Creepy Words From the ER

So in typical fashion for my family, we had to go to the emergency room yesterday. Only this time it wasn't for me or Dare Devil, it was for my husband Bill. Lately he's had this immense pressure around his temple area and seeing as how he never had it before, he was getting nervous. It wasn't going away or getting better. If anything, it was becoming more severe. After seeing his family doctor yesterday morning, he received a nasal steroid (which still has not done a bit of good by the way). Around one o'clock yesterday afternoon I got the call from him to pick him up from work and drive him to the hospital.

I packed the diaper bag as quick as possible, arranged for a friend to pick Big Brother up from school, woke Dare Devil up from his nap and rushed out the door. Of course I still wound up sitting outside Bill's work for fifteen minutes while he wrapped everything up for the day. (My husband would still be working from his death bed.) Once he hopped in the car we headed to the nearest yet most ridiculous hospital around. This hospital is one of those that new people to the area are warned about. I personally would rather drive an hour to a better one than fifteen minutes to this one. But it was the closest and was the place he chose to go.

Just to give you a little back round though, Bill has been admitted to this hospital before with blood clots. He had his first at twenty-years old and his second at twenty-six. When he was in for the second one, the doctor told him that it was simply the same blood clot and that it just had never gone away. Of course we found out after calling his doctor's office that the old blood clot was in the opposite leg and had absolutely nothing to do with the new one. The staff there trained me to give Bill shots which he would need every day for the rest of his life. I watched a video about it and everything. Then, an hour later they changed their minds and told us the shots were not necessary. They placed Bill on heparin and twenty-minutes later ran in, took him off of it and said he shouldn't have been on it at all. They also realized three days after he was admitted that he should have been given a warm compress for his leg from the very first day. He wound up going home a week later with pneumonia. So this would be a big reason I personally would not entrust my life to this hospital.


Anyway, Bill gave me some brief information on the way there. The pressure in his head had gotten worse and suddenly he had felt a pop and then his body went numb. Once he came out of triage in the ER though and was rushed back for tests, I found out there was more to it than that. He didn't want to scare me on the way there but after the pop and numbness, he couldn't talk and it took him a good twenty minutes to be able to form speech. He had also smelled a burning smell. So they were treating him for signs of a stroke. Wow, that's scary.

Once in a bed, they ran an EKG right away, took blood (to check for any signs of clotting) a few hours later, and sent him for a CAT scan about two hours after that. While waiting all that time, I went into supermom mode. I had books, snacks, juice and toys for DD to keep him happy and contained (so as not to wreak havoc upon other patients). When all of that failed, I sang a medley of songs including songs from TV shows, which I'm sure the old man yelling in pain next to us loved. I finally got a hold of my mom to pick him up and take him back to my house. Once she arrived I hopped back on my phone and got in touch with my mother-in-law to let her know what happened and where we were. Once she arrived, I called the friend who picked BB up from school to ask her to take him home to my mom, called her to give her a crash course on working our TV over the phone, called my father-in-law to ask him to take BB to his baseball game, called BB's paternal grandmother to let her know about the game, then called my brother to update him on Bill's situation. Once my cell phone died, I collected water and snacks from the vending machine and headed back to Bill. Every now and then I had to pee (as pregnant women tend to do about every five minutes) but the one time I walked towards the bathroom an old man yelled out to me from his bed and what he said sent shivers down my spine. As I walked in front of his bed he yelled in what I think was a German accent, "Someone or something is after you!" I looked over to see him staring at me along with another older man in a brown suit and hat. This man was standing over the sick man with his hands held in front of him as if he were at a funeral. It creeped me out enough that I turned around and went back to Bill's bed. I did, however, have to refrain from yelling out, "I know!" after his ominous message. After all, at this point I am about ready to call in a priest to bless and or exorcise my house. Something's got to give. But after all the tests and all the waiting, we were told that there was no stroke. That was great news. They did however see swelling behind Bill's ear which was most likely the cause for the pressure and popping sensation. They didn't have a reason or even an idea as to why the swelling was there in the first place. Instead they told Bill to go home and call his doctor first thing in the morning.

We were happy that the problem isn't serious but frustrated that we don't have an answer to what was found. But what could we really expect from this hospital after all? Either way, we did get some confirmation, that obviously someone or something is after me. I guess I don't have to wonder about that anymore, huh?