2010 September...
ER visit number ONE. This is a large hospital that I went to, in fact it is recognized as one of the top five hospitals in the world for a lot of different diseases and conditions including GI conditions. It is a teaching hospital and of course connected to one of the top medical schools in the USA. Doesn't matter. I waited in the ER for over 6 hours
Side note: Thank you GNC Crohn's Man for the wonderful post "How to get the best and fastest emergancy room care" If i had only known! If you are new to this whole mess please read that post and the accompanying comments they will save you a lot of grief and hopefully spare you a lot of suffering when you find yourself in the ER.
Pain, pain pain...there was moments of morbid entertainment though...patient scuffles with security, the obnoxious and mentally ill...the young man who was suffering a panic attack who sat down next to me to proclaim he was there primarily to get his hands on valum the only thing that he said would take his panic away; he complianed too about the wait. He had been there for 7 hours and counting. They did call him back just before they got to me. His face looked relieved as he shuffled down the hall encased in his white hospital blanket like a character from biblical times.
My turn. IV saline drip. Antibiotic bag. Need a shot? sure. morphine. AHHHH....steady there..Im feeling better now. About an hour later it was determined that I could go home...I expressed as much when I came in..I did not want to stay. They gave me scripts and told me if I cannot keep down fluids or the medication I must come back....heres hoping.
ER visit two. Three days later i was at a different ER. Seen almost within minutes of arrival. This hospital is within the same group of hospitals as the first one I went too so i just handed them the discharge papers with my patient ID on them and they were able to pull my records up. They gave me an IV saline and went over blood work....nothing too dramatic. Pain pill ...something i learned you can take ZOFRAN and let it dissolve sub lingual (under your tongue). I was there because i could not stop vomiting. I took the zofran but would throw it back up within minutes...it was useless. Now armed with this knowledge...HA! I thought I could go back home and everything would be ok. Take the antibiotics, the pain pill, the zofran LET IT DISSOLVE UNDER YOUR TONGUE...take the asacol...you will be fine...
ER visit three. four days later...same hospital. Was admitted right away. Temp was 104F (40C) been running a temp for over a week now. BP was very low and heart rate was pretty high. They jumped into action right away...IV saline drip. pain injection. phenagrin ( i like phenegran! it works nice....i like zofran too but for the bad bad stuff its phen for me...). They put me on a clear liquid diet the first couple days. I had 2 CT scans and a colonoscopy. Every day blood work was being done. Mostly monitoring nutrient levels and enzyme levels for kidney and liver function. Started antibiotics right away. Three different kinds. About the third or fourth day I went on steroids IV. They eventually gave me three different kind of steroids...The fourth day TPN (total parenteral nutrition. This is a customized, in my case and most cases, fluid that is fed through usually a picc line in the arm or neck to provide the body with nutrients when oral intake is not possible or oral intake as in cases of severe colitis is not recommended to offer complete bowel rest). Stabilize that is the name of the game.
I know most of you have been through all this and more. I know that a lot of what you read here is so familiar it might make you cringe because as I have read since finding this forum it scared me to find the similarities and the suffering that is ongoing in our lives. I am still in a subtle form of denial about all this. I have a wonderful girlfriend who is completely understanding who am I so grateful for, and I have family and friends (some of whom don't get it and some do. as is the case I am sure with most of you too.) The point is I have been out of the hospital a couple weeks now and I am happy to find a place online with people who do understand and have information that no one else seems to know.
They diagnosed me with Crohn's Disease. My entire colon is inflamed at the moment so I am on steroids, antibiotics, pain killers, anti nausea drugs and anti inflammatory drugs. Next step is remicade but only after this flare is relatively under control. I think I was in such sad shape they thought I should get this under control before starting something with the possible side effects of remicade.
At any rate i was counseled by 6 surgeons and 3 GIs an infectious disease doctor and a litany of other doctors. I questioned my GI that originally diagnosed me with UC. He said there are 3% of the patients out there that present signs that are so close to one another that a misdiagnosis is common in those people.
This would make sense as I get mouth sores and this latest flare also came with joint pain throughout my whole body relief was had by taking a relatively hot shower and standing there for twenty minutes or so. I also have some sort of eczema that has totally evaporated since being on the steroids. Well I know it has been long winded. I thank you for reading about my little slice of heaven and I am glad I have a place to come now where people get it.
