I am just going to make a new post. I wrote a prelude to what happened, in my last ER post. These have dramatic titles, but how else to distinguish them from the other ER posts?
I think I'll have to write this one tomorrow morning. Okay, I'm back. I just found out a few things about this bitch, Dr. Sarah Salemy. I don't know who she knows and just because she and her husband are from or have lived in Washington state (where I'm from) that doesn't prove anything. But I knew something was wrong with her and I know I'm right about that. I'm going to detail the events of my last ER visit, finally. And, I checked with my roommate who says I can take photos with his camera of the IV bag and line filled with my blood (which I sneaked out of the hospital). He has to get a new attachment and then I can use it and I'll upload the photos. I'm sure it will be great PR for Salemy's team, but that's what they get for the way they treated me.
So it must have been the 6th. I believe it was the 6th of this last week, which was a Tuesday.
I got up and my roommate was going into town. So I got a ride from him because I was going to visit the embassies I've talked about. My first destination was Van Ness. I was motivated to get up and get some assistance going on behalf of my son, to at least try. I cannot live with myself if I don't try. So I was highly motivated, even though I was still bleeding from miscarriage.
I still had a few painkillers left, the 4 mg. Dilaudid which was actually about right for my level of pain. I don't know why I experience more pain, but different people have different levels and I'm a redhead and there is something about our genes which makes us less tolerant to pain and to heat and cold. It's a scientific fact. I don't know if it's a different gene or melanin, but I swear it must be the truth because I feel pain acutely. Then again, I am not a pansy. I am very tough. I toughened up with running endurance, believe me. I don't wimper and cry even with a broken neck. But I tell it like it is, and if you doubt me, I'll make you pay somehow.
Okay, so my roommate takes me to the station. I sat at the cafe and went through a huge shoebox of business cards and notes from people I've met since I've been in the area. I wrote most of them into a notebook so I can take them around with me. I called the one who told me he could give me an Mac computer. I found him!!! And he REMEMBERED ME! I couldn't believe it. He still wants to give me a free computer,and then at the very end he said "God Bless" or something so he's either protestant, catholic, or who knows what. Surprising, because he picked me up and had a really nice car, and was well-dressed and it's not usually the religious ones who are as trusting. So I was excited and getting things done I should have done a long time ago. I felt fine and walked around. Sort of weak, but in general, okay.
Well, I've felt very weak, just not the same totally, just drawn physically. But I thought I was past all the ER stuff, and then I got onto the Metro to go to some embassies. I got past McPherson and to the next stop and almost passed out. I got extremely dizzy and nauseaous. I can't spell nauseous. Oh there, got it. So I felt nauseous and had to put my head down. I got off and got on the other way. I was sick enough that I wasn't functional. I knew I had to go to ER again. It wasn't a panic attack and I wasn't throwing up--I thought my CBC or BP must be off again. Or, stuff wasn't totally finished or something. I did NOT want to go to ER but I did. So I went back to GW and admitted myself to ER.
I was so glad I saw this one I liked again. Thank God, there is still some lust in me. Sigh. But what I think I really notice, is that there is something "good" about this person. I pick up on it. He is someone important, somehow. He does more than work there I think. I noticed he watches people in the reflection of window glass too, noticed this the first time I saw him. I found out his name: Russ. I won't embarrass him further. I didn't get his last name and don't need to. But he is serious take-charge and good. Gave me some magazines to look through, and yeah, he's married. Ring. There was another couple I noticed too. So I'll make my good mentions of course. There was the really tall guy with brown hair and eyes--spotter. Like him and good one. And then there was this good doctor later at ER who came to my rescue and the rescue of others and he was cute and worked hard, but I kept trying to find out his name because later I was held hostage by Salemy and practically tortured and no one would give out his name bc they were afraid I'd get through to someone who might help me. But I'll find out his name and add it here. I sort of think he might be Jewish, and he had graying hair I think and very blue, blue eyes. Take charge guy and sensitive too.
