I'm in the Hospital
 

I went to the urgent care clinic this afternoon to get some antibiotics so I can finally kick this sinus infection that's been dragging me down all week. Of course they checked my blood pressure and it was some crazy number, like 215/150, something like that. They made me go to the hospital ER. Hospital decided to keep me; maybe for a couple days!

This stinks. I have too much to do to be stuck here.

Meds they gave me in the IV for the BP made me really sick. Twice, two different meds. Now they've got me in ICU! I just now started feeling OK again.

They've done bloodwork, chest x-ray and a ct scan of my head, all OK. More tests tomorrow. I've got good insurance but this will still cost a bunch, I'm afraid.

I am so sad because I was supposed to drive daughter to Columbus for a cheer competition tomorrow. She is getting a ride with another girl. I sure hope I'm out in time so I don't miss any classes. Next week's the last week of classes.

Typing one-handed on my little laptop!

STOP!

stop worrying about your daughter, ahe'll be fine

stop fretting and you'll be fine.

Juni, thats awful.
Hang in there, I'll be sending you good vibes. Don't worry about what all you need to do, just get well again.
Your daughter will understand that you can't be there, although I know you are sorely disappointed. Maybe if you can atleast get a video of it, afterward you can throw a bash/party and show the competition.
But don't worry too much about that now, you need to rest and get better.

Monnie's right, Juniper, Stop. Stop winding yourself up about stuff you can't do anything about. Rest and try to be peaceful. You'll have a much faster recovery.

That said: this totally suxxors. You have my sympathy and good vibes from over the pond.

Many kind thoughts to you Juniper.

And like everyone else says - PLEASE don't fret.
Life is tough, life is hard, but life goes on.
You're not the be all and end all of other people's lives - take this time out so that you can continue living and loving the people that currently depend on you.

Many things are bigger than day to day events, and your health is one of them. Even your education. Mmm-kay?

Juni - it will be OK! Being in hosp. (ESP. the ICU) does bite a donkey's arse but just be cool. If your BP went on like that much longer, sweetie, I'm afraid you wouldn't be here at all - !!! Be glad it's been caught and let the Universe show you the way.
Everything's got it's reason.

Take care Juniper.

Ditto everyone else's comments. School, your daughter -- all will wait for you. Take care of yourself -- this is too serious a thing to ignore.

Best wishes for a thorough and speedy recovery!

Eeek! Do they know why your blood pressure is so high?

Take care of yourself and get well soon!

Poor Juni... take care of yourself and get better.

Feel better soon, juni.

I hope you get well soon. Don't worry about anything but getting well

yeah, and all the get well stuff too. That really sucks, but spend your time in the ICU being frivolous and silly instead of serious and responsible. it's your wake-up call. by all means go online and come on the cellar, but read the funnies, look at pleasing pictures and make like you're 10 again.

Juni, any update? :worried:

In my own humble fashion, I'd just like to say SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GET BETTER!!! Your daughter's cheering and your classes don't
won't mean shit if you're dead.
So get well damn it!!!

High blood pressure is not something to mess around with, Juni. If those numbers you gave are anywhere near accurate, they are astronomical. Your daughter wants you alive more than she wants you to drive her to cheer events, m'kay?

When they do let you out, be prepared to be told you have to make some major lifestyle changes, and probably be on daily meds from here on out. The good news is, it's very controllable. But whatever you do, don't blow it off. I hope you're feeling better soon!

Thinking of you Juni, take care of yourself.

There's not much else I can add than anyone hasn't already said Juni. I just hope you're feeling better by the time you get to read this thread again. Take care of yourself, and go to the doc sooner next time. :)

Those BP numbers are pretty high! Glad the docs caught it in time. I hope you'll feel AND get better soon too. I heard that extended high blood pressure will damage the liver, so it's a good thing it was discovered in time and being taken cared of.

Glad this was caught. Take care of yourself!

OK, ok. I am home. I got out in time to drive the hour or so to Columbus and got to see her 2nd cheer performance, have dinner out with another family, and she was glad to be driven home by mom. Went to school today. Now I'm trying to catch up with everything I didn't get done during my little "vacation." UGH, a mountain of laundry! I still need to go get my prescription filled. Going to do that now and do grocery shopping 'cause we're out of everything. Got papers due tomorrow and Wed. - they are written but need a little editing. Life ain't gonna slow down for me so it's a good thing they make drugs.

