Oct 31
Kale's Hospital Misadventures
Oh hey, a blog that isn't a shitty emo rant. Looky there. |P
But yeah, those of you who've been in the Shack recently probably know a fair bit of this already, but for those who don't, or for those who want to know more, here it is. Just so I don't have to constantly reexplain it to everyone who asks. xD
I was in my car, being driven home from school on Wednesday, when I passed by a billboard that was reminding people of the emergency poison phone number. I of course then fantasized about having to tell someone this number as I was being afflicted by some poison, because I'm weird like that. My chest started hurting then, but I laughed at myself and put it off as my subconscious fucking with me.
I don't know if I had the pains for much of the afternoon, but I do remember that they returned at about 6:30 to 7:00. I figured it was just heart burn or something since I had just ate and again put it off as nothing. But it persisted for a while, much longer than heart burn should have. As I got up to get another drink in an attempt to soothe it, I told my stepmom about it. She of course started worrying, asking me other questions about how I felt. I told her I felt fine other than that. She ended up texting and calling my dad who was at work, and then assaulted me with other questions that he suggested, such as how it felt. He recommended that I take something for gas, as that was what he thought it probably was, and that my stepmom keep an eye on me.
Perhaps an hour after taking the medicine, my chest still hurt. My dad had come home at that point and they were debating whether they should wait until the morning or if they should take me to a clinic ASAP. Just as I was about to mention that my left arm was also hurting, he had decided that I was going that night. So we went, and after a bit of a wait despite the fact that almost no one else was there, I got a room and we waited for the doctors. They did what tests they had available there, such as EKGs and blood tests, and the results weren't great. A certain enzyme which I don't recall the name of happened to be elevated in my blood. This enzyme just so happens to be released from the heart when someone is having a heart attack. They doubted that someone my age could be having a heart attack, and suggested that it was perhaps an infection. They didn't rule out the former possibility however. They told us to go to the ER at the local hospital and sent the information they had gathered ahead of us. By this time, the pain in my chest seemed to have disappeared almost completely.
After a wait, I was admitted in an ER (I disliked the fact that I had to be wheeled around in a wheelchair even though I could walk perfectly fine) and had probes hooked to me so that they could see my vitals. Despite my blood pressure being higher than normal (which is really normal for me, but not normal for most other people), there were no anomalous readings. They performed more blood tests and EKGs, but could discover no more than the clinic had. They told us after a long wait (it was perhaps 3:00 in the morning at this point) that I was to be transferred to a pediatric hospital a state away in Arkansas because they didn't have the equipment nor training to deal with this sort of thing. I was hoping I would get to fly there, but they said the weather wasn't looking good so I would have to be driven there via ambulance. I was loaded up onto a stretcher (my god, that thing was uncomfortable) and put into the ambulance, where I slept through most of the ride by some miracle. I arrived at the pediatric hospital around 5:30, and my dad was driving by himself with some of my things from home, who arrived shortly after I did.
I believe they did another EKG and blood test after I got there, but then let me get some sleep so they could do more in the morning. This is where things start to jumble together and I don't recall exactly what happened. Not much of interest, really. They did some tests, diagnosed me with viral myopericarditis (inflammation of the tissue around the heart which causes chest pains and the release of that certain enzyme into the bloodstream, which is apparently the same strand of virus as the common cold except it somehow worked its way into my heart), had me stay until those enzyme levels started to return to normal, and finally released me after making sure that my heart hadn't been damaged and that it was working fine. My chest would occasionally hurt, but they had pain medicine for it, so for the most part I felt and acted like I really didn't need to be there.
So... uh, yeah. I think that's about it. I'm home now, and I don't have to go to school for a few days, because my dad has to set up an appointment with my usual pediatrician for a check up before I can return. Yay.
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 7:21 PM Jul 24
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