So I went to ER and they put me in the psych room. They said it was the only one available. I was thinking, "hmmm." and looking at the camera in the corner of the room. No way in Hell was I getting into the little smock and undressed with that camera on me. I told the nurse about it and she said, "it's not recorded" like, it's just live feed. Oh, that really helps. I'm not putting on a peep show for the ER people, not even Russ. So I laid there forever until English or British Doctor came. Quite a contradiction, because his first name was Italian: Bruno and he had an English accent but a French last name: Pettigreaux. He saw me briefly and I heard I might be hooked to EKG or heart stuff but my heart felt okay. Then this nurse comes back and tells me my bp and CBC are fine but starts talking about anxiety. I knew where THAT was leading, and look at what room they had me in. So I headed that nonsense off right from the bat. I told her there was pain, and I wasn't feeling well, and it wasn't anxiety, though I wouldn't dispute I had some anxiety with this whole thing and of course I'd take some pills if they were prescribed. But I denied "palpitations". I wasn't having a bloody panic attack. I was sick.
Not only that, they had claimed my miscarriage was "complete" and it WASN'T, because I had passed, just a night before, and called ER to tell them, a piece of PLACENTA. And yes, I saved it, just in case someone tried to doubt me or wanted to say it was a clot. It was a bloody piece of placenta, looked like a chicken liver and stretched to a paler color when pulled (I've become quite the scientist). So I reminded her of this, and told her I didn't think my miscarriage was completed and wondered if it was holding back and making me sick or something. I had slowed down on the bleeding so I thought this was good, but then I got so sick.
So the next thing they wanted to do, was test me for AIDs or HIV.
Oh, not to mention, I pointed out to them, all these "spots" developing on my hands and a few that had appeared on my face that morning. They were getting worse and matched the few that first showed up after I had the blood transfusion at PGH. They were red and raised like welts but looked like bug bites, but they weren't bug bites and didn't itch. Some of them were patchy and not even raised. But they were getting worse on my hands. I first showed them to the nurse and she was even trying to say anxiety can cause rashes. I cleared this up for her by telling her I first GOT them after blood transfusion. I had awoken with these two welts under my left eye and covered it with make-up. I didn't go to ER because of spots. I was going about my day anyway, because I felt fine. I figured the spots would go away. I went to ER because I was truly sick.
Then I started to cry, imagining my HIV test was going to be positive. I didn't have to take the test, but I knew I'd always been STD and HIV free and I wondered, what if that blood was bad blood. I think they all wondered too. I mean, spots all over me, not that this is a sign of HIV, but I knew it would be my luck and I shouldn't be surprised if I have HIV on top of everything. My spots were growing. Were spots a sign of HIV? So I prepared myself. The guy came back and gave me the papers with results: negative. I started to cry, I was so glad. I still have some spots so it's probably leprosy, no one knows.
I told Russ, as he wheeled me into the hallway (I made it out of psych room safely) that I was worried I was going to have AIDS and that at least now I knew I didn't have AIDs, and he or someone said something about this being a new year. Well lets hope so, but then I didn't know then that I was going to be the subject of a modern blood letting experiment.
So the whole time, I had my bottle of pills with me. I thought it might be good to try the Methergine under hospital supervision if it would help an incomplete miscarriage and I also had one 4 mg. pain pill with me, but I lied, for a good reason mind you, because I figured if someone started screwing with my pain levels, it would be my last minute rescue pill from the tormentors. I told them I was out of pain pills, but it wasn't true. It turned out, this was exactly how it played out in the end, so I was a smart cookie to do this and have the foresight to think it might happen. I had my rescue pill and I DID have to use it, as it did arise to emergency proportions.
Then I was in the hallway forever, but it was okay. Then came Dr. Collier, un petite sausage stick. She reminded me of either a sausage link or a tootsie roll, I couldn't make up my mind. She had this cropped dark brown bob and bounced-strode about twittering in French like she thought she was Amelie. She said I had to have a pelvic exam and she was abrupt and haughty with me, like nothing was wrong with me. She was so rude, I asked her if she was an OBGYN right away because I knew she was not. I told her I wanted to speak to an OBGYN and why hadn't anyone called one. I suspect they had, and that it had been Salemy behind everything. I don't know though. She wanted me to have a pelvic when I had to pee and I told her I had to pee first. SHE REFUSED TO LET ME PEE first. This woman was an idiot. So she has the other woman with her do the exam and she pressed barely on one side and asked it it hurt. I said, "I HAVE TO PEE." I told her she was barely pressing at all and when she did, I had to pee. She did this to the other side and I said the same thing. "I have to PEE." Then they concluded I had no pain in the ovaries.
