Hospital Hell...

I was admitted to Cleveland Clinic Weston on Friday, January 15, 2010 after going to see my neurologist. I was having such a severe reaction to the Levaquin liquid, even after my primary had me cut the dose from 20 ml to 5 ml (guess I am REALLY allergic to it!). I broke out in a rash, was having a SPLITTING headache, body aches, and thew up in my doctor's office. I could barely speak above a whisper...I was rather "dry", although by blood work, not dehydrated (I never am). My neurologist talked my Mom and I into going to the ER so I could be admitted to the hospital for IV medications, since it was obvious that I could no longer take the Levaquin and I was so incredibly sick that I needed intervention that I could not get at home. He was on call that weekend, so I felt confident that we could get things accomplished with regards to testing my autonomic symptoms while I was in the hospital and he could SEE what was going on while I was sick...boy was I WRONG!

My Mom and I got to the ER and waited in the waiting room for almost and hour before being called back...once back they immediately ran a chest x-ray and drew blood/put in the IV and did a urine sample...then I waited for 2 hours before I even saw a nurse or doctor...can you believe that?!? I only saw techs when I first went back...NO DOC!  I was SO nauseous and in such pain by the time the doctor came in I felt like I was going to pass out! He treated me so condescendingly!! He had the NERVE to ask me what I meant by "strider" when I was describing what brought me to the ER the last time and what happened in my primary's office on the 28th...umm..I live with this illness you shumck...I did tell him what it is, that it means I have laryngeal spasms and my vocal cords  close, and he said "I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page"..GRRRRR...I just grinned through the nausea and pain and irritation...my neurologist had called down to speak with him before I came down and this little putz had the nerve to say that he thought my neuro was "confused" (HA)...THIS joker was "CONFUSED", but he gave me zofran, pepcid IV, a bag of fluids because I was so dry, and toridal IV. Before I had the IV meds pushed I went to the restroom and by the time I got back to the bed the nurse came in, pushed the zofran too quickly, didn't flush the line right away, I got dizzy, flushed, then she flushed the line, I threw up, got dizzy, she called in the doctor, he DIDN'T take my pressure or pulse..UGH! BUT, that was the determining factor in keeping me in the hospital over-night...he was planning on sending me home after the fluids since my labs were "normal".

Well...The "Resident" and I will use that term lightly, came in to see me hours later. She came in and said they were going to "fix me up". My Mom and I laughed knowing this was untrue, and we were right. As I was telling her what was wrong with me, she started saying, "what brought you in here NOW"...that is when I knew she wanted me OUT as soon as possible! They were NOT going to figure this out, they just wanted to see if I had an infection, then ship my butt home! The doc either changed or OMITTED MOST of my medications that I have been on for YEARS...meds that are in their computer...meds like PREDNISONE and PERCOCET! Things you can't just STOP or you will DIE! INSANE! Then I was told I was going on the med/surgical floor, not telemetry, where my heart rate would be monitored...umm...isn't that what I am there for considering I am passing out 3-4 times a day?!? So they try to move me only to stick me in a room with SOMEONE ELSE...UMM...I HAVE A WEAKENED IMMUNE SYSTEM!!! I can't get over being sick, I have a low IGG level, I see YOUR hematologist!!! "Well, are you REFUSING to be on telemetry?" Oh, Did I mention that THIS conversation is between my Mom and the resident at 2 AM?? I was SOO tired I couldn't deal with it...all I wanted was to sleep. I still had the remnants of the headache, I was still nauseous, since the stupid resident wrote the zofran orders incorrectly...only wrote it for ORAL zofran to be given 4 mg every 8hrs...ummm...I came in with nausea, I have an IV and I take 8 mg at home every 6-8 hrs anyway you idiot! BREATH!

By 3am I was on the med/surgical floor in my own room because that was more important then being hooked up to monitors. The nurse did put a pulse/oxygen monitor on my finger, although it was not monitored by anyone by me/my Mom and if the nurse or doc happened to come in my room  LOL! I think my Mom and I got MAYBE 2 hrs of sleep because docs/nurses kept coming in and waking us up. The nurse's aide came in and did an orthostatic test on me and it was WAY off when I went from the laying down to standing up position...over 30 beats per min. difference...and I wasn't even dizzy...can you imagine how it drops when I pass out?!?  The same thing happened after I had a bowel movement, and I had the nurse there to witness it and I told my neurologist...he acknowledged the flare-up and said it was more-then-likely because of whatever infection I had and the fact that I had a reaction to the Levaquin. Hopefully I will get better now, he said...he wants me to go back to the Mayo Clinic in MN to see the GURU of Autonomic Dysfunction. He is writing me a letter of referral to get me there...my Mom will look into the money part on Monday. Mom was NOT happy when he said I should go home...with no more answers then when I came in...he DID come back in a short time later when he read in my chart that the CHIEF RESIDENT (that I NEVER MET) already ordered Cymbalta for me to take...He laughed about it, knowing I would not take this drug! He had me tell HIS resident WHY I would not take it (I had a HORRIBLE experience with Paxil...suicidal tendencies, stuttering, anxiety attack, total change in behavior). When the nurse came in to give me the drug, I denied it, of course!

The residents came in for rounds and when this one talked to me about Cymbalta I was as calm as possible, giving her NO reason to say "see you need it anyway" LOL! She told me there I SOME anecdotal evidence that it works in HIGH doses for dysautonomia in TEENS! I wanted to SCREAM at her!!!!  Dysautonomia in children in totally different then autonomic dysfunction in adults!!  The mechanism is DIFFERENT! Instead of feeling pain, like me, they feel NOTHING! Their nerves aren't on edge all the time, they are muted! GRRR! She, again was condescending!!  What IS IT with these PEOPLE!!!  She told me GOOGLE IT!!!!  Like I haven't spent the last 9 years of my life GOOGLING my condition!!!

BREATH BREATH!!

I went home 2 hrs later!!!

HOPE HOPE HOPE for a better appointment on Monday with the endo...HOPE HOPE HOPE I can get into Mayo!!!