Today was a healing day. Yesterday morning I was getting up to go to my Docent meeting at the Zoo after a bad night with diarrhea. It was sudden onset and had really bad cramping. I did manage to get some sleep, but got up for another go around before the alarm went off in the morning. That's when I looked down into the toilet bowl and noticed I was passing blood mucus clots. This was not good. I went and got a disposable cup and two zip lock sandwich baggies. When I had to go again, I pooped in the cup and put it into the sandwich baggie and sealed it. Then I double baggied it.
Hubby was going to drive me out to the Zoo for the Docent meeting but instead, I told him to take me to Urgent Care. I had my sample of what was going on and needed to see the doctor. Now hubby had been pooping blood before and it turns out it was an internal hemorrhoid bleeding on and off. So he wasn't overly concerned about this and though we would be wasting time, but this has never happened to me before, so I insisted.
We arrived at the Urgent Care at 850am. I got signed in and sat down to wait. There were a few people ahead of me and the doctors didn't even start until 9am. So by 930am, we were back waiting to be seen by the doctor. I showed the nurse my sample and she tested it for blood. She said that sometimes people will eat red or purple things with food dye in it that will come out in their poop, looking like blood. Mine came out positive for blood.
The doctor came out to see me next. She had the sample and asked me a bunch of quetions. She had gotten a urine sample while I was there, too. Then she did the poking and prodding on my tummy and lower gut. It hurt on my lower left hand side. She excused herself and left for a few minutes. When she came back, she had a red envelope with her report inside and told me that I needed to go to the ER down at St Francis Hospital. I needed to have a CT Scan to rule out blood pooling in my abdomen. She had called over and they were expecting me.
So we drove over. Hubby hadn't eaten yet so I asked him if he wanted to stop anywhere but he just wanted to get it over with, so we went. I got checked in. Since I had to go to the bathroom again, I asked them if they needed another sample, since we didn't bring my other one. They handed me two cups and asked me to pee in one and poop in the other. Boy was that hard! But I managed. I was still passing bloody mucus clots when I pooped.
I handed them in and soon we got called back. When they took me in the room, I had to get completely undressed and into a gown. Then up on the bed, under a sheet. The EMT immediately came in the room and took 9 vials of blood. They had to check my platelets to see if I was anemic from loss of blood. And they had to type and cross my blood in case I needed extra. Then the doctor came in and I told him what went on last night and he poked and prodded. He said he would do the CT Scan and that first he had to check my kidney functions.
So we sat for a long time while they ran the blood test. They had to check my kidney functions since about a decade ago, I started to go into kidney failure for some reason. And the doctor wanted to do a contrast dye series for the CT Scan and that is hard on your kidneys to filter all that out. So I waited. I sent hubby out to get some food and check on Frank since Frank was having the guys come over for a thank you bbq that afternoon.
Eventually they came and got me for the CT Scan. But just as I got in and was about to get on the table, they had a critical patient that needed the scan more, so I waited. I was ok, so I didn't mind. I wish they had given me a magazine, though. Eventually I got in and it was pretty neat. They were taking shots of my abdomen so my head was outside of the scanner. And I looked up and there was this lighted icon of a blob breathing in and one of them holding their breath. When the one breathed in, the computer said "Take in a deep breath." then the computer would flash on the one holding it in and say "Now hold your breath." Then it would flash on the one breathing again and say "You may breath now." The whole thing only took a minute. Then they hooked me up to the IV for the contrast dye and I felt the warm sensation of it going in my body, the warmth spread throughout my abdomen and down into my genitals, it makes you feel like you are peeing yourself. And then you get a metallic taste in your mouth. No big deal, had this before. Then they spent a few minutes taking those scans.
Pretty soon I was back in my room with hubby. The nurse came in and gave me a pain shot because all this time I had deep cramping. The shot took the edge of it off. Hubby and I watched a show about prospectors in Colorado. Modern day ones. It was really interesting.
It took forever to get all the test results in but they showed no major loss of blood and no blood pooling in my tummy. The doctor said that I needed to check in with my primary on Monday to see her next week. He gave me a strong antibiotic, the same one of two that hubby takes for his diverticulitis, a pain pill, and a stomach buffer since I was also queasy. He said he didn't know what was causing the bleeding but they were going to do a blood culture on the stool sample I had given them and would have the results available for my doctor in 24-48 hours. Since I wouldn't even see my doctor until early next week, they should be ready then.
Then hubby took me home. I got a plate of food and went upstairs. I changed into my pjs and ate. By now it was 430pm. Hubby took the prescriptions into Walgreens and waited while they filled them. When he got home, I took one of each and relaxed. He headed downstairs to his office. Every time I went to the bathroom, I no longer pooped anything out, but still got blood smears when I wiped myself.
This morning I still haven't pooped and am not getting blood smears at all. So that is good. I took the pain pill this morning but haven't needed it this afternoon. First thing Monday, at 8am, I will be calling the doctor's office for an appointment on Tuesday.
Hubby and I went to the library this afternoon so I could get some books to read this week. I checked out a bunch of Joanne Fluke's books. She is the murder mystery writer that gives you recipes in her books. I bought two of them at Book Warehouse, and really enjoyed the story line. Her stories are like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, only Joanne's main character that solves murders is a cook and owner of a store called The Cookie Jar. And there are lots of recipes after the chapters. That's where I got the recipe for Blueberry Short Stack Pancake Cookies, only I used blueberry syrup and in the recipe they said to use maple syrup. And when I made the cookies for a second time because the guys loved them so, they asked me to keep using the blueberry syrup!
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