Tuesday started out normally. I ate my breakfast of oatmeal, and sat down with my computer for the half hour before I had to get going. I had a cold a few days ago, and am still dealing with the "left-overs", so to speak. When I blew my nose, I noticed my lower abdomin hurt. I assumed it was my intestines digesting and left it at that.
I got ready, and walked a mile to work, knitting as I went. Once I arrived at work, I needed to blow my nose again. The pain, very faint, was still present. So, being the obsesser I am, I pushed on my groin, right where my leg attaches to my hip, to see why it hurt. I screamed.
I assumed it was a lymph node. The husband was already coming by work to drop off some Splenda for my tea, so I used the time to look up lymph node pain. Websites said that they swelled when they were fighting an infection nearby. Not anything I would normally worry about, even thought the pain was immense. Except, I had an abnormally large node under my chin over the weekend, and two swollen nodes in two different parts of my body were not a good sign.
The husband concured, especially after I screamed in his ear when he poked it. He called the hospital, who had no appointments that day. Urgent care it was.
Bottom line, I spent the day getting tests taken. Some rather innoculus, like a urine anallysis. Others, scary as hell. At then end of the day I had two Ultrasounds, and a CAT scan, and had been told I would more than likely need surgery that day, or the next. I spent the day bouncing from doctor to doctor, knitting and appologizing to the husband for making him miss a day of school.
When we finally got to the surgery consultation, he said that the previous diagnosis was ridiculus, and it was a swollen lymph node, possibly made worse by the fact I had been stressed about losing my job the past three weeks. He also said that next time I shouldn't go to Urgent Care. Oh yea, that's a great thing to say. I was literally screaming in pain and I should have waited until I could get an appointment the next day.
Now, I am just dreading the medical bill. I wish medicine was like other services. If they make a mistake, they have to fit the bill. I had three major tests done, all for nothing. I have decent insureance, but I know they won't cover everything. The kicker? I got a percription for Vicadin for less than $4. Now I am a VERY law-abiding citizen, but I find it hilarious that I could sell those extra pills and earn more than enough to cover the bill.
At the end of all this, I find three things very amusing. 1: I joked that I wanted to meet Dr. House, and with the incorrect diagnosis, I was the talk of the hospital and just might have. 2: I really was afraid at first they would make me get a Tetnus shot. TWO IV's were instead my fate. 3: There was a pie-shaped candle in the CAT scan room. I liked looking at it as the machine scanned the radioactive liquid running through my allegedly leaking veins.
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