Feb 9, 2010, 6:00 AM: My alarm clock has been going off for 25 minutes by now, on five minute intervals. I finally drag my ass out of bed to find myself with excruciating right shoulder pain. Pain like i have never felt before in my life, and trust me, I have felt many-a-pains. I brush it off and account it to a pinched nerve and go to work anyway. Work all day, go home. Milk that night and can barely keep up as my arm is so sore! continue to blame pinched nerve and ignore my body. Even though at this point the pain has been radiating down my arm as well as into my chest.
Feb 10, 11:00 AM: I have been at work since 6:30 AM and my shoulder pain has gotten increasingly more severe to the point of tears. Everyone expresses their concern, insist i need to see a doctor, but being my stubborn-ass self i try to work through the pain. By noon i can no longer deal with it and ask my team leader assistant if I can make a quick phone call. I call my chiropractor and see if she can fit me in ASAP. She tells me if I can leave right away, she can fit me in her schedule in five minutes. I get permission to leave and go to chiropractors, barely able to shift the gears in "betty" (my '04 lancer). Dr. Meyers begins to do her treatment on me. When she lays me onto my back i suddenly cannot breathe. She sits me up and gives me the third degree on overworking my body because I was working three jobs at approximately 77 hours a week. She tells me I need to go to the hospital, its not normal to not be able to breathe when you lay on your back. I pay for my session, get into my car and proceed to call my boss to inform him i will not be returning to work, but going straight to woodstock general hospital. immediately concerned he asks if i need someone to take me, need help, etc etc etc. again my stubborn self rears its ugly head and resists any sort of help. I drive myself over to woodstock general hospital with the pain now radiating through my chest as well, park illegally and admit myself to emergency. Now it gets interesting...
The triage nurse starts to take my vitals and questions me as to extreme dizziness or ill feeling. ??? no...?? my ARM HURTS.... "well your heart rate is about twice what it should be, we need to get you stabilized" ... stabilized??? MY ARM HURTS!! not my heart, my arm!
Feb 10, 2010 4:30PM: I am returning from receiving a chest x-ray, and now the nurse wants to stick a needle in my ass for pain. grrreat.... not! the doctor then enters the room and says he wants to just take a "look around" to see where the pain is coming from. He starts up an ultrasound machine and proceeds to take a look at my abdomen. Every time he runs the ultrasound handle down my right side of my stomach it sends sharp pain through my chest. WHAT is going on?! not finding anything via an ultrasound he asks me to sit in the hall as there is another patient who needs my bed and I am unable to lay down now due to the pain in my chest/arm. EE GAD! while waiting in the hall, said doctor then returns and asks me very warily "has anyone young in your family spontaneously died?" ... ummm... WHAT? no... not to my knowledge and I certainly hope I am not the first! he then tells me that he's not sure what he sees on the x-ray but it concerns him and he's sending me to london to have a cat scan and see a cardiac surgeon. They take blood, get me on a stretcher, put THREE IV's in and as we are waiting for the paramedics to arrive i call me boss and ask him if he can come move my car that is illegally parked seeing as no one knows how to drive a manual vehicle. Automatically I put him into a panic but he moves my car for me anyway and off to london I go!
Feb 9, 2010 6:00PM: i arrive at london hospital, more blood is taken my IV drips are changed and i am bombarded with questions, rushed up to CT and i am asked to eat this thick white jello-type substance that tastes like bad tapioca. My CT scan is taken of my chest cavity and I meet with the cardiac surgeon in the hall. Surgeon: "well, good news is your aorta is not split and bleeding so you wont be requiring any emergency surgery tonight. bad news? your aorta is enlarged. Do you experience night sweats? fatigue?" Me:"well, yes. but I work three jobs so i am always tired and I think i sweat at night because of my sheets" doctor:"well, you have a sizeable tumour in your chest that is pressing down on your lungs and heart." WOW!! ok... umm... what now? Doctor:"you're going to require a biopsy of that. we'll send a refferal to a thoracic surgeon and get you on your way."
OK. So at this point I am going "my arm hurt... wtf is going on?" strange... unexpected. They send me back to woodstock at 1 AM and woodstock discharges me around 8. my boss comes to pick me up and return me to my car. Now the waiting begins....
Feb 12, 2010 9:00AM: my GP's office calls me. my chest pain has increased and moved through my shoulder blade. Dr. Sprowl wants me to come in asap. I have an appointment that afternoon. i go in to see him, he asks questions, gets angry with the service i received and and starts to make phone calls.
Feb 19, 2010: a week later. still no information. I am taking percocets every day to maintain the pain. not cool. start making phone calls.
Feb 21, 2010: I finally get through to someone. i have an appointment with Dr inculet, a thoracic surgeon, for a preoperative exam.
Feb 24, 2010: I visit with dr inculet and he wants to do surgery ASAP. the size and mass of the tumour in my chest is concerning. he sends me for my pre-op work (MORE needles!) and tells me he will try to have my surgery early the next week.
Feb 26, 2010: I receive a call from dr inculet's assistant. I am scheduled in for surgery at 8am Tuesday, march 2nd 2010. I must arrive at Victoria hospital for 6 AM. ugh...
Mar 2, 2010, 6:00AM: I. Am. So. TIRED! i get into Victoria Hospital and when all is said and done I am ready for surgery at about 7:30AM. after a few more needles and IV's. did I mention I HATE NEEDLES?! 8:00 AM i am moved to surgery, and put under. i wake up a few hours later in a haze and strangely know the nurses name... emily... very weird. my neck HURTS. it's amazing how a little incision can hurt so bloody much! by 12:30PM I am discharged and mother and I proceed to tim hortons, get meds, and stop at my work to give them an update. now it's a waiting game.
Mar 16, 2010: I was so tired of calling and calling and calling and receiving no answers that I had my doctors office call the surgeon, have the pathology report faxed over and make a copy for me. turns out I have hodgkin's Lymphoma. WTF is that? well my friends, that's a blood cancer that affects people between 15-35 usually. most common treatment is chemotherapy. FUN STUFF.
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