This week has been very health focused, since my incident on Sunday night.
Monday
Monday I had a bad headache and other pains, mild weakness, and mild leg numbness. I stayed home from work and rested a lot. At night, I called the CareSource nurse hotline and told the lady about my incident. We talked for 11 minutes until the call was cut off. We both tried calling each other at the same time and I botched the operation of call waiting (I always have trouble with it), so I gave up. I had been struggling to explain what happened, and I think there was some miscommunication, but I think it was good practice for later explanations.
Tuesday
Tuesday I slept in, then went to work around lunchtime. I was doing alright for a while, then starting experiencing shortness of breath and lightheadedness, so I left. I was going to go get lunch, but the lightheadedness was increasing, so I decided I probably should drive to the hospital. I drove by, but wasn’t sure where to go, so I just drove to a parking lot to look up the best place to go. After sitting a bit, the symptoms had improved enough that I just drove home to try to arrange a visit with a physician. I failed. I ate some food.
I considered going to a minute clinic, but a friend said I needed to see a physician, which they wouldn’t have. I went to an urgent care, but they told me my symptoms were probably above the level they could handle and they would normally send me to the ER. I considered going, but since my symptoms were pretty weak at that point, I just went home.
Wednesday
Wednesday, I woke up a bit early and called Akron General appointments to see if I could get a same day for a new patient. The guy said probably not, but put me on hold and found me one in Green. That’s a bit of a drive, but I said yes. I went down early, got lost, called to figure out the proper location, and made it with time to spare. Filling out the paperwork took much of the time to the appointment. They had information from when I must’ve gone to the Clinic as a kid, so I had to give them my new information.
The nurse took me in, weighed me, then took me into a room. I was somewhat nervous. She took some other measurements and asked me various questions about my history, my reason for coming, the problems, etc. She left and I waited for a while.
Then the doctor came in. She had a nonchalant and friendly attitude that made me feel relatively comfortable talking to her. She asked questions, listened to me, and seemed interested in the problems and finding solutions (though we didn’t discuss the latter much). She did some examination and told me some things, then left. I waited for a while.
The nurse came in and did a blood sugar test. She had to squeeze my finger quite a bit after puncturing it to get enough blood. It was a little painful and a bit cringe-worthy just thinking about squeezing out blood. She then did an ear cleaning. My recent clogging was apparently significant and the unclogging still left a lot of wax behind. It was slightly painful, but when complete, I could hear even better than before. The nurse left and I waited some more.
The doctor came back in and checked my ear, gave me some papers, and discussed lab tests to be done soon, things to do to deal with my problems until we know what’s happening, and a followup appointment. She swapped out for the nurse, who gave me some more information about the labs, etc.
I noticed that one of their papers still had the personal information from my childhood, so I had the front desk correct it.
I went to my parents for dinner, discussing the problem with the family. I discovered my brother’s girlfriend has a blood sugar problem, which is one possibility as a cause for my symptoms. So if that’s what I’ve got, I’ll have her, plus some uncles and aunts, to discuss it with.
I ate a smaller than normal amount and tried to drink more than usual, per doctor’s orders.
I also discussed the visit and the planned lab tests with a friend who had been a lab tech. She gave a bit of advice and input.
Thursday
I went to work only slightly late Thursday. I soon noticed my symptoms presenting, and was tempted to leave, but stuck it out. With some effort of various sorts, the symptoms faded to a more manageable level. I ate a light lunch, soup, and took leftovers. The doctor said to eat more, smaller meals, so I had more of the soup later in the afternoon. I drank a lot. At times I had trouble focusing on work, but made it through most of the day and left only a little early.
I needed to do a twelve hour fast for the following morning’s lab tests, so I ate various small meals and snacks spread throughout the evening until 2330 to make sure I would have enough calories to not pass out during the fast.
Friday
I woke up early to ensure time to make it down for my lab appointment. I had been worried about feeling weak from fasting, but I actually felt fairly decent. I made the trip down with no problems and time to spare.
In signing in, there was another reappearance of my childhood personal information. I corrected the information with the lady there. She also signed me up for the Clinics MyChart service, to allow me to look at my results later.
I waited for a little while, then was beckoned by a young female. She took me into a room to give me an ultrasound to make sure a certain pain I’m experiencing isn’t related to cancer or something like that. It was a little uncomfortable having an attractive female stick a probe in that area, and I had to look away and focus on various things in the room to keep my mind off of things that might cause an embarrassing reaction. She occasionally put some warm goop on the probe, but otherwise it just felt like a solid object. It took a while, then she had me clean up the goop. She didn’t hint at the results, only telling me that she’d send them to my doctor.
I went back into the waiting room of the lab and signed in again, because I still needed the blood tests done. The desk lady was surprised to see me again, but then saw the remaining tests. They were apparently in a different spot. I think she corrected yet another personal information discrepancy.
It wasn’t too long before I was called in by another young lady, along with another patient. We were directed to different chairs in the same room. She wrapped a band around my arm, with my rolled up sleeve slightly caught in it. I struggled to pull the sleeve out as she prepared to stick me. When she stuck me, it hurt. Not terribly, but much more-so than the last time, when it barely felt like more than a mosquito bite. This time, it felt sort of like a metal pole stuck into me, and I cringed slightly and counted each vial of blood, hoping it was the last. She had me put a bandage on and then wrapped a band around it, and sent me on my way.
My arm hurt slightly and I felt a little weakened, so I sat back down in the waiting room. The ultrasound lady walked by and I nodded. After I felt a little better, I got a drink, went to the bathroom, and left.
I found a nearby Asian restaurant to celebrate with some pad see ew. Continuing with my small meal plan, I only ate part of it, boxed the rest, and then headed to work.
I worked the rest of the day, occasionally experiencing minor symptoms. I considered leaving a little early again, but ended up staying later than everyone else. My work was probably affected some, but not terribly.
At home, I attempted to signup for the MyChart service, be discovered that the signup the lady set up for me was only valid for a half hour. I attempted to generate another signup code, but got an email that my information was wrong and I had to call their support number. When I called, a message told me their office was closed.
Saturday
I called the MyChart support line in the morning to get the best chance of it being opened. It was, and the lady was able to help me get signed up. Of course, the childhood personal information cropped up again, and somehow my birthday was wrong. I had to provide my correct childhood information as verification of my identity, and she had to patch in someone else to help change to the new information.
I was able to log in fine and see my name, but there was no information about my recent appointment or tests or anything else health related. My personal information was a mix of my childhood and current information. The MRN didn’t match the one on the paperwork I got from the doctor, so I was worried there might be some problem with a duplicate record or something. My friend said they might have different numbers for different locations in the company and not show stuff from before I created the account. So I’ll have to wait and see.
I tried to take advantage of the nice weather. Mowing the front lawn and a bit of other yard work took a lot out of me, so I ended up doing a lot of relaxing. I experienced symptoms off and on. I split my eating up and drank a lot.