Wednesday, May 13, 2009

How do you know what to do?

Decisions. Some are easy to make, some are not. Some take no time at all, some decide themselves over time and you don't even realize it. What's for dinner, usually an easy decision. Is this the girl for me to spend the rest of my life with, not so easy.
Medical decisions are falling into the not so easy category for me lately. After a great weekend spending time with my first granddaughter and other family members, Monday night proved to be a challenge. I stopped by the BIC at the U of C Cancer Pavilion for a simple dressing change of my PIC line. I noticed walking in that my legs were a little tired and I thought it was due to being in the car for a lot of time over the weekend. It felt like they needed to be stretched out by walking or something. Bev and I decided to stop at Super Target on the way out of town after the dressing change. By the time we were there walking, my legs really started to hurt and it was getting hard to walk. The pain moved from my legs to my hips and I could barely walk. Bev bought some Aleve and I walked painfully back out to the car. I took one Aleve. We started driving out of town but made one last stop at a store at 104th Ave. I couldn't get out of the car and took a second Aleve as the pain moved into the small of my back. At the hospital they always rate pain from 1-10 and I usually can handle a 3-4. This was defiantly a 5-6. I got scared. I asked Bev once she returned to the car to turn around and take me back to the ER of the U of C hospital. Talk about ER or Gray's Anatomy, this was a real ER with all kinds of people there for all kinds of reasons. We weren't in Fort Collins anymore. After two hours they finally got me into a room to see someone. After describing my pain, I realized the Aleve had taken effect and I didn't really hurt that much anymore. After waiting for four more hours, I was told they were going to admit me. I was shocked. They said I didn't have to, but they wanted me for "observation". Decision time. Do I go back into the hospital? After talking with the doc's some more who weren't sure why I had pain, Bev and I decided to do it. I waited in the emergency room until 3:15 in the morning to actually get a room. What a day ahead. I waited until noon to get three xrays and then until 6:15 at night to get an MRI. Of course since it was so late by then, no one could "read" the results so I was told I would have to wait overnight again. What a wasted day. And now I would have to wait until mid morning today to get out. Depressing. Well, the results came back and luckily my pain was from just getting old or the nulasta shot I got last Tuesday. Now I sit waiting for discharge. Two days again in the hospital, and I had been cured from Aleve. How do you decide these things? Better to be safe then sorry, but depressing sometimes. Looking forward to getting out of here soon!

1 comment:

  1. Ken, When you have any kind of medical condition its always better to be safe, even if it is a pain in the butt!!!

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