January 10th, 2006

my trip to the ER

So Sunday night I ended up going to the ER, after calling my dad and deciding that I kinda did look yellow (which turned out to be the understatement of the year). I followed the coworker to the largest hospital in the area, and parked. She said she thought I looked awfully yellow, too.

Point: If you want immediate attention at a busy ER, say you have jaundice. The response is remarkable.

I was instantly whisked back, my vitals were checked and everyone vehemently agreed I was yellow—very yellow.

Yes, the insider was severely jaundiced.

After taking some blood (four vials, sheesh), they then proceeded to give me a shot in the ass (for the itching). Let me tell ya, shots in the ass hurt really, really bad. And it didn’t work. See, jaundice is caused by a build-up of bilirubin salts in the blood, under the skin. Most antihistamines only control itch caused by things on the skin. Therefore, I have terrible itching over my entire body (including my eyeballs), and they can’t give me anything for it… except sleeping pills and phenobarbital (which “supposedly” might help the itch, but only makes me pass out.)

Then they attempted to start an IV in my right forearm and because I stress out, the vein vanished, so she had to pull it out and start it in my left elbow. In other words, I have massive bruising all over my arms—lovely.

Here’s the real fun part—they never started an IV, they just left a saline lock and a damn needle in my arm for two days. Grrr.

So I stayed overnight at the hospital two nights. They took enough blood from me (four times, 12 vials) to create another person.

They’ve run tons of tests and they still have no idea what’s wrong with me, so I’m back home now. Apparently my bilirubin was at a 10 (it’s supposed to be at a .6) when I first went it, it dropped to a 9 and now it’s back up to a 10.2… so just imagine how yellow and itchy I am. It’s disturbing. I look like Big Bird. 🙁

The drugs are starting to work now, so I’m going to bed.

Update: Telling your religious dad you’re on birth control? Not so fun. Apparently I was a little right about the bc. I could have thrombosed something near/in my liver, so tomorrow I’m going for a CAT scan and some sort of other tests.
And now my dad and mom are all appalled that I’m having sex. If I didn’t want to die before… sigh.