gather 'round to hear the latest of my medical issues

By about 7:00 Monday evening I kept thinking to myself, "This has been A Week."

Sunday afternoon I was feeling footloose and fancy free as I headed out to the mall for some mama time. My stomach started to hurt right as I pulled in but I pressed on. I was only there for 30 minutes but had to sit down three times, the pain was so bad. I would have laid down but I didn't want to cause a public spectacle. I considered finding a security guard who would drive me back to my car in a golf cart so I wouldn't have to walk. I limped my way to the car, made it home and dragged myself to bed where I curled up with a heating pad and diagnosed myself with appendicitis or some sort of cancer.  All my time on WebMD has proved to be very helpful. The pain wasn't as bad on Monday but I went to the emergency room just in case.

Due to confusing signs I had to park down the street from the hospital and walk what felt like 5 miles to get to the er. Once there I found myself in a room full of the city's finest hoodlums, including but not limited to a boy whose pants were hanging so low he would have been better off not wearing any at all. A nurse brought a patient's specimens out to the waiting room to give to the patient's mother and mixed in with the girl's stuff was another patient's vial of blood. What a fine establishment. The nurse finally called my name and told me to walk myself down to room 17. Never in my life have I been pointed in the direction of an er room and told to let myself in. THERE WAS ALREADY SOMEONE IN ROOM 17. The mother and I had the worlds most awkward staring contest while I tried to mutter something about how she should BLAME JEN THE NURSE for the position we were in. I finally got my own room and sat there for an hour and a half waiting for someone to remember me. I couldn't find the remote for the tv and I didn't feel like reading my book so I had nothing to do but curl up and bemoan the state of my stomach. I felt like I hadn't eaten in years so I asked a random medical student doing paperwork outside my door if I could eat something. The answer was no. #DrHopeCrusher. I started daydreaming about food. I wanted nothing more than a large pepperoni pizza. I read the word sushi and suddenly I was craving all the sushi in the country. I'm not even a big sushi person but it was all I could think about.
 
Finally a nurse came in the room and hooked me up to an iv. I hate getting blood work/iv's with a passion. My veins are too small and it's such an ordeal getting the needle in. I kept saying "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" while the nurse poked and yanked at my arm. Why was I apologizing? She was the one causing the hurt.  She should be on her knees begging forgiveness. She gave me some pain medicine, turned on the tv so I could watch hgTV and things started looking up. Christopher and Annabelle came by to visit and AB completely disregarded any instructions I gave her about not sitting on my stomach.
 
I had a ct scan and as these things go, we had to wait a while for the results. Finally a PA came in and said my appendix looked fine, but it might a hernia or I might be constipated or maybe I just have a stomach ache. I was so hungry/exhausted/frustrated I almost cried. I was so annoyed that I had spent a day and a half of my life in pain only to be told I needed to go home and use the bathroom. I wanted to throw the iv fluid bag at her. They didn't even give me pain medicine to take home. I walked back to the car is such a huff about the whole situation that I'm surprised my head didn't explode. Now that I think about it, had my head exploded maybe I would have gotten better service. I went to Walgreens for a prescription and of course the pharmacist was young and handsome and I was BEYOND mortified that we were discussing my bathroom habits.
 
Short story unnecessarily long, I went to my regular doctor yesterday and she's sending me for an ultrasound. Today I had to call her office to get the information about where to go for the ultrasound. I should have gotten the info yesterday but Sesame was so excited about the fish and frogs in the tank and the dancing Snoopy dressed like a pumpkin that I got distracted and walked right out of the office without getting the paperwork.
 
I may still have my appendix but I've lost my brain.