ER VISIT
With all the Covid-19 cancellation and rescheduling of various events, my runs were no exception. What wasn't outright cancelled, was rescheduled for the fall. August and September I managed to get 5 half marathons in. I had to cancel my 6th and final one of the year in Sisters, Oregon.
Saturday, November 7th I was to be in Sisters, but instead ended up at the Kaiser Permenante Riverfront Park Urgent Care center. ( Also known as the barf building, because every time I took Wyatt in there, he'd throw up.) All was good until they put that Oximeter on my finger. It registered 80. The nurse was a bit shocked. She got another meter in to try. They asked me if I was okay. Asked if I needed oxygen. Looked at me as if I was going to pass out at any second. They got it up to a 83, which is what they put in my record. Told me this thing should never read below a 95. Oh, that explains why I am getting so winded from doing almost nothing. I was living on limited oxygen. Surprised I managed to work through all of this, and I have a physical job, it's no walk in the park.
I assured them I didn't need to go to the Hospital, I drove here, and I can drive away from here. But this did unleashed a flurry of tests. After I got home, they called, the Doctor forgot to add the D-dimer test. Can I come back? "No. I have Tuesday off and will be back then." My test results were all over the map. White blood count really high, Red blood count low. They took vials of blood, and nothing was within normal range.
Was back the 10th. More blood drawn. They put a stat on the D-dimer test, so they should let me know within 2 hours. It was way past that when I headed home. I wasn't home long before the nurse called. It was elevated, go to the ER for a cat scan on my lungs, to check for blood clots. Good Grief.
Jeff was home by then, so back to Spokane we went. Now I have boys, I have been to the ER before. But this place was nuts, nothing like I remember it in the past. It was packed. We arrived around 4pm. At about 5 the homeless drift in. Standing room only at this point. One homeless man in particular took up residence in our vicinity. He made several trips to the restroom. There was only one, marked boy/girl. I held it. He would lay across 2 chairs. Finally he was asked to leave. They sprayed and wiped down the chairs. About 10 minutes later he came back, with his jacket off this time, so we'd think he was a different person. We watched him go through his routine all over again, back and forth to the restroom.
I was so tired, I couldn't help but laugh. Looking around everyone looked terrible. I get it, most don't feel well, that's why they are here. This was one time I didn't mind wearing a mask. In fact I thought about strapping on two, because I didn't want to breathe anyone. I could of walked in with dirty jammies, and my hair looking like I had been through a wind tunnel laced in starch, and been unnoticed.
Good thing the next day was Veteran's day, a holiday, so I didn't have to think about work. One poor gal close to us burst into tears at about hour 5. Her husband was doing his best to calm her down, but they had already been there for 9 hours. I had put them in the normal looking column. When I heard 9 hours I almost burst into tears.
At about that time hunger drove Jeff to Dick's. As soon as he left, the lady in tears got called back. I was happy for her. Others took her place, including two ladies that sat right behind me that would not stop talking. Then some guy joined the conversation. I like it quiet. I liked the lady in tears better.
When Jeff got back from dinner, I got called back. Cat scan was normal. Since I was there they did an echocardiogram as well. All was good. I have never had those tests done before. You always hear of someone dropping dead from some blockage. "It was only a matter of time" they say. I was good to go.
The nurse also wanted to do a Covid test. I had 2 already, one 3 days ago, all negative. They were nasal swabs, in which she was pleased to inform me they are often false negatives. She on the other hand intended to use the long nasal swab. In which I quickly said "I don't think I could handle that" simultaneously with a little shaking. She backed off, and didn't mention it again. (There is a tip in there for you)
About midnight, 8 hours later we left to go home. It was exhausting. Jeff had been up now for over 24 hours, being called in around the previous midnight due to icy road conditions.
I repeated my blood tests in December and again in January. They returned to normal. They even did an ultrasound on my abs, to make sure my spleen wasn't enlarged. One doctor I told this to, not from the group of above doctors, said a virus probably swept through me. There are a lot of them out there. That made more sense then anything else I was told, so I'm going with that.
I'll try to get more hardware, or bling as they call it this year.
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