First of all, they had barely touched me and my bladder was bursting full and I didn't appreciate it. I was told if my bladder was full, if there was any pain, I should feel it even more. BS. When I went to the sonogram, I had SEVERE PAIN in two different places: the left ovary where the baby was, and I guess, where my gall bladder is supposed to be, just below my ribcage on my left side, like where the heart would be but other side. Every single sonogram I had, whenever they barely touched the ovary area with the intravaginal thing, I was shouting and crying with pain. It hurt very, very, badly. And I was screaming out in pain before they ever told me there was an ectopic there.
Later they're telling me it "might" just be a luteal cyst? Yeah right, my ass. It hurt like a bitch, that was no "luteal cyst" and besides that, THIS time, I got to see the photos and both I and the radiologist were stunned, staring at what was in my ovary. It was a fucking baby that was shrinking. I had fucking twins. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
So Pepe le Peu tells me she'll call the OBGYN now and no one, is helping me with painkillers even though I have pain. Dr. Collier gave me 2 Percocet after Toradol, which did nothing. After an hour, I told Collier the Percocet did nothing and I was telling the truth, and she said give it some more time. I told her she knew very well that if it wasn't working within an HOUR it wasn't going to start working with "more time". She stared at me. She knew it.
I finally got a hold of Dr. Good Man (I almost wrote "Dr. Wonderful" and then I remembered Diana called Khan that and that would sound ridiculous like I have become a diana reincarnation if I wrote that, but he WAS wonderful). I'm going with Good Man. It was the guy with the Blue Eyes and he ordered I was to be given painkillers, and I really did need it. I was not lying, and yet I was not going to use my emergency 4 mg. unless it was dire and there was zero hope of getting help (which happened later when I was hostage to Salemy). So he gave me some relief and I then rambled a bunch of rubbish to my mother over the phone about how I felt about Dabney (thought I was in love despite all the terrible things he did, and that I didn't want any other babies except those ones they KILLED) but I was feeling very drugged initially and so much so that I even noticed this new officer-in-training in the corner who was there for a car collision with his supervisor. I wrote him a poem of encouragement which was truly hideous. I think I called him a triscuit and a puppy dog. No, I know I did. My metaphors were way out of whack. I wrote something about how his mother must love him so much and even his mother's friends must love him and see how special he was and he gave the system "hope"--on the front which I had folded over I wrote: "to the officer in training, sorry about the bad poem but I'm on drugs". And then there I was, and he could hear me talking to my mother about how I was going to OBGYN ward. I had just written I was on drugs. He probably thought poor kid, this woman is a nut. I think I even called him a lollipop, or almost did, and wrote he was shy but someone all the others would look up to and he wouldn't even have to say a word, he was a leader by action, by presence alone...on and on, this glorifying hero poem.
I later found out it wasn't that much Dilaudid but it hit me differently for some reason, and I was totally loopy at first.
Then came Salemy. The woman whose name makes me think of either Salami or Salamander. If she graduated in 1994, she's younger than me, but did she look old, at least under the hospital lights. She came up to me with a vibe I immediately picked up on.
Okay, here's my test: Russ is good, Salemy is bad. Do I get it right, or what? I am good about first impressions. Something about Russ said, this is a guy you are safe with who is looking out for you and something about Salemy said look out, she's hiding something and isn't on your side.
Dr. Salemy approached and I noticed her name badge was turned backwards so I couldn't read her name. Later, I saw her do it before approaching me, and then only right before I was leaving, the next day, I asked her what her name was and she didn't want to tell me. There was another nurse there though so she couldn't refuse and I got it. Her name tag was still turned around.