ER visit number ONE. This is a large hospital that I went to, in fact it is recognized as one of the top five hospitals in the world for a lot of different diseases and conditions including GI conditions. It is a teaching hospital and of course connected to one of the top medical schools in the USA. Doesn't matter. I waited in the ER for over 6 hours
Side note: Thank you GNC Crohn's Man for the wonderful post "How to get the best and fastest emergancy room care" If i had only known! If you are new to this whole mess please read that post and the accompanying comments they will save you a lot of grief and hopefully spare you a lot of suffering when you find yourself in the ER.
Pain, pain pain...there was moments of morbid entertainment though...patient scuffles with security, the obnoxious and mentally ill...the young man who was suffering a panic attack who sat down next to me to proclaim he was there primarily to get his hands on valum the only thing that he said would take his panic away; he complianed too about the wait. He had been there for 7 hours and counting. They did call him back just before they got to me. His face looked relieved as he shuffled down the hall encased in his white hospital blanket like a character from biblical times.
My turn. IV saline drip. Antibiotic bag. Need a shot? sure. morphine. AHHHH....steady there..Im feeling better now. About an hour later it was determined that I could go home...I expressed as much when I came in..I did not want to stay. They gave me scripts and told me if I cannot keep down fluids or the medication I must come back....heres hoping.
ER visit two. Three days later i was at a different ER. Seen almost within minutes of arrival. This hospital is within the same group of hospitals as the first one I went too so i just handed them the discharge papers with my patient ID on them and they were able to pull my records up. They gave me an IV saline and went over blood work....nothing too dramatic. Pain pill ...something i learned you can take ZOFRAN and let it dissolve sub lingual (under your tongue). I was there because i could not stop vomiting. I took the zofran but would throw it back up within minutes...it was useless. Now armed with this knowledge...HA! I thought I could go back home and everything would be ok. Take the antibiotics, the pain pill, the zofran LET IT DISSOLVE UNDER YOUR TONGUE...take the asacol...you will be fine...
ER visit three. four days later...same hospital. Was admitted right away. Temp was 104F (40C) been running a temp for over a week now. BP was very low and heart rate was pretty high. They jumped into action right away...IV saline drip. pain injection. phenagrin ( i like phenegran! it works nice....i like zofran too but for the bad bad stuff its phen for me...). They put me on a clear liquid diet the first couple days. I had 2 CT scans and a colonoscopy. Every day blood work was being done. Mostly monitoring nutrient levels and enzyme levels for kidney and liver function. Started antibiotics right away. Three different kinds. About the third or fourth day I went on steroids IV. They eventually gave me three different kind of steroids...The fourth day TPN (total parenteral nutrition. This is a customized, in my case and most cases, fluid that is fed through usually a picc line in the arm or neck to provide the body with nutrients when oral intake is not possible or oral intake as in cases of severe colitis is not recommended to offer complete bowel rest). Stabilize that is the name of the game.
I know most of you have been through all this and more. I know that a lot of what you read here is so familiar it might make you cringe because as I have read since finding this forum it scared me to find the similarities and the suffering that is ongoing in our lives. I am still in a subtle form of denial about all this. I have a wonderful girlfriend who is completely understanding who am I so grateful for, and I have family and friends (some of whom don't get it and some do. as is the case I am sure with most of you too.) The point is I have been out of the hospital a couple weeks now and I am happy to find a place online with people who do understand and have information that no one else seems to know.
They diagnosed me with Crohn's Disease. My entire colon is inflamed at the moment so I am on steroids, antibiotics, pain killers, anti nausea drugs and anti inflammatory drugs. Next step is remicade but only after this flare is relatively under control. I think I was in such sad shape they thought I should get this under control before starting something with the possible side effects of remicade.
At any rate i was counseled by 6 surgeons and 3 GIs an infectious disease doctor and a litany of other doctors. I questioned my GI that originally diagnosed me with UC. He said there are 3% of the patients out there that present signs that are so close to one another that a misdiagnosis is common in those people.
This would make sense as I get mouth sores and this latest flare also came with joint pain throughout my whole body relief was had by taking a relatively hot shower and standing there for twenty minutes or so. I also have some sort of eczema that has totally evaporated since being on the steroids. Well I know it has been long winded. I thank you for reading about my little slice of heaven and I am glad I have a place to come now where people get it.
Roo was fortunate in that both times we went to emergency we only had to wait the length of time it took to do paperwork (5 mins). I hope to see you around the forums and get to know you better. Good luck with the meds.
