Day 5: Pulmonary Embolism? Shut up!

I’m in the hospital. :-(

I came here this morning (I guess I should say yesterday, since it's 2:00 am now) to do the typical breast cancer tests. CAT scans, X-Rays, MRI, bone scans etc. It took me an entire morning of running around from one place to the other, getting undressed, drinking weird tasting liquids, getting injected and being scanned. I finally got home after several hours, simply exhausted!

I was ready for some much needed rest, but I had barely taken my clothes off when the phones started ringing. The home phone, my cell, Brian's cell...What the heck? Several calls from doctors, nurses and secretaries in a state of panic, who were all trying to reach me and share the "good" news. The CAT scan showed that I had multiple blood clots in my lungs, so I should rush to the Emergency Room!

Well, what do you know!

I put my clothes back on grudgingly, having this sinister idea at the back of my mind that I should just ignore the lot of them and just take a nap instead. But Brian was pretty worried, he called William and asked him to come and stay with the kids, and so we headed back to the hospital.

The staff there had already been told to wait for me, so things moved relatively fast for an ER. After they asked me some questions about my health and how I felt, they took my blood pressure and pulse and I was admitted with no further questions.

They put me in a wheelchair and they took me to a room for an initial check up. A young doctor came to check on me. I explained to him that I was diagnosed with breast cancer only 5 days ago and that when I had my CAT scan they found that I had a pulmonary embolism. He said it's not uncommon to have an embolism when you have a malignant tumor. Great!I got the feeling that he was trying to act casually, but at the same time he avoided looking at me. Is it my idea or am I getting that a lot lately...

Later on someone came and explained to me that they needed to put me on a Heparin IV. When blood clots form in our body the treatment is not to try to get rid of them, but to make it easier for the clot to move around, without blocking any arteries. The heparin is a blood thinner that should do the trick.

Since it wouldn't be so practical to be stuck on an IV all the time, I was told that they would give me a different medication after a day or two. Another blood thinner called Coumadin. A pill that will join my other pill friends and will be taken once a day for 6 months. The only drawback, it takes 3-4 days for Coumadin to start working, so the heparin and the Coumedin have to overlap for a few days. In the meantime I have to be monitored to make sure my blood clotting abilities stay within normal range. Not too thin, not too thick, the perfect mix!

I was so tired and they were taking forever. I don't know why. They made it sound that I had to rush there, but here I was 4-5 hours at the exact same condition. I was cranky. I knew I should have trusted my rebel thoughts and stayed home isntead.

They finally gave me a room at about 1:30 in the morning, so here I am in hospital room #5239. I have an IV and I'm strapped with some electrodes on my chest so they can check my heartbeat at all times. Apparently it's racing like a rabbit's heart while chasing a wagon full of delicious carrots!

Let the fun begin! Before I could even understand what was really wrong with me they started taking vitals, blood etc. Within an hour they had taken from me at least 1o vials of blood for tests! They also told me that I'll have to stay here for at least 4 days, until they get me stabilized.

I am so exhausted. I'll try to go to sleep. I just don't want to think about it anymore.