Salemy tried to basically tell me there was nothing wrong with me and I didn't have pain for painkillers, and there was nothing to do. She was trying to just discharge me and I was telling her about my concerns, that I was NOT "okay". Actually, another OBGYN came out first and said nothing was wrong but I suspected someone was behind things and asked her who her supervisor was. She looked shocked and told me it was Salemy and she'd bring her out.
Oh, and before that, I had an ultrasound which showed I DID still have things going on and could have reason for pain. I still had blood showing up on the sonogram, which the radiologist pointed out to me and she said my endometrial stripe was too thick for the miscarriage to be completed. Later, an OBGYN tried to say it was thicker than usual because I was younger and it's only in menopausal women it is thin. This isn't true. The stripe should be thinner than it is, because it was abnormally thick, and it is also possible that it is thicker because I have scarring on the uterine wall which would thicken this, from the magnetic pulse overexposure. One of the things that supposedly happens, from what I read in science and medical journals, is that this will or can cause thickening of the uterine lining which is really the result of a protective scarring and thickening because of damage. The radiologist who was with me said it was thicker than normal and was either because the miscarriage was not completed or something else was going on or had happened.
Which I agree with. She didn't volunteer information either, we talked together, which later PISSED the OBGYN people off, because I also got to see, finally, what was inside of my ovary and it wasn't a "cyst", it was a baby. Or had been.
I haven't bled very much since this ER visit, even though I said I wanted to take Methergine under supervision to see if anything else would come out. It didn't. Just light bleeding and cramps, so the miscarriage was pretty much finished, but the lining of my uterus is thicker than normal still, which could, very likely, indicate there has been scarring and thickening from the magnetic pulse, which is just one more piece of the puzzle that fits.
When I saw Salemy, I tried explaining I didn't know it was really "finished" and this was after Salemy made this out-of-context comment, saying to me, "Oh by the way, if you RECOGNIZE anyone here, it's because our residents from GW are also the ones who run the Fairfax clinic where you were." Dr. Salemy wanted me to know the interns and residents were the same and she said this in a cold and clipped, thin-lipped manner, like she was personally angry with me and hostile and making a point. Besides which, I had never said to anyone that I "recognized" anyone there and I hadn't. But she was trying to explain as if she thought I did and I didn't. When she made this comment, I said, yes, well I don't know and wouldn't know who worked there because I had only one appointment--I tried to get in earlier but I had to wait over a month because it kept getting pushed back, to which Salemy cut me off and tried to say everyone had to wait for an appointment. But as I've already documented, it wasn't exactly normal how difficult it was for me, as I documented at the time, on this blog. It was, in fact, odd. But I noticed Dr. Salemy was very defensive and trying to cut me off, like Spitzer was, who also had a heightened interest in where the fetus was going to.
After Dr. Salemy told me that their residents were a part of Fairfax clinic where I had been trying to go, the sudden disappearance of those initial GW sonogram photos of the fetus in the ovary--of the ectopic no one wanted ME to see, made a little more sense. It is plausible someone from GW was trying to cover for something Fairfax should have caught, when I went in so many times. I mean, those photos, the GW doctors did NOT want me to see and refused to let me see, but they wanted me to take Methergine to shrink the baby down, and wrote a prescription for this, while, at the same time, editing out about 40-50 photos from that sonogram, to leave only 5 for me to discover when I went back there.
Now I'm wondering, maybe the big deal wasn't the ectopic but my abnormally thickened uterine lining.
I don't know. It's just weird though, is it not? All the radiologists I talked to, said so. They said the sonogram stuff isn't stored in different places or in parts. It's either all there or not. I have a CD with me, right now, with the "just 5" or whatever photos which were found before the others were restored. Thank you to whomever for putting the rest back into the record.
So anything, Salemy was wanting to discharge me and then Dr. Nancy Gaba popped her head around the corner. I am thankful she was there because she understood exactly what I was saying and agreed with me. THAT doctor, is a professional and not just because she agreed with me, but because she was reasonable. And it is true, she did things just as I would have, if I were a doctor. Regardless of whatever she heard about me later from the Salemy team, I have respect for her. No one followed her directions though. You should have seen the look on Salemy's face--total dejection and anxiety. She did NOT want me to be taken seriously, at all. I kept wondering WHAT was WRONG with her.
