Have you ever read the story about the Princess and the Pea? You know, a princess is tested by a prince and his mother to see if she is actually "royal" by placing a pea under 20 mattresses. After a horrible night, the princess tells the prince and his mother that she was kept awake all night because of something hard in the bed that she is sure bruised her. The prince rejoices because only a real princess would be able to feel the pea through such a quantity of bedding.
Well, I can sympathize with the princess. About a week and half ago, on a Saturday night, as I lay in bed trying to go to sleep, I thought for sure there must be something in my bed. I adjusted the blankets but nothing at all seemed to help. I am no princess (well, it depends on who you ask) and I'm sure there was no pea under my mattress but I had such a hard time sleeping that night. When I woke up on Sunday, I had such a pain in my left side.
Fast forward to today, 2 doctors appointments and a trip to the ER, and I still have a pain in my side. Maybe I should lift up my mattress and check for a pea.
It is something of a humbling experience for a nurse to be a patient. I want reasons and answers for my pain. My first trip to the doctor, I couldn't get in to see my doctor and had to see a resident. I am not a fan of seeing residents and I was definitely not a fan of this resident. I believe that by the time I left the exam room, he could tell that. My clinical diagnosis was "it's probably nothing" and if the pain continued, come back to the doctor in a week. This did not make me happy. Maybe because as a nurse, I know you should not tell a patient "It's probably nothing" even if you think it is nothing. Telling a patient their pain is nothing is not acknowledging their concerns.
As the week progressed, I continued to have the pain. Being the nurse that I am, I wanted answers, so I took to googling my symptoms. (I do not recommend this, by the way. Do as I say not as I do). The pain did not restrict my movements, I continued to work and exercise. But it was a constant ache that did not respond to Tylenol, Ibuprofen, heat, etc. I could tell that I was limiting my exercising because of a fear of making the pain worse. The weekend passed and on Monday, I had had enough. After a frustrating 30 minutes on hold with the triage nurse line at my doctor's office, the doctor that I was working with that day recommended that I go to the ER.
I hate being in the ER ( OK, who doesn't). I hate being on the other side of the bed. I was subjected to an IV, Xrays, and a CT scan (try being wheeled to Xray in that cute little hospital gown all the while trying to hide and hope you don't see anyone you work with). My nurse was great and got my IV in one try, she even let me pick the vein for her. 5 hours in the ER and still there were no answers. All the tests and labs and scans were normal. The doctor apologized profusely for not giving me an answer for my pain and sent me home.
Finally this morning I got to see my doctor. He was great about it and had already looked at my ER records. He was similarly puzzled by my symptoms but gave me some possible reasons for my pain. A strained muscle (seriously, I went to the ER for a strained muscle??), a kidney stone (probably not), an ovarian cyst (which will require another trip to another doctor). But he was kind and reassuring. He even suggested that I back off on weight lifting and exercises that might work my side (no ab workouts!!) for about a week to see if that helps. I should stick to walking or low impact exercises because, in his words, he would never recommend that I not exercise when I want to.
My friend Beth blogged recently about roadblocks. I feel like, right now, this stupid pain in my side is a roadblock. I cannot let it stop me in my tracks. I do not have the patience for random side pains that cannot be fixed or even diagnosed. But I have to get off my path, take a lighter path for a week or so, and hope that it meets up eventually with the path that I was on.
Last Christmas, I had a pain that I could only describe as a bladder strain. It felt like a pulled muscle, but it was beyond any muscle I could point to on the outside of my body. The reason I deducted it was my bladder was because I started to notice it more when I had to pee and while I was peeing. It took a good week and a half to two weeks to go away. I don't know if that is what you have, but it sounds a little similar, especially if the docs can't find anything glaringly obvious. Feel better! While this may be a road block in your exercising path, your eating well path can still be on track!
ReplyDelete