On this date last year Wayne came with me to the doctor for what would be my fourth visit in a month. At first it was because my cough wasn’t getting better, then it was because I was complaining of the ever-increasing pain in my shoulder, then it was because my left hand went numb.
She finally ordered a chest x-ray and a shoulder x-ray. Wayne took me over to the hospital to get them done. I could barely stand by then. The pain was incredible.
And that’s when I knew something bad was wrong.
After the chest x-ray, they did my shoulder. Then they came back to do some more of the chest. Then I was asked to wait while someone else came in to get some more info. Then they left and someone else came back to say the radiologist saw something suspicious and I needed to come with them to get a CT scan.
I also needed contrast, which meant a needle. That was my first time meeting Julie, one of the CT techs. I told her about how I get dizzy, then sweaty, they I feel like I’m going to throw up but end up having diarrhea a lot of times when needles are involved.
She said, “I won’t let that happen on my watch.”
And she didn’t. I made it through, no problems. I cried, but she just handed me some tissue and said, “Let it out. This is scary. But you will be fine. People are on it now.”
Then I was free to go home. They told me they’d send the results to my doctor who would then contact me.
It didn’t quite happen that way though.
But that’s for a post to come…
