If that's a gown, I'm Kate Middleton!

One activity that was never on my bucket list was a 3 a.m. trip to the emergency room. But, when you wake up in pain at midnight and are still in pain two-and-a-half hours later and it seems to be getting worse, what are you supposed to do? Google what organs are on the left side of the body, that's what! Finding that the pain was generating from an area that could well be my spleen or something else that I probably didn't want to burst, I woke up my daddy and off we went.

As much as the whole ordeal of check-in, triage, nurse, intern, supervisor, doctor, phlebotomist, and discharge wasn't fun and did keep me up all night, I couldn't help but laugh a few times. (Maybe that proves how tired and out of it I was....) Solomon was right when he said, "A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones" (Proverbs 17:22).

A continuing source of mirth came from the standard medical garb we know as 'hospital gowns.' Who ever came up with calling that get-up of crazy-stiff, uncomfortable, itchy material a gown??? Brides wear gowns, and girls wear gowns to prom. But hospital attire is not a gown. And if that's a gown, then I'm Kate Middleton!

Another funny thing (to me) was just how insanely dated the whole place was. At one point, looking around, I said, "Looks like Florida." For some reason, decor from the 1950s-70s makes me think of Florida. I think the association remains from my grandma's trailer in Florida, which had similar colors, patterns, and textures.

I had a few laughs at the personnel from the hospital. In their defense, it was 3, 4, and 5 in the morning.... :) First, when I was checking in, the receptionist asked me where the pain was. When I told her I thought it was my spleen, she said, "Okay, so its on the right side?" With a confused look, I said, "No, my left." Afterward I asked my dad, "The spleen is on your left, isn't it?" He said he didn't know and so we looked up which side it was on his phone. It was on the left.
A few minutes later, while talking with the triage nurse, she took my blood pressure. I think the normal blood pressure is something like 120/80. Mine typically runs low, about 95/65 or somewhere around there. For the first time, I saw it today over 100 - it was 105/62. When I told her normally mine is lower, she assured me it was still great and perfectly normal. Then, my pulse. My resting heart rate is normally on the higher side, so I told her this, too, and when it was at 87, she said that was perfectly normal as well. I looked it up this afternoon. According to this chart, average for my age should be more around 74-78. I guess 'normal' is a very relative term in the medical community....
The other personnel were good, however. Had one med student who was very nice, especially since by this time it was 4 in the morning. It takes a lot to be awake at 4 a.m., let alone friendly! One funny (to me, anyway) part of the conversation. He was asking me about my experience with mono, and thought it was interesting that the closest thing I had to an official diagnosis was a chronic case of mono. "Usually mono resolves itself," he told me. "Well, for me it didn't," I replied. I didn't tell him there were three other people who had the same case of mono who agreed with me.... Thankful he was understanding and seemed to be a good listener.

One final funny story, this one from after we got home from the hospital.

Mamma: So does anyone know you went to the hospital?
Me: I told Isaac....
Mamma (interrupting): Well, obviously.
I just smiled.... :)


UPDATE on the medical records situation! We finally have all of them! Just picked them up from the doctor's office! It took a lot of convincing on the phone, but they finally gave me copies of my entire file. Praise the Lord! I'm not sure if your prayers or my dad's persuasive logic were more effective in the long run, but God used it all.

EDIT: It was brought to my attention that I didn't really explain the resolution of the visit..... :) The doctors told me it wasn't my spleen (in the words of the wonderful med student, "well the spleen lives up here," higher than the area my pain was originating from). It could possibly have been a pulled muscle or just a side effect of stress. I'm not currently feeling any pain, praise the Lord.