Hospital trip and Update...

TMI warning. Don't say you weren't warned.I woke up Wednesday feeling worse than normal. The abdominal and back pain was bad, along with just feeling sick. Sometime early afternoon, I got dizzy and my breathing became difficult. It was very heavy and loud and quick. I had fever and was shaking and trembling. I fell asleep on the couch and I don't remember much after that until we got to the hospital. My parents kept waking me up while we were at home, asking questions and things. Getting to the hospital was tricky since the state was shut down because of a snow storm. Both my parents went with me and my brother stayed at his friends house.

We got to the hospital around 4:30 I think and it wasn't too crowded. We checked in and sat in the waiting room for a while. In triage they took blood and started an IV like normal. My parents kept getting warm blankets for me because I was still shaking and freezing.

Finally, they came to get me and took me up to ultrasound. Next I went to CT. Then it was back to ultrasound because they couldn't see what they needed to see the first time. Lucky for me, I got to have a catheter placed, then have my bladder pumped full of fluid and so on. They were looking for cysts or ruptured cysts which you can only see if your bladder is full. When you're in the ER, they won't let you have food or drinks in case you need surgery. I was dehydrated away and they wouldn't let me drink anything, hence the need for the catheter. That was a very fun experience. Before Wednesday, I thought you had to be asleep, or on good drugs, for them to place a catheter. Much to my surprise, there I was, AWAKE, with NO drugs of any kind. Apparently, most people are awake when they get them. The only time I've had a catheter was during surgery, where I was ASLEEP. The ultrasound lady can't place catheters, so an ER nurse came up. It was one of our favorite nurses, which was comforting. The ER nurse left and they got the ultrasound pictures they needed. Once we finished everything at ultrasound, they finally took me to my room in the ER.

I was taken to room 12, which was my normal room. That room is great because it's right by the nurses station, making it entertaining for us. That's the whole reason you go to the ER, for entertainment right?
 
Five minutes after we got to my room, xray came to get me. Thankfully the xray room was in the ER, so we didn't have to go far. I had a chest xray and was taken back to my room.

 All those tests had taken a really long time, and caused us to be taken all around the hospital, so it was nice to be in one place finally. My nurse came in (same one that had to come up to ultrasound) and got some IV fluids started and got me some nausea and pain meds. By this time, my breathing was really bad again and I was trembling and lightheaded. Thankfully my oxygen stats were perfect, but that was very confusing and concerning to the doctor. He left to go check on the test results of everything. We definitely had some entertainment last night! There was a lady in the room across from me that started yelling, "where's my doctor, where's my doctor, I'm freezing"! It was really funny the way she said it. She kept saying that over and over until someone came.
 The nurse accessed my port, because it needed to be flushed. So I had two IV lines now, a line directly to my heart, through my port, and a regular IV in the crease of my arm.
The doctor came back in and went over the test results. The CT scan showed a cyst on my right side. The ultrasound showed a little fluid on my right side. So the doctor isn't exactly sure what it is.
 He looked at my blood work and found some concerning things. He immediately ordered blood gasses. For blood gasses, they take blood from your arteries to test the oxygen, carbon dioxide, and other levels in your blood.
A respiratory therapist had to come draw the blood. She got to my room fast! She drew the blood out of an artery in my wrist, and out of my port.

 While we waited for the results, a man came in and did a flu test on me because they thought I had the flu. Thankfully it was negative, but the doctor said that that doesn't mean anything. I think it's odd how they say you could still have the flu even if your test is negative, and yet they say you can't have Lyme if your test is negative. Uhh that doesn't make sense. But I don't have the flu!

Buy this time, I had 5 blankets on me because I was shaking and couldn't get warm. I also got to have some ice chips since I wouldn't be needing surgery! My mouth and lips were so dry, probably from the pain medicine, heavy breathing, and since I hadn't really had anything to drink since early that morning. We didn't have any chapstick since we just ran out of the house, so the nurse found me some awesome hospital chapstick that you can put on your lips and in your mouth. How strange.

The doctor came in to explain that I have high lactic acid. My body couldn't get rid of it, causing the rapid and hard breathing. It also makes me feel like I can't breathe, even though I'm getting enough oxygen. If my levels would have been a little higher, he would have admitted me just for that. It's not good to have. It also has something to do with carbs. I don't completely understand it. He ordered another bag of IV fluids, this time with extra things in it. I think it had calories, along with several other things. I have to eat a lot of carbs to help with the levels too.Once the doctor left, I just broke down. I didn't know why I was crying. It was probably from all of the strong pain medicine, but it was so weird. Crying made my breathing worse, and made me hurt more. The nurse gave me something to help me sleep and calm down.

 We finally got to go home a little after midnight.

 In the 8 hours that I was there I had:

• regular blood and urine tests
•  a CT scan
• 2 ultrasounds
• a catheter
• a chest xray 
• 2 IV lines
• blood gasses taken from 2 arteries
• and a flu test

Because of everything that's been happening, we are going to go to my doctor in Nevada in the next few weeks. We talk to him on Monday. There is just so much going wrong. 

I'm feeling better than I was Wednesday. Yesterday I slept some and have just been laying on the couch. My parents are trying to get as many carbs in me as possible, which is difficult since I haven't been hungry. I'm eating more than I was earlier this week though. For now, I'm just going to rest.

"My soul finds rest in God alone;
   my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
   he is my fortress, I will never be shaken" Psalm 62:1-2