Update!

Here is what I finally did about my chest pain. I did take off the next day with the intentions of seeing a doctor. However, I hurt so bad that evening after work, that I decided I should go to the emergency room. I went to St. Vincents, and spent 8 hours being poked and prodded and monitored. First they did a chest x-ray. Then they did a blood test. The blood test they do to check for the possibility of clots is called a D-dimer. This just checks for increased levels of the clot disolving substance in your blood. My D-dimer came back slightly elevated. Because of this the doctor decided to do a CT scan to rule out blood clot for sure. Has anyone ever had one of those? OMG I am such a baby. (I know) but I almost had a panic attack. The lady doing the scan told me she was going to inject contrast dye into my IV. I knew that before she told me. What I didn't know was when she told me that the dye would make my body feel hot all over, and that I would feel it and taste it in the back of my throat, and that I would feel it in my bladder, and that it would feel like I was urinating on myself. This is when I got a little freaked out. She was not kidding either. It was terrible. I felt like my body was being totally taken over, and there was nothing I could do about it. It made me feel claustrophobic. I hated it! Anyways, long story short, my CT was normal. NO blood clots for me!! Yay! I just have a bad case of pleurisy. Just like they said before. I got another decadron shot and some more steroids for home. I feel sooooo much better! I can "breathe easy" now, knowing I don't have a blood clot. (pun intended) Peace of mind was worth the 8 hours in the ER. I also would like to say, that I am sooo thankful to God for having mercy on me, even when I don't deserve it. It is when you feel you worst, that you really appreciate your life and all of the blessings in it. God is so good to me! Why do we complain over the stupidest things? Thank you Father for my life, and my family, my sweet husband who takes great care of me, my dogs, and even my job! I am soooo blessed!

Chest pain is a pain in the butt!!

I need to vent. Ok here is the deal. I inherited a lovely chest cold from my sweet hubby last week. It happens. It is almost unavoidable when u sleep in the same bed with someone. Well, I of course am the only hygienist and assistant at my work. Most of you know that. Being the trooper that I am, I go in to work all last week because I can't stand to put someone in a bind! On Wednesday I was out of zombie mode, and feeling a little better. Still had a cough but that was it. On wed. night I had a sharp pain under my left rib. Thought nothing of it. Took some gas medicine thinking maybe it was gas pain and went to bed. (sorry if that is TMI) At 3am I woke with severe pain under my left rib. I could not breathe I could not move, laying down intensified the pain, no way to get relief. I woke my hubby and told him I thought something was terribly wrong, and that I could be dying. (a little dramatic I know) I turned a lovely shade of green, got nauseated but did not throw up, and got clammy. I got dressed and told Josh that I didn't want to pass out with no clothes on,(real clothes that is. I was in my t-shirt and undies) and that he may have to take me to the emergency room. He got up with me and I sat on the couch trying to decide if I was overreacting or if I should go to the emergency room. I calmed down and convinced myself that I was overreacting, and that my off-brand gas medicine obviously did not work so I took some more. lol. I sat on the couch until 5am which is when I was supposed to get ready for work. I thought I would not be able to work with this pain in my side and having no sleep so I decided I would call in at 6 and tell my boss I was not coming. At six when my alarm went off for me to call in I realized that I had dozed off, and that is when I had second thoughts about calling in. Who calls in for gas pain!!??? I then hopped in the shower, and left for work looking like a hot mess. When I got to work I asked if it would be ok if I saw my morning patients, and then go home. We only had one afternoon patient and I hoped we could reschedule. He agreed but was obviously less than thrilled, and wanted to "see how I felt now that I was up and moving around" UGH! Yeah! Because work always makes you feel better! Well, being the loyal employee that I am, I figured I was already at work why not suck it up and stay. So that is what I did. It was the last day of the week so I knew I could survive. I survived, and that night my mom made me some "sleepy time tea" a special concoction of her own that would hopefully help with my self-diagnosed "gas pain". Well it did something alright, but the "gas pain" was still there. Only now it was in my back and my shoulder. I knew then that I needed to see a doctor. I decided to bypass the emergency room and just see a doctor at the urgent care. I hate emergency rooms. Especially Jasper's!! The dr. at the urgent care seemed a little confused by my symptoms, and decided to do bloodwork, and chest and abdominal x-rays. X-rays were normal but he said two of my liver enzymes were almost double the normal level. He said he wasn't sure what it was but thought that I may have pleurisy, gave me a decadron shot and some pain meds and told me to come back in a week for more bloodwork. Ok, well after the decadron shot I did feel better, I slept better, but when I woke on Sat, I was hurting a little more (still felt better, but not as good as I did immediately after the shot) sunday I felt a little worse than saturday, and now it is Monday, and I feel a little worse than I did on Sunday. Everyone following me? I am thinking that I should feel progressively better? Is that too optimistic? I still don't feel as bad as I did the first day I had the pain, but I am not feeling better. I did some "research" on pleurisy and it can be caused by several things. One of those things being a chest infection. (Which I had the week before) Here is where I get a little uneasy, It can also be caused by a blood clot in the lungs. Ok...... I know. If that's what it was I would probably be dead by now, but I had all of the symptoms! And I really made a mess of my birth control pills this month. Taking 2 on more than one occasion because I kept forgetting. Obviously birth control is a risk factor for blood clots!! I decided today that I want a second opinion. Just to rule out blood clot. Is that stupid? Am I overreacting? Anyways I told my boss that I would like to take tomorrow off to see another doctor. (The first time I have actually taken any time off during this ordeal) He definitely is pissed. He didn't say that, but I can tell. I even found someone to cover for me while I'm gone!!! I want to scream at the top of my lungs (if I could without excruciating pain!) MY HEALTH IS MORE IMPORTANT!!!!! I have run myself ragged trying not to inconvenience him with my sickness. KISS MY ASS!!!!!!! Sorry ladies, I would rather type it than say it. It makes me feel a little better. Any opinions appreciated. Am I overreacting? Should I just "wait and see"? Thank you to anyone who actually read this whole post. I know it was long and boring.