She will be loved
2002-07-08
Another visit to the ER
Last night I pulled my back out when I was at my sister's. We were trying to sort out her living room closet and we moved a small air conditioner. Moving the a/c was no problem, but a couple of minutes later I bent over to pick up a bag of garbage and suddenly pain was radiating out of the lower part of my back. It was the worst pain that I have ever felt. I managed to make it to the couch, where I layed for two hours. I honestly could not move, the spasms would come back with every slight movement. I managed to slide to the floor where I layed on my back for another hour before calling the insurance company to see if they could tell me what to do. The nurse said that since I couldn't even move, I better get to the hospital. We called 911 and they sent an ambulance.The EMTs were really nice. I was worried for awhile, I thought they knew that I had been getting high earlier. One of them tested my eyes with the little flashlight and told his partner that my eyes were pearl. I had no idea what that meant, I thought maybe it meant that my eyes were dilated or glassy from drugs. But a little while ago, I looked online and found out that PEARL means Pupils Equal And Reactive to Light. Phew!
They called for backup and when they got there, they helped me into a special chair that enabled them to carry me down the stairs, two flights. It was so hard to get into that chair, the spasms were so painful. Then I got into the stretcher when we got into the lobby, more pain. The ambulance ride wasn't too bad, just answering more questions. Then once we got into the hospital, I had to move again to get onto the hospital bed. By that time, the pain was so severe that I thought I was going to die.
The doctor told me that I had probably pulled my back out and they would give me pain medication and spasm medication. They wanted me to stay in the bed until I felt that I could move. They did the usual tests, blood sugar, blood pressure, temperature, etc. My temperature was over 100, so they wanted to do a urine test to see if I had an infection (I sure hope they don't test for marijuana). It took a lot of lifting and pain to get the bedpan underneath me. My body was at such an angle that my butt was over the pan, so I could've pooped but not pee. It hurt to much to try to realign my body or shift the pan. After about 15 minutes, the nurse felt that he couldn't wait anymore and came walking in with a bunch of supplies and another male nurse. I said, "Please tell me that not a catheter, no way!" He said, "It is." So I begged them to give me more time, I would do whatever it takes to prevent a catheter. They agreed.
The nurse kept coming back to check the status of my pee. He even ran the water in a sink near me for awhile, but it didn't help. He was very nice but I could tell that he was getting frustrated. After another 15 minutes, he and the other nurse came back and said they had to do the catheter, they couldn't wait any longer. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was just a tube inserted in me and it was over in a few seconds. I didn't even feel myself peeing. I'm amazed that I didn't feel more violated, it must've been the drugs.
After that, my sister came in to sit with me. I dozed on and off for probably another 2 hours until I felt able to slide out of bed into a wheelchair. That was another load of pain. We went to Walgreens to get my persciptions filled and pick up a heating pad, well she went, I slept in the car.
With her help, I made it upstairs to my apartment and slowly lowered myself into bed and conked out. She came over this afternoon and helped me some more. I was able to make it to the couch and she set up the heating pad for me. I slept on the pad for about 7 hours until she came over with chinese food for dinner.
Right now I'm feeling pretty good, at least good enough to sit up straight at the computer. Sitting up is very difficult for me. It takes about 5 minutes to get into a sitting position, and at times it's too painful and I can't align my back. After sitting, it takes several minutes to stand, I have to hold on to everything. Walking is tough, too. But I'm handling it for now.
I don't think I'll stay online too much longer, I want to get back to that lovely heating pad.
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