Update on Pookie

• by Pookie
• 2010-04-02 09:04:09
• General Posting
• 1211 views
• 18 comments

Hi Everyone.

First, a HUGE Thank You to everyone who has responded here or to my personal email .... your support is overwhelming and there are NO words to truly express just how lucky I am to have such great support :)

I did go to the Walk In Clinic on Wednesday evening as my husband, Lloyd, was extremely concerned about the size of my neck/throat swelling ... as I had had my surgery on March 25th and it was getting bigger and bigger & I was having more and more pain each day. At the Clinic the doctor tried 3 times to drain my neck without any success. She told me to get my butt to the ER immediately. Just what I wanted to hear!!!! - how I hate going to the ER, but I knew I had to go. :(

Arrived at the ER at 8:45pm; they immediately put me in a private room. At 9:15pm the ER doctor came in. The ER doctor said she would not touch me but would call the ENT "on call" doctor in ~ from home. The ENT doctor (who is a resident doctor) arrived around 10:15pm. She froze my throat and looked down it (thru my nose!!!) with a long tube with a tiny camera on the end. It hurt a bit, but I knew it had to be done. She was checking that my airway was okay & looking for any infection, both were fine; although she could clearly see that the swelling was inside the throat as well as outside. My main concern was, of course, infection, but that was ruled out. However, I was (and still am) in tremendous pain and cannot eat as it hurts to chew & swallow. The pain has still not gone away, either has the swelling. I'm getting ahead of myself a bit.

So, that night the resident ENT "on call" doctor decided to let me go home and told me to be back at the ER at 8am the following day (Thursday) for an ultrasound of my neck/throat as she had called her boss (a "real" ENT at home) - they both decided that they needed to know what this mass was.

8am Thursday I arrived at the ER and had my ultrasound done by 9am. The Radiologist confirmed that it was not a blood clot but that it is a collection of blood and fluids that are trapped in the fiberous tissues ~ and that with time, my body will absorb it. How long will this take I asked??? Answer = 3 to 4 weeks!!!!!!!!!! So, the only solution I have is to "up" the amount of narcotics I am taking for pain and I am doing warm water compresses.

However, as of today (Friday) there is not an iota of a difference. The swelling has not gone down at all and the pain is off the chart. They make you rate your pain from 1 to 10 with 10 being the worst pain you have ever experienced - I would rate mine as a 12.

I am happy that it is not a blood clot. I am happy that there is no infection. However, I am not happy that only "time" is the answer. I can handle a lot of pain but this is ridiculous (in my opinion). I am not happy that I am taking 18mgs of Dilaudid (extended release) twice a day AND 4mgs of regular Dilaudid every 4 hrs for break through pain. I am also taking extra strength Tylenol every 4 hours. But this is our health care system (in Canada) and I cannot see my ENT who did the surgery until this Thursday, April 8th, as he is away on vacation!!!

I am scared, stressed, afraid, frustrated, etc. I am afraid that come Thursday if there is no improvement that I guessing that he might suggest that I have to go under the knife again ..... I know I'm jumping ahead and my mind is spinning, but I also know my luck!!! I'm trying very hard to be optomistic, but I'm not that way 100% of the time. I'm just tired of being sick and in my gut (knowing my luck) I just knew something would go wrong.

Then!!! to top everything off - I saw my EP on Thursday as well after having worn the Event Recorder from Feb. 15 to March 16 -go into his office and he flips open my chart, then goes onto the computer then turns to me and asks me how many "events" did I send in during that month; I answer at least 16 events - He cannot find them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No apology, no nothing. It's late Thursday afternoon, I'm the last appt of the day and now it's a 4 day weekend here because of Easter and no one is around to look for my paperwork. He says that he will have his staff look on Tuesday and we will have to rebook an appointment. I know in my heart that they are lost and I betcha he will say I will have to wear another Event Recorder .... do you know how long it took me to get this first one??? Months. I left his office stunned as a stick, got in the car and just cried.

As Lloyd said: if he wasn't with me every step of the way (for the past 5 yrs) that people would start to think that I make this stuff up .... NO ONE could have such bad luck as I. It took me 4 yrs to get to see an EP. It has taken since last September to get 3 or 4 tests done and now they can't find my recordings???? Thank gawd I don't like alcohol or I'd be an alcoholic by now.

However, I will keep my chin up the best I can. I will try and keep a positive attitude, however, I can honestly say it's becoming very difficult when nothing and I mean nothing seems to go right for me.

Again, thanks to all of you ... YOU are the people who keep me sane and keep me moving forward. Without all of you, I'd be lost.

Take care and hugs to ya'll.

Pookie