Untold Stories of the E.R.

Yeah.....I don't really do needles. The thought kind of makes me want to vomit actually. Well, maybe not vomit but for sure pass out. The chiropractor almost made me pass out when my
back went out of whack a few months ago. He was just using that tool that senses heat on your back and I got all freaked out that my rib had punctured my lung. So, I had to lay down and get a cold wash cloth-at the chiropractor!!! Obviously, an actual needle is going to be much more of a problem. Back to my untold story- until today.

The iritis had been getting better late last week. I was really hopeful. We went out of town on Saturday to meet sweet baby Riley. As the day went on, the eye got worse. We drove home and it got a little worse. By the time I woke up on Sunday it was flaming red and in severe pain. I could not open it. So, I called Ask A Nurse and got in a fight with the nurse. She refused to page the on-call opthamologist for me. Normally, I wouldn't call them and ask them to do that but they had done if for me last week when this started. I just wanted to find out if the doc on-call wanted me to go to the Walk-In or the E.R. Miss Attitude, Ask-A-Nurse, said "i most defiantly will NOT page the on-call, you need to go the E.R.!" So, I called the Walk-In to see what they thought. The very nice AND helpful charge nurse said she thought we should call the doc to see what he wanted me to do. So, I had to call Miss Attitude back and ask her again-GULP! I told her what the charge nurse told me and she said..." well, i will put you through to the operator to have them page him but I WILL NOT TALK TO HIM FOR YOU, you will have to talk to him YOURSELF!!!!" ( As of that was some type of punishment for me) So, I said, "yes, that would be great, I would love to talk to him". And it turned out fine, he was nice and he and I were on the same page. We both know Iritis very well. So, after we discussed the situation, he told me to go to the E.R. at 2pm to meet him and we would do a shot. Dun.Dun.Dun.

I arrived promptly after 2pm. Got all checked-in with the very friendly nurse. We go back to this area away from the E.R. to find my nice on-call doc. He was very friendly and happy for being called in on a beautiful, sunny Sunday. Thank God for that. That goes a long way for nervous patients. I warned them right off the bat. "I get a little finicky about this medical stuff". They laughed and tried to make light of it to make me feel better. I told the doc that I would do my best and I really would be fine because I really wanted this shot. I knew it would make me feel better. Yeah, I wanted it. Things were going good. He was looking inside my eye with his special equipment, he was cracking jokes, the nurse was grabbing supplies. And then he had to describe to her the type of needle he needed. Remember, this was not your routine flu shot in the arm or birth control shot in the butt- this was in my EYE folks! "Get me a 25 gauge. No, that might be too small. Grab a 27 gauge and also a 30 gauge for good measure." He wasn't about to go hunting here, he was referring to the needle he would use..... I wanted to run at that moment. I knew I needed think about the bigger picture, so I stayed. We got the numbing drops in. He explained to me and the nurse that once he draws up the medicine for my eye, he needs to do it very quickly so we had to be ready. Yes, Sargent! We will stand ready! So, it was about to happen. I was kind of ready for this. I wanted it- remember? And then we needed to do some lidocane, the numbing agent. Sadly, lidocane doesn't come out of a nice little dropper. It doesn't get rubbed on like gel. It comes through a needle.

WHAT! The way you numb someone's eye to prevent pain from a needle- is with a needle?!
Well, I was already in this, so there's no going back. He got the FIRST needle in, and it hurt. I jerked a bit and there was this stream of stuff. It went down my cheek into my mouth and down my throat. I don't know how it got there but it was NOT supposed to be in my throat. Lidocane and throats do not go together. So, now my throat is numb. A numb throat sets you up for all kinds of crazy problems: problems swallowing, problems breathing, potential for aspirating (fluid going into the lungs and drowning), ahhhhhhhhhhh.

Screw the needle, who cares about the dumb needles! Now I have bigger things to be freakin paranoid about. So, they decide to take a few minutes break and let the lidocane start wearing off. After several cold washcloths and me imagining happy happy places, I decided then and there I wasn't going to die. I asked if we could do this laying down just in case I passed out. My comedian of a doc said, "well, you can lay down but I can't do this laying down!" (slapping my knee, slapping my knee)

Back into position. Lidocane is wearing off. Ready for the REAL shot. He did it. Needle into eyeball. Medicine where it needs to be. It wasn't that bad. Don't get me wrong. Every second of it sucked, but it was worth it. After the shot, they made me stick around in the E.R. waiting room to make sure I didn't choke to death on my own spit or vomit, due to the lidocane in my throat. I didn't. Drove myself home and went to bed. Drifted off to sleep a little bit proud of myself that I made it through all of that and didn't even pass out. Stay tuned for eye updates.