Adventures in the ER

I'm just home from the ER. Too keyed up to go to bed even though I should. Yesterday I had to leave work early because I was in so much pain that hit me out of nowhere. It was on my right side around towards my back. Basically it felt like a charley horse type muscle spasm that kept getting worse and worse. Was all I could do to bolt out of there without passing out. Every breath I took felt as if I was being stabbed in the back.

Somehow I drove to my grandparents, imagining all sorts of horrible things it could be. Once I got there I headed straight for a bed where I could lie down and try to relax in case it was just a weird cramp of some kind. Grampa picked up Shan from school while I laid there waiting for it to ease up. It did a little and I was feeling so guilty about being away from the office and I missed an appointment I had with a guy who wanted a little web lesson.

I began to breathe a little easier and some tylenol I took was helping, so I went back to work. But sitting in my chair there was excruciating again so I asked to go home. Cool boss who probably thought it was a little weird but told me to go anyway. I thought it was all weird too quite frankly and I wasn't happy about it.

Got home and found a position I could sit in that lessened the pain. Went to bed early and had an ok night's sleep.

All of this has a point I swear, bear with me.

Well I've had this stupid cold for a week now, but it's not been anything abnormal. Just a bad cough. Lots of coughing. Well this evening, the pain in my side just completely disappeared. It's just gone. Shortly after that I started coughing up blood. Lots of it. Bright red freaking blood.

As you can imagine, I freaked out. Shannon called my grampa, bless his heart, who came and took me to the ER. I hate the ER. I fucking hate it. Hate the smell, hate the brightness of it. So I'm already panicky about the blood, I'm freaked about having to set foot in the ER - it's just unpleasant all around.

Anyway, they suck my blood, they x-ray my lungs and the long story short (too late!) is I've got pneumonia. In my right lung. That's what was causing the pain yesterday and today. The blood, the doctor said, was caused by a combo of a bloody nose and some ruptured blood vessels from all of the violent coughing I've been doing. Nothing else. Other than the pneumonia, I'm fine. I just have to take antibiotics and rest a lot and drink hella water.

I'm so relieved. I was so scared.