Here is more detail about my ER visit this past weekend – all is fine.
So starting last Sunday I started having lots of pain in my right check. When it first started I just assumed it was a pulled muscle or something, but as the week went on it got worse and I could tell it wasn’t muscular because I couldn’t stretch it out and movement didn’t affect it. It was a sharp pain anytime I took in a breath, coughed, etc. Thursday night I was doing pretty good while up and walking around, but then I went to lay down on the couch and it the pain level would jump when I went to lay back or on my side. So by Saturday morning Id had a few nights of not being able to sleep well and still things weren’t improving at all. So that morning I went to the Urgent care. They did an EKG and the doc came in and said that they needed to do a CAT scan but didn’t have that there, so I had to go to an ER. At the time they were considering me at risk for pulmonary embolism primarily due to the fact that it all started the day after our 14 hour drive. So I went to the ER. The ER doc explained that my EKG was also questionable because most people’s hearts sit to the left, but mine showed that it was sitting to the right – something that they see if there is a clot in the right lung because it pulls the heart to the right. I went to CAT scan which all ended up coming back clean, they didn’t see any clots or masses. So I was discharged with anti-inflammatory because it defaults to assuming that I had a viral infection in the lining around my lung. So now I also know that my heart sits to the wrong side normally, which is no issue, won’t cause any problems or anything, just good to know for future EKGs. Since then it is getting better. Really only feel it now if I have a deep laugh or cough.
So Turner had gone with me to the Urgent Care so we could spend some “special time” together. He was so concerned about if the doctors were going to do anything to hurt me, and then when I told him I had to go to another hospital he freaked out saying he didn’t want me to die. I got him calmed down telling him they just needed to take a special picture of mommy and they didn’t have the right camera there. I took him back home before the ER and had Aaron stay home with all the kids to keep them (and him) preoccupied with something else. Aaron was kind of freaking out too. I was for a while between hearing about the abnormal EKG and before I had results of the CAT scan, but at least knew I was in the hospital if it was anything. Finally after 5 hours and a $100 co-pay I got to go home with a clean bill of health. As soon as I got home we started putting up our Christmas Decorations, and about 10 minutes in to doing that it started snowing some of the biggest snowflakes I’ve ever seen and we all went outside running around in the snow. Couldn’t have been more perfect timing. Plus Aaron and I had a babysitter set up for Saturday night – our first time alone since being in NC, so we were really happy we didn’t have to cancel our date night. Sunday we picked out the “perfect” 2010 Lively Family Christmas tree and got it up and decorated and made some batches of Christmas cookies – so we are finally in the holiday spirit around the house.
