Saturday & Sunday: Side-ache?
As the title implies, I thought the pain I was experiencing in my chest this weekend was from a side-ache from walking uphill. It didn't go away. In fact, it got worse. So bad that I couldn't sleep because there was no way I could position myself as to be comfortable. Worst part is that I felt the pain more with each breath, but only on the left side (centralized pain: left lower rib area).
Monday, 02:00pm: Urgent Care
So, after both my lectures on Monday, I went to go see my friendly physicians at UCSB Student Health's Urgent Care. The doctor who saw me ordered chest X-rays, and couldn't determine much from them. She noticed there was a little blip that could be seen around my diaphragm on the left side, but it was only visible in one view, so she wasn't convinced. To be sure it wasn't something like a blood clot causing all the pain, she told me I should take a special blood test that they don't administer at Student Health, so she sent me over to the Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital Emergency Room.
03:30-04:00pm: Emergency Room
So much fun. I took the bus from school to the ER, and then they hooked me up to all kinds of tubes and monitors (IV, heart rate, blood pressure, 3 little sticker-guys on my chest and abdomen...). They took the blood samples directly through the IV in my arm (it was kind of a lot of blood... and the nurse was a little sloppy......*shudders*). After waiting for hours for them to analyze all my tests, they came back saying I had the potential for a blood clot due to some high levels of something or other, and they wanted to do a CT scan to have a closer look, and to see if there were actual blood clots present.
06:40pm: CT Scan
Boy was THAT an exciting experience. Before they took me away, they gave me an anti-anxiety pill, because I was starting to freak out a little. Then they wheeled me off to radiology, and injected me with iodine through the IV so that when the did the CT scan they would be able to see things better with the dye in place. The dyes plus the CT scan made me feel really weird. Strange heated sensations from head to toe, with a lingering warm-metallic taste in my mouth. Bleh.
06:50pm: Waiting
By the time I returned to my little bed-space (I'd call it a room, but it really wasn't), Richard had arrived. Good thing too because the anti-anxiety plus all that other stuff was making me loopy (and sleepy! Nice to have a ride home!). Thankfully, didn't have to wait too much longer for them to check the results of the CT scan, so they came back with their diagnosis...
07:15pm: Results
Walking Pneumonia! To be specific, "Left lower lobe pneumonia with pleurisy". So YAY! I have an infection in my lung which makes it hurt to breathe! But they started me on antibiotics, and let's just hope its bacterial, and not viral.
07:30-09:00pm: Home
Off to find food and go home. I was so delirious, I don't remember eating dinner, and apparently I was singing songs about my cat (according to Richard). Slept really well though!
Unfortunately, this little adventure took up valuable time to write a paper that's due Wednesday. Thankfully, I talked to my professor and he gave me until Friday to finish it. So that's what I should be doing now.
