Holy Crap!

I had a pretty crazy night last night. I was at work and around 5:00 p.m. I started to feel some discomfort just below my sternum and ribcage. I didn't really think much about it because we had gone out for mexican food and I had a pretty big lunch, so I thought maybe it was just some indigestion. By about 5:45 it had gotten quite a bit worse, so I left work and went home. By the time I got home I was in quite a lot of pain. I was moaning, and I kept repositioning myself to find a comfortable position to either stand, sit or lay in. I took some tums and some pepto, and after about 20-30 minutes when the pain hadn't gotten any better, I told Lindsay she better take me to the emergency room. So I got to the ER around 6:45 and they took chest x-rays and took a blood sample. It was so busy that it took about 2 1/2 hours before I finally got to see a Dr. In the mean time, the pain had gotten even worse. When they checked me in, I rated the pain as 9.5 on a scale of 10. While I was sitting in the waiting room I started sweating, and I was just sitting there moaning and groaning the whole time. Finally, I couldn't sit anymore so I got up and started pacing. It was about that time that I nearly puked. I could feel it starting to come up but it never made its way out, so I went into the stairwell with a basin and stuck my finger down my throat to try to force it out. I thought I might feel better if I puked. I only got a little bit out, so I gave up on that idea. By this time I was in so much pain that I felt like I was going to pass out and I started feeling a little delirious. I remember trying to get the nurses to give me some Alka Seltzer. I thought in my head that if I could get some Alka Seltzer I would be fine. I even thought about leaving the hospital to find some on my own. Finally they called me back and the Dr. came to see me. He told me that my white blood count was at 17,000 (10,000 is normal) and that they would bring me some meds for the pain and nausea. About 20 minutes later the nurse came and started an IV and hooked me up with some pretty serious pain meds. After about 30 seconds the pain was gone and I felt so much better. The doctor thought the problem might have been my appendix so he sent me for a CT scan. When the results came back (by this time it was about 2:30 a.m.) he said my appendix was fine but there might be a problem with my gall bladder. So from there they sent me for an ultrasound of my internal organs. According to the ultrasound results everything was fine, so they discharged me. By that time the pain meds had pretty much worn off and I was feeling pretty good. Anyway, they told me that it was probably an issue with my gall bladder. Either there was a gall stone that the ultrasound didn't reveal, or my gall bladder was going into spasms. The nurse said that gall stones or spasms cause some of the worst pain you can imagine. I said "yep, sounds about right." So they want me to follow up with another doctor in a couple of days and just watch what I eat and how my body reacts to it. So finally, at about 5:00 a.m. I called Lindsay and told her to come pick me up, and I went home. I actually feel pretty good right now, and I went in to work at around 12:00. I was told I could stay home if I wanted, but I said I'm just a little tired and I actually feel fine. So anyway, that was my wild night.