I must amend that statement. Life won't slow down for me NOW. But I am going to make plans to slow it down in the future. I've been giving serious consideration to my desire to get umptyzillion things done as fast as possible. Been doing it so long I don't know how to change, but I'm going to work on it. Realistically it won't matter if I finish my degree and start my grad program in fall 2010 - it's a 2- year program you HAVE to start at that particular time or else wait another 2 years. So what if I wait another 2 years to start it? In 2 years I might not even care about it anymore. Who knows?

::sigh:: I've worried for so long that people think I'm a slacker, tried to work hard enough that no way could I be called one. But so what if I am a slacker? What does that say about the people who give out labels?

Thanks everyone for the encouraging notes.

Juni - take a big breath, sit back and relax! you don't have to DO anything! You don't have to earn the right to be here - just breathe in and out and that's all you need to do. oh, that and get that RX filled :)

Juni, so glad you're okay (for now). But this is a wake-up call; don't ignore it. You are not a slacker. You don't have to be a super-human to prove it.

Your daughter would much rather have her mom around to see her graduate from college, maybe get married, have kids, whatever... None of which you will see if you work yourself into an early grave.

It's good to be a slacker now and then. I've discovered this over the last month or so. I can't say I could do it indefinitely, but it's nice to finally realize that it's ok to leave things go a bit and that the world wont end if you don't tidy up today. ;)

You can take that on good authority too. I tend to be a bit OC about cleaning and tidying ... apparently.

Juni: as a mature student, you may find that your college is prepared to give you leeway with your papers. Do you have a system for getting extensions?

that kind of stress may have made your bp go up in the first place. Better to relax and enjoy life.

Glad to hear you're better. Please don't call or consider yourself a slacker. Because if you do, I'm afraid to know what you would consider slackers like me. :p And geez whiz, have your family help you out. Don't do all the errands yourself.

Yeah. If you're a slacker then I'm a...

Oh who'm I kidding. Doesnt matter what you call yourself I'm an idle sod!

lol@ Dana

Juniper I learned today that one of the reasons I dislike my myself so much is a physical issue I had no choice about and can do virtually nothing about anyway.

It might be at the root of my depression, almost definitely at the bottom of my alcohol problem and undeniably the reason for my low self esteem. And finding this out hasn't helped at all. At least not yet, I just have to hope it will in future.

Please consider counselling. Not because you're "broken" in some way. Just because unless you understand why you over-achieve you might lose all of the things that are so important to you. And by lose I mean the ultimate loss. You might deny your children a mother and your husband a wife because you die young.

Hope that doesn't sound like I'm being a Premium Rated Bitch. But it would be worth it if you considered what's driving you and what yo uneed to address in order to slow down. Of course it might be simple and you can recognise it yourself. Good luck either way.

I woke up this morning with swollen lips that made me look like a . . . I don't know what, maybe a Dr. Seuss character. Gross! Last day of classes, too; hope I didn't miss much. Fortunately DH was off work today (and all weekend) so he got the kids off to school and I headed over to the ER.

I am told this is one of the BP med's possible allergic reactions, though rare. All ACE inhibitors, I'm told. Oh joy. So they gave me IV steroids and Benadryl, which totally knocked me out. I knew Benadryl could make people a little sleepy, but wow! So I slept all day and my car is still at the hospital.

Still swollen but better. I have a headache and I am still feeling pretty sorry for myself. I am sorry if I offended anyone the other day. I am not in a particularly good state emotionally right now. I feel...broken.

Got a doctor appt. tomorrow so I can have a different bp med. I hope I can get this all taken care of in time for our big Disney trip. I was already nervous about the trip and this isn't helping!

Sorry to hear that, Jupe, you MUST chill, though. Your degree will do you no good when you're dead, stressed people don't heal so fast.

I was in the hospital last night. seems to be the season. extreme sciatic pain they couldn't get under control at the urgent care clinic, so I got to ride in a big white ambulance after being ignored writing in agony for a couple of hours. It was finally under control enough for me to be able to sleep around 3am (after 6 pain meds and three nausea meds) so they woke me up and sent me home. that's private health care for ya! :lol: :p

what monster said, Juni. I am a firm believer that all things happen for a reason. For some reason, you are being asked to slow down. PLEASE! Try to relax - why are you nervous about the trip?

monster - sorry to hear about that; are you ok now? (Sent home with an Rx?) yeah, our health care system - it rocks, doesn't it? ;)

Lots of Rx's -all your faves :D Not mine, though. Now I just have pins and needles in my foot -I think the neve has untrapped itself as i was a good day and stayed in bed all day. the last med i took was half a percocet at 1pm. more precautionary than anything.

i'm telling you, though, I HAVE NEVER EVER EVER FELT PAIN LIKE THAT BEFOE AND I NEVER. EVER. WANT TO AGAIN. and I have has two bouts with sciatic nerve pain/back trouble before and 3 c-sections for which I took no pain killers. but thankfully it seems to be easy come easy go

Aw, I'm so sorry monster. I've had sciatic pain too, though mine is generally just little jabs that startle me but go away in a few moments. I can't imagine having that kind of pain for hours. Take care of yourself!