So Nancy said I should be admitted to OBGYN and it was reasonable, given the ultrasound, to supervise me with the Methergine, and to control my pain, and to give me Benedryl for the "spots". She didn't have to do anything about the spots, but she was clearly doing whatever she thought would relieve my concerns. I thought she was outstanding-- A+ and I told the resident I hoped she would become a doctor of Gaba's quality and not take after Salemy.
The other weird thing, was with Dr. Good Man, he kept trying to get painkillers to me and all the residents stalled. After almost an hour, he practically grabbed someone's arm to directly help me. And then, the residents were supposed to give me an injection of Methergine, according to Gaba's orders, but no one did. They gave me Dilaudid and that was it, and then admitted me to OBGYN. The whole point was to give me Methergine so I could be supervised overnight for any reactions like hemmorhage or anything. I was also to receive a larger more potent dose through the injection.
So none of Dr. Gaba's orders were followed because as soon as she was occupied elsewhere and Salemy was in charge, nothing was done. Not only that, when I was in OBGYN and the painkillers were gone and I was in a lot of pain again, under Salemy's orders, I was to be given nothing more than Advil. Salemy was going to see to it that I suffered. I tried to get ahold of the ER doctor from before but they cut me off and wouldn't give me his name. They refused to give me yellow pages, release of information forms, or anything. And the first thing that happened, is that the nurse who first saw me into the room, Linda, who I'll never forget, mocked me as my blood began running BACK into the line and into the bag. The saline bag was empty and my blood started to go backwards, into the IV line and up into the bag, filling the bag with MY BLOOD and the nurse did nothing about it and just watched until I started to pull the cord for another nurse. I asked Linda to do something and she refused until I started calling for someone else and then she clamped on the line so my blood wouldn't keep going into the bag.
And it was all downhill from there until I left.
So I am back to this post. I took Ativan to try to sleep and had a little wine with dinner, but I'm still awake. Want to finish this post.
I forgot to mention, when I was still in ER with Dr. Collier attending, after she refused to adequately treat my pain, another guy said he'd "talk to her", so it was one these "Chris" is going to "talk to" "Niki" deals, where the guy runs after the irrational woman twerquing out like a robot whose bolts pinged off and the coils are bouncing crazy. The "I think I'll go talk to her" (and i hope, give her some medication that will calm the woman down and make her logical). All of this, heightned by hormones like I'm on the set of Grey's Anatomy. So much drama. He runs after her, "Marge the Sarge" and strokes her on the white lab coat, and doors close behind them. Darn. Didn't get to hear what was said. But her arms were crossed as she looked into his impleading eyes. Then they came back, she brushed by and he ignored me. Obviously got nowhere with her. The next thing I hear, out of the blue is: "Ms. Garrett lies a lot, you see..." and on and on about understanding how "Ms. Garrett lies a lot.." I couldn't figure out where the voice was coming from and then found it, straight ahead, the guy who had gone to "console" Collier had come back with a dose of slander to spread around to all the residents who I guess, already hated me for critizing the stupidity of their work at Fairfax Clinic where I met the infamous Army Wife. I pulled someone aside, who overhead all this, and she agreed it was totally unprofessional. The guy came to me and said Collier had told him she believed I was asking for painkillers for "secondary gains" (drug seeking). I told him she didn't know me at all, and how did she base her conclusion, when I had sonograms that showed there WAS cause for pain. So then, apologies and people nodding and admitting I was being roundly slandered back there, unnecessary, and it seems, it came from Dr. Collier.
Nice.
So that's the bit about my "being a liar" and I figured that was used or taken from the fact I lied about my name just to get taken seriously about the abnormal pain and get a fucking MRI or something done to find out what was the cause. Liar not for drugs darlings--for a grip to find a better leverage because you idiots refuse to listen to your patients and could and should be sued for not doing so and then blaming them and then allowing them to suffer needlessly when all you had to do was "fix" the problem the best you could, where it was at. Not hide all your problems and punish me by withholding painkillers as if this drawn-out ordeal hasn't been painful and MIGHT POSSIBLY have been prevented if you were any good at your jobs.
