On Tuesday morning I was rushed into hospital by my adorable housemate Miles because I was suffering from quite the most agonizing pain in my left side that I have ever felt. Ever.
After registering at the A+E department (yes, one has to register, even if one is about to keel over, going grey and sweating, like I was), we sat and waited til a nurse could see me, and then some time later, a doctor saw me. By this point, I was literally crying with pain, and actually getting quite scared that, well, that I might die. My vision was blurring, I couldn't hear properly and I couldn't do anything to alleviate the pain. The doctor examined me and finally announced that I needed morphine.
Well, fuck-me-sideways, that's obviously a diagnosis and a half. Give the girl some fucking painkillers. It did work though, I have to say, but only after a trainee doctor had abused my left arm trying to get the IV drip needle into it so they could administer said hardcore painkiller. Ouch. As an aside, when they finally removed it two days later, I saw that it was a whole 4 inches long. *Faint*
Their initial thought was that there was something wrong with one of my kidneys. In order to clarify this, they decided to inject me full of Iodine and then x-ray me periodically throughout the day to see how the liquid travelled through my system. Cue me having to change out of my own clothes and wear TWO hospital gowns. Oh, how sexy I looked. They also declared me Nil By Mouth until further notice. I was wheeled around between the X-ray unit and the CDU (Clinical Decision Unit) more times than I care to remember, all the while feeling very odd from the painkillers and my lovely housemate trying to keep my spirits up (but, as he has now told me, getting more and more worried as no-one seemed to know exactly what was wrong with me, or indeed, how they were going to fix me).
Eventually, they said to me - Miss Hall, your left kidney appears to be entirely blocked and it is not working. I thought I was going to faint. They then went on to tell me all the lovely and diverse things that they could do to fix me - the next day. That meant staying in hospital all night :(
The last time I had to stay in overnight was when I was 11 and had my appendix removed. I wasn't prepared for it really, but by this point, I didn't really care. Miles bid me goodnight (and Tom did too, bless him, thanks for the Dragonlance book!) and I tried to sleep.
Sleeping in hospital is a really, odd experience. I kept nodding off dispite the pain, being woken up to take more pills, being wheeled around, listening to people snore, trying to read, thinking that one of the nurses was my auntie, and then waking up in a whole new place altogether - Chichester Ward (When Miles showed up the next morning and was told that I had been moved to Chichester, he almost needed a bed of his own to lie down on!) I was told that I would need surgery/didn't need surgery/needed more x-rays. I decided to just let them get on with it.
The long and the short of this is - I apparently had a kidney stone, which has now gone, I didn't need surgery in the end, and I spent two bizarre days in hospital.
I will be drinking a lot more water from now on ;)
And what's the best way of getting over a traumatic hospital experience? Going shopping with your Mum, taking it slow and discovering that the T-Chest, your fave t-shirt shop is having a buy 1 get 1 free sale - so you end up with 3 t-shirts with hot naked japanese chicks on them :D Oh, and a new skirt....and a new bag...and the 4th Sandman novel...YAYNESS.
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