a pad of gauze and finger pressure for about a minute, which is usually long enough.
When she removed the pressure and the gauze, a geyser of blood fountained into the air, ran all over my hand, then dripped on the floor.
I have NEVER seen my blood move that fast.
We got it stopped with another minute of finger pressure, cleaned me up and I was good to go. Headed for the door and waited around for my daughter.
Ten minutes later I headed back to the emergency room and they all panicked.
Was I bleeding again? No. I had simply forgotten to pay.
Big sighs of relief as I paid the Medicare component, which will be refunded to my account, this saves the hospital having to put in the claim.
So now I'm home again, have had coffee, brought the rubbish bins in, settled Lola and am contemplating dinner.
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Oh River. That sounds like a truly awful day. I am glad that it doesn't appear to be anything drastic and that you have tablets which will hopefully reduce the awful cough but...
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your dinner and some down time.
Elephant's Child; it wasn't too awful, just not what I had planned. I was going to spend the afternoon writing tomorrow's story. Now I'll spend the evening on it instead.
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ReplyDeletePM
DeleteSensible to go to hospital River, one just never knows with that symptom.
You had an eventful day then with a good outcome.
Margaret-whiteangel; that's what I thought. Better to be safe than sorry. One never knows with unusual pains around the chest area.
DeleteYou did the right thing by going to the hospital. Of course if you were a strong and proud 60 year old man, you would not have, and perhaps died. Anyway, so long as you are ok. I've never had issues with prescribed medications, but my partner had a reaction to a statin and that was changed to another that did not cause problems.
ReplyDeleteAndrew; I was told from the beginning that the blood pressure tabs could cause dry coughing and today I learned there is some sort of testing going on to find out why. I was okay on the lower dose, but not on the higher one. Tomorrow I'll start the new prescription. A few months ago, I might have ignored this pain and waited for it to go away, but not after the high blood pressure and reading about other heart attacks and near misses on other blogs. Of course if I didn't have the high blood pressure there wouldn't have been the tablets that cause coughing....
ReplyDeleteI was joking with one of the male nurses today about not wanting to die young, wanting to live longer than my grandmother, he said that's the sort of attitude we like to hear.
Oh! Boy! River! Can't you think of a better way to spend your day???
ReplyDeleteI bet you were exhausted by the time tonight arrived. Smart girl taking yourself off to the hospital. That trip alone with all that would have been going through your mind would've been enough to pump up your blood pressure, too.
I'm glad your daughter was on hand to take you back home. Take good care, River.
Lee; daughter didn't take me home, she phoned a taxi for me. She works at that hospital, so I hung around to fill her in on what's happening, after she knocked off for the day. Oddly enough, I didn't feel exhausted, more relieved.
DeleteYou had a very scary day! I am taking lisinopril and one of the side effects is the dry tickling cough which took a LONG time to go away. Also the 'silent" reflux thing. The first bp medication they gave me (amlodipine) made me violently ill. I swear the cure is worse than the disease...
ReplyDeleteGrace; it wasn't at all scary, I just felt I needed to get this pain checked. If it had been something more serious, then I would have been scared. My dry tickling cough turned into a marathon, ten or fifteen minutes coughing non stop every couple of hours, so the medication has been changed and hopefully all will be well now.
DeleteI'm sending good thoughts to the new blood pressure tabs. My doctor experimented with mine so long I finally threw a tantrum. Hard to believe, I know. We finally found a good one.
ReplyDeleteJoanne; I fully understand the tantrum. So often pills are prescribed and the doctor says these may cause XXX, so if they know that from previous patients, why prescribe them? I hope my new one is alright for me.
DeleteBit of a scare, keep that blood pressure down! When I have heartburn, I mix a spoonful of baking soda with a swallow or two of water and drink it fast. Tastes awful, but in a few minutes and a belch or two the heartburn is gone.
ReplyDeletejoeh; trying to stay calm and keep the blood pressure down, but I don't know yet if it is down enough, it was sky high for a while. I didn't know I had heartburn, if that's what this was, I've never had it before, so I worried enough to go and get checked.
DeleteGood idea to get checked out, and good to get a different medication. I haven't heard of those gelcoes - sounds like something out of science fiction! I'm glad everything was okay.
ReplyDeletejenny_o; the gelco is just that little port they put in the back of your hand and tape it down so they can take blood for testing, then they leave it there until you get discharged in case they need to take more blood for more testing.
DeleteOHHHH . . . an IV line! I was picturing a gel pack of some kind that you held in the palm of your hand and the blood would go by osmosis through your skin into the gel pack . . . yeah, science fiction indeed :) But they have needle-less needles now for giving insulin and for flu shots, so you never know!
DeleteThis doesn't sound like a good way to spend your day, but I am glad that you went in and got yourself checked, and that you are back home resting with Lola.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you went to see the experts, and didn't sit home in a dark basement lair, diagnosing yourself over the internet! My meds seem to have the opposite effect, making me clear my throat all the time, or wipe a drippy nose.
ReplyDeleteOhhh gracious. You know that huge spurt of blood is because of the blood pressure meds, right? My elderly neighbour has quite a time of it when they remove IVs. But she can't very well NOT take the meds, now, can she?
ReplyDeleteI hope they figure out what is up and if not perhaps it's time to visit a GI specialist for an endoscopy.
I somehow missed this post. I am so sorry to hear of your recent Medical problem. It may be a good Idea to purchase a wrist Blood pressure monitor , I hope you are feeling much better now.
ReplyDeleteThis doesn't sound like a good way to spend your day, but I am glad that you went in and got yourself checked, and that you are back home resting with Lola.
ReplyDelete** Royal1688**