So that was backing up to the scenario in ER before I was moved to OBGYN. After seeing the lovely Dr. Nancy Gaba, and her professionalism, no one acted on her orders except to give my painkillers which was needed and good. But I was supposed to start the Methergine and no one did it. So I waited for hours and finally a bed was ready at OBGYN and it was already early morning and no one had given me Methergine, for me to be supervised while taking it. They also refused to give me anything but 800 mg. on Salemy's orders, but she believed I WAS on Methergine, so Salemy was THINKING that I was suffering MORE on the Methergine and then suddenly pulling out any painkillers. Just wanted me to suffer. I reminded them what Dr. Gaba's orders had been. So it was about 6 a.m. and I'd not received Methergine or any painkillers. They finally called to fix it and offered me Dilaudid and Methergine but it was like a bribe--take the painkiller and then take Methergine. I didn't have control of my baseline pain levels and Methergine was going to INCREASE my pain. Based on what they'd be doing, they would give me both and then the pain would be worse and I'd be left in the lurch, to suffer more with no pain control. So I took the painkiller but wanted to get a doctor's assurance my pain stuff would be controlled if I took the Methergine, because Dilaudid wears off very quickly. Gaba promised. But Salemy interferred again and tried to cut me off after I had my second dose. Then I was about to be discharged and they wrote prescriptions for things, and I noticed later, put my name and address as law requires, on every prescription except the one for painkillers. They knew I wouldn't be able to fill it without the name and address. All the other prescriptions had stamps. So I just wrote it in myself. I wasn't going back to the hospital to get them to affix the proper stamp.
Then Salemy came in, when I was in a lot of pain and said "no more painkillers" and offered Advil again. That's when I got her name. Then another guy came in and gave me a shot of Dilaudid which helped and as it wore off, I finally got up to take a shower. I was in the shower forever, about an hour. When I got out, I felt fine, but they did my bp and I was a little nauseaous, and it was 70/40. So in come the nice Lebonese guy with the cross around his neck and wildly gestures to me that "You DID THIS! LOOK aT THIS! You forced my hand to give you dialdid and now your blood pressure is low. I cannot help you anymore!" So he's like a woman, wildly emotional and blaming ME and I told him it wasn't the medication, because I'd had stronger amounts in ER and it did NOT have this affect. Something else was out of balance. But he didn't believe me. Finally, after this major drama scene and Salemy just putting a hold on even completing my treatment, I was in very bad pain, looked at the clock, and took my "rescue pill". I had saved it for the right occasion. Now, according to HIS theory, my taking MORE "dialidud" would have lowered my bp further. Well, I took a Methergine, which this nurse Maria came in and tried to get me to take with zero accompanying pain med, which even Lebanese guy criticized her about. He told you, "you know these were to go together." So Maria wanted me to suffer. I took her pill but wouldn't take it. I just held it and said I wanted to see the doctor. She freaked out bc she knew she was supposed to give me the Methergine WITH the painkiller and I have proof in my hand she was just trying to give me one. I wouldn't give it back to her. After they gained up on me and washed their hands, claiming I had lowered my own bp, I rolled my eyes, and took the Methergine along with my rescue 4 mg. Dialudid I'd been saving and took them. Then, smiling, I called in Maria and said, "I think you should know, and you might want to let the docotor know, that since you cut off my treatment and refused me painkillers for my pain, I took the Methergine you gave me, and I also took a 4 mg. pill I had been saving. So now, my might want to check my blood pressure if you think the painkillers are what lowered my bp. She freaked out, saying I shouldn't have done that. They wheeled in the machine and hooked me up.
My blood pressure of 70/40 was up to 96/56 and my nausea was gone. I had treated myself, believing the bp was due to stress from pain and nausea was from PAIN, untreated, not from painkillers.
And, it appears by the evidence, I was right. By the end of the night, when I was leaving, I was nauseaous again, and felt weak and sick and was refused painkillers. But I had made it through what would have been the worst part with my hidden secret rescue pill.
Thanks everyone, I'll take the honorary certificate when you find a new bloodwell to dip your pens in.
