Peekaboo Monday

After a great day lounging gloriously on the 16th hole this past Monday, I (of course with my luck) started to experience some chest pain (!!) and shortness of breath. This according to Dr. S (S M.D. according to B) is a cardinal sin and is to not be tolerated. I obviously began the debate as to whether or not to even call the Hem/Oc fellow on call and finally decided that it would be in my best interest to do so.

Now, in my head this is how I thought the conversation would go when the fellow called me back:

me: I am having chest pain in X location

fellow: hmm, that sounds like blah blah blah

me: really, hmm that is so interesting. What should I do to make it stop hurting?

fellow: well, you should do xyz and then it will be all better and then you will get a good night's sleep

me: wow, that is so great, thanks for all of your help!

Yeah right. In my dreams, this is how it really went (in abbreviated version):

me: I am having chest pain in X location

fellow: hmm, are you having xyz symptoms?

me: no, not really

fellow: what is your pain level like?

me: well, I'm experiencing moderate pain - sitting still it is probably a 2 but with a deep inhale it is probably a 5 or 6

fellow: hmmmmmmm. I think you should come into the emergency room so we can run some tests on you, do a chest x-ray etc.

me: reeeally? (tinged with massive amounts of skepticism) There isn't another option?

fellow: No, there are no other options. I think you need to be examined, please go ahead and go over to the East Newton campus.

me: well grrrreat, thanks for all of your help.

So there I went, cousin in tow straight off the puddlejumper from ACK, trotting off to the emergency room. Oh lord, prepare yourself for the comedy/tragedy that ensued below.

Unlike emergency rooms that grace the lights of Seattle Grace or the lots in Hollywood, the "pit" at Boston Medical Center had one triage nurse that was trying to understand Chinese, undecipherable Spanish and overall disgruntled patient. After much waiting and trying to not contract the swine flu, I was finally seen and admitted into the ER, bay 4. At one point I became so worried for my health that I donned this really great mask - what you can't tell is that I am smiling really big!

Apparently I was right in the middle of the action area for the ER on Monday night: bay 3, the space next to me, saw three patients during my four-plus hour stay in the hospital, two of which kept having strokes and were then admitted! 

So while bay 3 was getting lots of action, bay 4 did lots and lots of waiting. I went for a chest x-ray, waited about an hour or so, gave the hospital seven or more viles of blood plus two syringes which to-date takes my total of blood sent through the labs at BMC to approximately 45, waited for another two hours and then thankfully avoided CT scan number three. 

All the while, B made the hand sanitizer dispenser his new best friend as he was at it every 5 to 7 minutes and Cousin J tried to avoid human contact with anything hospital related including the bathroom which she deemed were close to Kabul-like conditions.

While actually in the hospital they were never able to really figure out why I was having so much chest pain (this has since come to light, read more below) the SILVER LINING to the whole emergency fiasco was that I was actually able to see my updated chest x-ray AND (drum roll please) there has already been a visible reduction by maybe 30% of my tumor!!!

I can't even express to you how incredible it felt to see the results of my first chemo treatment. After ONE treatment, you could clearly see a reduction in the size of the mass which is why I was experiencing chest pain. Parts of my lung are now able to expand that didn't used to be able to and it is tiring the muscle - hence the pain.

After one very very long day I was finally discharged after all of my labs came back clean and I couldn't have been happier. I must admit, I never thought I would have been so pleased walking out of the emergency room...

PS: for your viewing pleasure, the infamous bay 4 with me and a much needed slice of pizza that arrived at around 10 p.m. Nurse Hope and Kristen, my emergency resident were both very jealous!