The last 8 days I've been experiencing a sharp pain 5-7 times a day on my upper left side. On Thursday I scheduled a physical in a few weeks and thought if it was still bothering me I'd have it checked then.
Yesterday sitting at my desk I had waves of extreme pain and pressure in my chest. I knew I wasn't having a heart attack--no nausea, sweating, etc., but it was still quite painful. I went out to lunch with a friend who offered to take me to the Med/Surg place, but that and especially the ER seemed too extreme. Finally in the afternoon after numerous waves of this pain I called the doctor and went in at 4:00.
I don't understand why the nurse has to get my height every time I go in, weight I understand more but still don't like, but why height. Then she measures me and says I'm an inch shorter than I've always been before! I was surprised and the student nurse who was job shadowing noticed my surprise. Then in the examining room, the student tried to take my blood pressure. Twice she tried and couldn't get it. I looked at her and said, "I do have some, don't I?" She said she couldn't figure why she couldn't get a reading on it because earlier she'd had her stethoscope on wrong, but she was sure it was right now! I was not very assured of her skills at that point.
Renae said no wonder I was having problems if I'm shrinking and have no blood pressure!
Because of chest pains the doctor had to have an EKG done. While the EKG was running the student nurse said, "Now what does an EKG do?" It seemed to me that she should have known that before going out in public representing her school.
I am reading John Steinbeck's East of Eden so the nurse was asking me about it. She said she'd read Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. The student nurse then said, "Steinbeck. Didn't he write Jurassic Park?" I definitely wasn't impressed with her at that point.
Anyway, the diagnosis is costochondritis. Hopefully in a few weeks after taking an ant-inflammatory the pain will be gone. And hopefully when I go back for the physical, the student nurse won't be there.
1 comment:
Well, sounds like you've had quite a day - or maybe week. I'm glad they discovered what your problem is and hope you will feel better soon. Maybe if you feel better, you can straighten up and your correct height will return. That student nurse sounds like a real airhead! Once a student nurse tried to pull some blood from me and after several sticks, the nurse took over and got it on the first try!
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