August 4, 2009 – Trip to the finest ER in D.C.
This week I have been on a road trip with my parents to Pennsylvania and the Mid Atlantic region. They were going to go for a 5 day back packing trip while I met up with a friend from college to head to New York. Yesterday we arrived in Washington D.C. and dropped my friend off at the airport. I was not feeling well so I decided to stay at the hotel while my folks toured the mall. I began to feel worse and worse as the day progressed. I tried everything in my bag of tricks including Compazine, Percocet, and a few hits of marijuana. Nothing seemed to work and the pain just kept building.
I then decided that it was time to go to the Emergency Room. I call my folks and they grabbed a cab back to the hotel. I met them in the lobby and we went straight to the closest hospital, Washington Hospital Center.
When we arrived, the ER was a mess. There were people all over the place. I went to the triage nurse and checked in. About 20 minutes later they had called me and were taking me to my room. This was not a bad wait compared to other times I have been in the ER.
Then all hell broke loose. As I was wheeled to my room one of the other patients crashed. The nurse quickly took me to my room and ran to the crashing patients’ bed.
It took another hour before the doctor was able to see me and another 30 minutes after that until they gave me medication for the pain and to stop the intense nausea. They also took some blood for labs.
When the doctor finally came back with my labs she told me that my Lipase and Amylase were very highly elevated. She diagnosed me with Pancreatitis. She then told me that she wanted to admit me to the hospital. That was a tough choice. Both of my parents had to be at work in two days and I would most likely be stuck in the hospital for at least a week. I decided that I would leave the ER and fly home for treatment. The Doc gave me several scripts for pain meds and Zofran for the nausea.
As I am writing this I am sitting in the airport waiting for my flight. It is a good distraction from the pain. I will check back in a few days.
