The public health system is a curious thing, and never in a billion years did I think when I first said to my hubby last thursday “oh honey, you just made my heart skip a beat” that it would end up with a hospital stay.
I’m in a respiratory ward which, curiously, is the place you end up when your heart forgets how to beat right. Respiratory wards are full of confused people ( the majority of the people here truly are struggling for those last breaths) and you could probably add me to the confused list too, because sometimes I wonder why I’m here.
Then my heart races (hot doctor, cute male nurse perhaps?) no. I moved. That’s all. That’s what does it.
Apparently xrays are showing random stuff in my lungs, in fact yesterday while I was alone they told me I had a series of calcified lymph nodes through the centre of my lungs. Possible cause? Unknown but did I ever live on a farm? Did I ever spend a lot of time with cows? At this stage I told them I had the TB injection when I was young. They still decided to question tuberculosis. Whispered of course. We don’t want anyone to hear.
I ring my hubby and mum in tears. The lady next to me asks if I want to talk. I sob and say no, (don’t come too close im thinking).
An hour later the cutest of the three males doctors comes back to tell me whoops, ya know, we were wrong. We don’t think there are any calcified lumps, nodes or nodules at all. He says it almost laughing, we mis-read the xray, new imaging software, bit of a blip, hope you’ll forgive me.
And they wonder why my heart is dodgey.
Xrays do show something though. Infection most likely, ( I could have diagnosed that myself cute doctor, without all the freakin drama).
All of this for a patient that was admitted to hospital with possible lung clots due to travel. Blood tests had set off alarm bells. Seems they aren’t worried about it now, although they haven’t taken any more bloods etc to discount it. Clots? Did we admit you for clots? But you know your heart isn’t beating properly, right?
No crap. That’s why I had the blood tests in the first place.
So where does the skipping heart fit in? Who knows. Could be that it just forgot what it is doing ( healthy, fit 30-something year old, of course it will forget how to beat!!) could be that it’s complaining about the food around here ( I’m on the middlemore diet) or it could be that it is a little inflamed and grumpy at a month if coughing and it is crying ENOUGH!
So here I sit, the healthy happy person in a ward of the dying. The elderly cry out in the night and relatives walk the corridors during the day, talking on phones sadly telling loved ones that grandpa is taking his last breathe. I have a bronchoscopy booked for sometime today. Camera in the lungs and then flush them out with water, all done under local – to be awake will be such joy, I’m sure.
I’m remaining upbeat though ( excuse the pun). Good news us that the cute doctor had no idea what he was looking at when he looked at my xrays yesterday. The bad news is that the cute doctor had no clue what he was doing when he looked at my xrays yesterday.
So I wait. Nil by mouth because the nurse has told me I might have a proceedure sometime today. I hope so. My 10 yr old wants his pajamas back.
Laters
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