Next the sanitation woman was going in to collect trash. I thought about my blood filled IV and bag. After being so mean to me and holding me hostage with no pain control and constant arguments, I dashed in first with my bag saying I had to use the restroom first. The woman flipped open the lid and saw it there but turned out. I went in, and got it out of the trash and disconnected the parts which would allow blood to flow out. I left one of the two bags in the trash. The clean one I left for the garbage and I stuffed the whole bloody line and bag of my blood into my bag. Oh, was this going to be a photo op or WHAT.
Don't you DARE fuck with me again, should you be part of the medical profession and tempted to do me any harm of any kind, I am ahead of you now, and you will be famous if you dare screw with me again. I am no longer making threats after the fact, I come in prepared with a voice recorder and knowing how to stay one step ahead of YOU.
And I'm not addressing this to the good doctors out there, but those who are malignant and should be cut out for the posterity of the team.
I was very nauseaous by the time I was leaving and Salemy tried to refuse me phenergan before I left. I was ill. It was another woman who advocated for that for me and I'm thankful to her.
Still thankful to Nancy Gaba even though her people completely disregarded her orders. No, I never did get that Benedryl either, but that's alright. It was frankly, the least of my concerns. They did a good job of blocking me from being able to get ahold of someone who could help me, over Salemy, and even tried to keep me from getting ahold of a chaplain. "Is something wrong"? they asked at the nurse's station. Huh. I've got a bloody snake and a bag coiled into my purse. Yeeeah, think so. I'm pulling out "rescue pills" to mediate for stupidity again and I'm controlling my own bp and getting myself back to normal by having to circumvent peculiar assumptions and conclusions.
I am supposed to go back to that hospital for "follow up" but I can't say I have the heart to do it. I think my appointment was last Friday or that it's this coming Friday. I may just go someplace completely different and let them have a look at me.
Getting too "groupy" over there, although I am fan of a few who work there. Thank you so much for making up for the others. You did help me and I'm very thankful and wanted to right thank you notes right away but the OBGYN people wouldn't tell me names so I could get them sent out. Thank you anyway.
Here is a medical question for the students: My BP was good. Then I took dialdid when I was in a lot of pain. It began to wear off, the IV of Dialdid and I hurt and was nauseaous. My BP was then measured as dropping to 70/40. Hmmm. Bad, bad. MY response was the exact opposite of the doctors'. He wanted to keep me off of all Methergine and Dialdid. I disagreed the low BP was "caused" by the painkillers because I knew I'd not had that response before. So I took .2 Methergine as well as an oral 4 mg. Dilaudid. My blood pressure went up immediately, to 96/56 and then a half hour later, to 116/70 or something. Tell me students...Why do you think this is so?
What is your hypothesis? What did your patient hit upon on her own, which you could have considered ahead of time. I'm willing to take any and all questions. Please post comments here, any medical professionals. Thanks!
Something you could consider, is the action of Methergine on blood vessels and constriction of those vessels. Do you remember, class, how constriction of blood vessels RAISES blood pressure. By refusing me another dose of Methergine, my veins were slack and apt to influence low blood pressure. When I took another round, it may have primed the vessels so that my bp shot up. Another thing, class...
low blood pressure isn't just caused by narcotic medications and obviously this wasn't affecting my low BP. Here is a list of things to consider which can cause low bp:
Low blood pressure may be a sign of multiple conditions, including dehydration, severe infection with septic shock, endocrine (hormonal) conditions, some heart diseases, and taking certain medications. Psychological stress is not a known cause of abnormally low blood pressure.
So, it was clearly not psychosomatic, and my pain was also real. Low blood pressure and my symptoms were caused for a specific reason which you maybe should have looked into a little further because I'm still feeling periodically nauseaous and weak.
Done for now. Class over.
UPDATE: I finally added the photo. By now, and the date today is Jan. 15, 2009, time has passed and it's mainly evaporated and thinned but here it is nonetheless, and it was purple red and full when I had it first. The bag wasn't any fuller, just the IV line. I am thinking it's brighter red now because time has passed? At any rate, I was not joking.
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