I have, have you? ;)

You might have a herniated/ruptured disc. At least that's what it sounds like to me. Was the pain in your back/leg, or your foot? it's unclear to me. I had a herniated disc and that's how it felt to me. I eventually had surgery. woke up and the pain was completely gone. woo hoo! it has come back over the years though, but nothing like it what it was originally.

Juniper, I don't know you, but damn! I hope you're feeling better!

Have I what? Taken care of myself? Sure. I'm going to the doctor now. Of course I've already been to the BMV this morning to renew some tags, and now I have to take my son to the doc with me because he's puking. It really doesn't ever stop. :) The swelling has gone down and I look normal again; I'll probably be fine if I stop taking the prednisone they gave me because that suppresses the immune system and I don't want what the boy has on top of everything.

Sweet mother of God, fucking rest woman. Now is the time to find alternatives to you running about all over the place: even if it costs you, even if it's just for a week. Talk to your course teachers try to get extensions on any pressing assignments that might be causing you stress. Enlist the assistance of anyone and everyone to run your kids to their various important things. Miss important dates if you have to.

Don't take chances on this Juni.

oh, and hope you feel better soon m'dear. *hugs*

Don't worry, Dana. School's done now, I just have three exams, two Monday, another on Thurs. I feel fine, my BP was 140/100 in the doc's office today, much better. I have a new prescription, one I've taken in the past, so I should be good to go. It's just been a pain in the ass getting to this point. :)

140/100 is NOT good... sure, it's better but not healthy.
Get help with laundry, BMV, etc, or let it slide.
Pick your priorities and work on them alone.

Here, make a list of priorities.

1- Get healthy
2-
3-
4-

Juniper, its time for you now, before you and your family wont have a choice about it.

Okay, this is what we're saying, and it sounds like you know it. You can make plans to slow down all you want, but you need to consider slowing down now; at least temporarily.

My blood pressure has been higher than normal lately too, so I'd like to know what they tell you to reduce it.

As far as being a slacker . . . that made me kinda smile. I hate, hate, hate being busy like that. I'm such a slow energy person, that I can only handle a few things at a time. I've struggled with terrible feelings of guilt over that for much of my life, because our society places such value on overachievement and the woman's rule in taking care of everyone else but herself.

You have to take care of yourself first. Let go some of that stuff. Get your family to help with the laundry and other stuff!

yup. :D


sugar, is most probably a bulging disc pressing on the nerve caused by a combination of too much weird excercise/movement, over-flexibility of the spine, carrying too many things in too many ways, and flabby abs. At least that was the reason the last two times, but it just has never been as severe as this before. Pain never came back after I got home, I took the drugs for the first 12 hours, (well, almost) and then stopped. and I've had no pain since. I'm being careful. Apart from the occasional accident ....like the couple of hours I just spent tidying the garden..... but I made the kids brush up and can the leaves after I raked them and had beest move the heavy stuff.. honest. and now I'm resting and taking a muscle relaxant. :D

(Surgery it most likely not necessary, the correct exercises can "push" it back in and then train the other muscles (e.g.) the abs, to assume the correct amount of control to keep it where it should be. I've been slacking on the crunchies lately, i must admit.....)

Well monster, I really sympathize with people who live in chronic pain, because I do. It really sucks. I don't have muscle relaxers, but I do take hydrocodone on a fairly regular basis. I try not to take them unless the pain is really severe, but the pills really do make the pain go away, so it's hard not to take them all the time. All I know is, getting older really reeks. :D

i recommend beer over tablets ;)

Oh trust me. I do drink beer. Well, not crappy beer like Bud or Coors, but REAL BEER, like ales and stouts and barleywines. YUMSTERS! :D My ex used a have a "beer wall." He saved a bottle of every new beer we tried, and eventually he just built a wall for them. Then he had to start packing them in boxes because the wall ran out of room. He was going to build a new one, but we split up and he moved. I imagine he will eventually build another one. Maybe I'll post a picture of it later. Right now I have a belzebuth and a porter of some kind in the fridge. :D

Won't the tablets make the beer taste funny?