So... July 15th, I go to work. I have tons of work to do, and on the walk to work, I had to stop twice to catch my breathe. Not very usual for me. Once I got to work, I sat in the office, completing paperwork, organizing my to do lists for the day, and generally trying to ignore the fact that I still could not catch my breathe. Finally, I call my oncologist. They tell me the triage nurse will call my soon. My breathing gets worse. I call my wife. I ask her to come get me. I call my boss and leave a message ( "Hey there! Having trouble breathing, I am on my way to the emergency room. Don't worry shift is covered.") I make my staff call in a cashier for the next few nights, just in case I have to be out a day or so. I wait for Michele to show up. ( see how calm and rational I am... Got a ride, made sure to notify my boss, re arranged the schedule to have coverage.)
Michele shows up and I have her stop at my oncologists office. Triage nurse says, emergency room... do not stop... do not pass go... do not collect 200 dollars. So off to the ER. We get there fairly early, and I expect to go to the check in counter and then sit in the waiting room for hours. But no... We approach the counter and I can not breathe and talk, so obviously, I can't answer the questions over and over again. They slap some oxygen on me, and wheel me straight into Triage, past the lobby full of people looking to get their drug fixes ( believe me... I saw more known drug abusers in that waiting room...). They moved me in front of everyone waiting and next I was off to get tests (Xray, Echocardiogram, CT scan). Hours pass as I realize I am about to be admitted to the hospital.
Finally, I am moved upstairs. I assumed that this would be a simple one night stay while they arranged for a thoracentesis. Little did I know that this was to be the first night of my 7 day stay at the hospital.
Michele shows up and I have her stop at my oncologists office. Triage nurse says, emergency room... do not stop... do not pass go... do not collect 200 dollars. So off to the ER. We get there fairly early, and I expect to go to the check in counter and then sit in the waiting room for hours. But no... We approach the counter and I can not breathe and talk, so obviously, I can't answer the questions over and over again. They slap some oxygen on me, and wheel me straight into Triage, past the lobby full of people looking to get their drug fixes ( believe me... I saw more known drug abusers in that waiting room...). They moved me in front of everyone waiting and next I was off to get tests (Xray, Echocardiogram, CT scan). Hours pass as I realize I am about to be admitted to the hospital.
Finally, I am moved upstairs. I assumed that this would be a simple one night stay while they arranged for a thoracentesis. Little did I know that this was to be the first night of my 7 day stay at the hospital.
No comments:
Post a Comment