Wednesday, March 4, 2009

In all things, moderation...

I must report I spent a long and test-filled day in the Emergency Room on Monday. It all started Sunday, I was having alot of pain in the shoulders and chest and difficulty breathing. Having suffered the odd spontaneous collapsed lung in my past, everything pointed to that. I remembered that each time I had one of these, I did not get any treatment, like a chest tube, because it was less than 25% collapsed. I figured it would reinflate and the pain would go away if I let it. Wow, was I wrong!! I could not find a comfortable position in bed and slept only a couple hours Sunday nite. At 4, I gave up trying and decided to go out to the living room and sit up on the couch. The pain was less when I would be more upright. I had taken some non-aspirin for the pain and it did not touch it. When I leaned forward to pick up my soda and felt like I would pass out from the pain, I decided this was more serious than I thought. My wife had joined me in the living room and had that concerned look on her face. She suggested the ER and I said not yet. About 15 minutes later I gave in and said let's go.

Based on my symtoms and the fact that I am on the transplant list we started the battery of tests to make sure that this was not related to my cardiac condition. The bloodwork, Xrays, Ultrasound and EKG all proved that it was not. This is a good thing, or is it? The tests told me what it was not, but not what it was. It was suggested that it may be muscular or skelatal pain. The Drs asked if I had done anything unusual or recalled any possible injury over the past couple days. The only answer I had was that I had been working on a cross-stitch almost all my waking hours for the past 3 days. Now that seems somewhat remote, but I was in the same position using the same muscles and doing repetative movements for hours at a time. They also suggested that it could be a virus in the muscles or joints that may be causing the pain. I cling to the virus diagnosis with all I have to retain the slightest bit of dignity.

I left the hospital after 14 hours with 2 percocets in me, a perscrition for 20 more and the wry advice from my Dr not to cross stitch for a couple days. I have not, and the pain has gone away. So remember, my gentle reader, warm up before you start stitching and all things, in moderation. A couple comical thoughts come to mind in retrospect: How old do you feel when you have a cross-stitch related hospital visit? Is this cause for a new type of "fear of needles?" Are we going to need warning labels sewing needle packages? Do I have a legal case for damages? When is the insurance industry going to address the situation?

Enough fun for now..
Keep smiling and be good to each other!!

4 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Ok, I deleted the first one because their were a lot of typos in it. Here it is without the typos.

    You better layoff a little bit but you need to get that cross-stitching done before your transplant. You'll be shaking too much to do it after. When I was waiting for my transplant, I got some projects together for me to do while I was recuperating. I bought a watercoloring kit, a cross stitch kit and some other embroidery projects. After the transplant I was shaking so much from the prednisone that I couldn't do any of them. So I bought a needlepoint kit thinking that the holes were bigger giving a bigger target to aim at. That didn't work either. But don't lose hope. It goes away as the dose of prednisone goes down. I had to take prednisone for sometime because I had Chron's disease. When I compalined to my doctor, he asked if I would rather have the jitters or the !@^$%$#* (something that ryhmes with jitters and starts with 'sh'). I hope that offend your delicate eyes!

    Good luck to you. I hope you get your call soon. I keep checking your blog to see if you've gone in yet.

    Blessings to you are your wife!

    Christine

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  3. Honey, you are so funny, you never cease to make me laugh even when it's medical related. Humor can be the best medicine. Love your wife

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  4. OMG! Thanks for starting this blog! Sorry for all your troubles, but you are hysterical!!! Way keep the perspective. We miss you! --Love, Marcia and family

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