Tuesday 17 September 2013

Broken or not, this health care system is our system.

And here I sit.  In a spot I never really thought that I would be.  Laying in bed on a Wednesday.  I got dressed around 3:30.  I thought the children would appreciate me dressed in real clothes for the first time in a week.  But I am ahead of myself.  We will go back in time about a week to begin this part of the story. 

Last Tuesday I had an MRI in order to try and figure out what is going on with me health wise.  Because I have had lots of pain with several neurological components, I have been doctoring for over five months.  The Dr who ordered the MRI told me to call his office the day of the MRI and book an appointment to get the results two days after.  So Tuesday morning I called his office.  His receptionist told me I could get in in five weeks.  Five weeks! After all of this the worry and the stress-five more weeks.  It was more than I could take. 

My husband and I decided to visit the ER on Thursday at about 12:30.  We sat for 4-5 hours in ER and then got moved to a room.  About 11 that night they decided to admit me. 
By Friday morning I had a visit with the neurologist and an internal specialist.  In the first few minutes the neurologist did a spinal tap, which wasn't as bad as I thought, and I had the results from my MRI.  The internal doctor who admitted me came in an did and exam that probably was a little too much right after a spinal tap but how was I supposed to know right?  He was checking my strength and resistance in all of my muscles.  Not quite the "lay as still as you can for at least an hour" sort of thing.  But again, how am I, who has never had a spinal anything before, to tell the doctor-and he knew I just had a spinal tap,we talked about it-that I don't want to do these exercises right now.  If you live in Saskatchewan and you get a specialist to see you, you don't want to waste the opportunity. 

I found out at about 2 that they had decided to put me on Celebrex.  I found out at night that they stopped my migraine pills, cold turkey.  They suspected that maybe the pills were causing some of my neurological symptoms like the hand tremors.  The result was crippling nausea by 4 and a blinding migraine by 10 PM. 

By Saturday morning I took another Celebrex at 10 and threw up on myself by 11:30.  (And the gravol they gave me to help my stomach. After that IV only.)  My husband helped my shower after about and hour hoping it might make me feel better (and smell better !)  Instead I almost passed out and sat in the shower room with a garbage can on my lap until I could walk the few steps to my room. 

I had forgotten how rough my migraines were.  They suck.  I was taking copious amounts of painkillers and it wasn't helping.  They gave me gravol in my IV,  two T3's, a Tylenol and 600mg of ibuprofen, one of my migraine pills that I take as soon as I can feel a migraine coming on and finally Morphine which thankfully finally put me out.  All between five and midnight. 

I will leave you with this.  Because I didn't get out until Tuesday, it would be very long if I wrote it all at once. 

I also do not write this in criticism of the amazing care I received.  My nurses were great, my room mate...not so much...and the doctors do the best they can with what they have.  It is not anyone's fault that some tests take five to six weeks to get back.  I don't understand how exactly it works, but no one goes into the health care system to make people feel worse.  They go into it to help.  It is what it is. 
Broken or not this health care system is our system. 

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