Just when you think you have things under control...

Hey everyone!  Boy, have I had the most interesting, and long couple of days.  I mentioned in my last blog the pipe leaks that we had in the apartment.  Well, the plumbers were jackhammering until about 9:30 at night.  We were able to find some quiet at the leasing office until around 7 or so, but were pretty much stuck with it for the rest of the time they were there.  The carpet and wall drying company also came out that day (Friday) and set up a industrial type fan and dehumidifier.  It was a long night for us.  The next day, the plumbers came at about 10:30 am and had to start the jackhammering again because they didn't find the pipe the night before.  This was Saturday.  So, my hubby and I decided to pack a backpack with some water and snacks, and head to San Diego.  We figured we could hit one of three places:  the San Diego Wild Animal Park, SeaWorld, or Cabrillo National Monument.  After determining that it was too late to pay the amount of money to get into the Wild Animal Park or SeaWorld we drove to Cabrillo.  

It's actually very cheap to get into the park, only $5.00 per vehicle.  But two lines down the fee sign, we saw that a year pass was only $15.oo.  We said "Heck Yeah!" and went with the year pass.  We stuck around for a little while, got a few pictures (which I will post in the next couple of days) and just got oriented with the park.  We were there for maybe an hour.  We only stayed a little while because we had to make a run up to hubby's parents to grab some things, and they live up in the San Gabriel Valley.  We ran up there, then swing back home for something to eat - then we head out to see "Coraline" at the Irvine Spectrum.

The movie, was great.  What happened after the movie was not.  Walking back to the parking lot, something happened in my abdomen and all of a sudden I was in extreme pain.  We're talking doubled over, crying out loud, cannot walk pain.  I said to my husband "we need to go to the emergency room" and my wonderful husband got me there within 20 minutes.

After checking in, we waited in the lobby for a couple of hours.  Finally got into a bed where they hooked me up to an IV, took some blood and a urine sample.  A very strange person came in to give me a chest x-ray.  Then, they had me drink 1000 mL of water with some contrast dye in it so they could do a CT scan of my abdomen.  So, we arrived at the ER at 12:00 am-ish and nine and a half hours later, I get released.  They did every test known to.. well, me at least.  Everything came back perfect.  They told me that my pain was just me healing and possibly doing too much.  So, I definitely learned my lesson.  They sent me home with liquid Lortab, which is what I was released with after surgery.

The scary part about this whole thing for me is that I paged my surgeon - TWICE.  Once on Friday evening when I started not feeling well, and once while we were waiting in the ER lobby.  Had he returned my page, he would have more than likely called in a RX for pain medication and I would not have had to be at the ER for as long as I was, if at all.  I am very upset about this.  My husband says to give him the benefit of the doubt, that maybe he dropped his pager in the toilet, or someone else was on call and did not respond for him.  Either way, I was in some major pain and I depended upon my surgeon to take care of me, like he promised he would.  I have my one month post op appointment with him on the 24th, but you can bet that I am going to be calling the office tomorrow.

So, sorry that this post is just me venting; but I guess if anything one good thing can be learned from my experience.   TRUST YOUR BODY.  I was lucky that there was nothing wrong with me.   But if something does not feel right - CALL YOUR SURGEON.  If for some reason you cannot get in touch with your surgeon, or anyone else from their office, do not be afraid to go to Urgent Care or the Emergency Room.

That's my story, and I am sticking to it.  But let me leave you with this:

"A good word is an easy obligation; but not to speak ill requires only our silence; which costs us nothing" -- John Tillotson