Inside the Emergency Room

Sunday morning I woke up with the right leg, left side of my knee in pain. I had the day off from work, which I was happy about. I sat at my computer most of the day.

Monday I go into work, my knee is killing me. I could not focus on work. I called my doctors office and asked to make an appointment. The nurse, said go to the ER now. I hung up the phone, and went directly to my boss and said my doctor told me to go to the ER.  His reply was not what I was expecting... "who's going to work in the copy center?"  I expected him to say omg do you need one of us to drive you?  NOPE  "call **** and see if he can come in and work. I called him, but there was no answer. I said I got to go. I went and clocked out and headed out the door.


It took me about 20 minutes to get to the hospital. Once in the parking lot, I found a place and got out of my car,  I started to the door of the ER. A police officer stopped me and said, there is parking at the front of the building. So I get back into my car and drive to the front of the building. Once inside, I was greeted by this guy that was very nice. We laugh and joked with each other. I explained what was wrong, and he had the blank look on his face, I said you dont need to hear all this do you? He said not really, the nurse will ask you all the questions. I said ok no problem. He said have a seat over there. I went and sat down and propped my leg up.  I waited for about 15 minutes and the nurse called my name.  I go in and he was not as charming as the guy at the front desk. He was truly have a bad Monday.  He was going on and on about stupid people that was coming in for stupid stuff that was not and emergency. I guess I looked at him puzzled, cause he said not in your case though. He asked me all kinds of questions about my knee, like "on a scale 1 - 10 hows the pain?"  I laughed and said well right  now it a 1, but as soon as I stand up its a 10.  He said follow me, let me show you to your room.

I was not expecting a private room, but I got one. Well it was 1/2 closet 1/2 room. But I didnt care, it had a comffy bed in it. I started to sit on the bed and he snapped at me "wait dont sit down" I said ok, he said "I need to change the sheets".  He changed the sheets and said here put this on, do you have underwear on? I said yes, he said good leave them on. I was like ok. I stripped down and started to put the gown on, when I noticed the underwear that I had worn was my torn in the crotch underwear. OMG I thought to myself. This should be fun.  The nurse said it might take awhile before someone will see you, we had a treouze (spl) come in. I said ok.

I laid down on the bed, I got very sleepy, but I was cold, so I went to the 1/2 of the closet and got myself a blanket, and laid back down on the bed. I took a nap. I slept pretty good. Dr. Bruce enters, knocking Mr. Mcalister.I yawned and said yes, he said "I am sorry it took so long, what is your problem. I explained about my knee hurting and wanted to find out what was going on. I told him my doctor sent me over. He put on those fancy purple gloves and started felling around my leg, does this hurt? no  does this hurt? no well how about this? yes omg yes  He said just from looking at it he did not think it was a clot, but just to make sure he was ordering a Ultra-sound. He said once the test is done, he would see me again.  I smiled and said ok.

45 minutes goes by and here is nicely dressed woman with the Ultr-sound cart. She said now, if I hurt you I am sorry. She took the bottle of lube and squirted on to my leg, I was expecting it to be cold, but it was nice and warm. I said that is not what I expected, she said yeah it has a warmer built in. She booted up her computer and started the test. She went up and down my leg, she hit a couple of bad spots that hurt like hell. I said you just want to see a grown man cry right. She chuckled. The Nurse came in and said here take this pill, its a pain killer, I took the pill then she said ok all done, the doctor will be in a while to see you.

An hour went by then an hour and a half. I just started to fall back to sleep when the nurse comes in and said rise and shine, here is your crutches. I said crutches? He said let me set these up for you. He asked how tall I was and fixed them, he showed me how to use them and how my leg should be bent behind me.  He said the doctor will be in, in just a few minutes.

Dr. Bruce came back in and said, you have a blood clot in your leg, but its not life threatening. The vein does not go to any vital organs.  He said you need to take time off from work and prop your leg up. I started to argue with him and wouldnt you know it he won. I am now off from work for 4 days, the doctor gave me blood thinner and pain killers. He gave me a long list of things not to do, and only a few things to do. I now have to go see a vascular doctor. Surgery is the next thing. I called to set up an appointment and wouldnt you know it, I cannot get one until August. Yay me.  I will be on crutches until then. Plus the meds that I have to take is strong, so I cannot drive while on them.  Life keeps on getting better huh?