Tag Archives: Exhausted

Happy Halloween

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To those who googled for ‘chinese doctor’ please read the previous post [Three Days In Hospital] and next one [A Mystery] too. Feel free to email me if you have any questions about the herbal treatment, the address is on the right.

Yesterday I had an appointment at the hospital again; one in the morning and one in the afternoon both at Endoscopy. In the morning I had to give more blood and I was happy that I had a two-days-break from the previous horror shows although there are still visible reminders. My right arm is showing at least six needle tracks and a huge bruise that keeps growing bigger and changes colour over night. That in combination with my yellow eyes and skin makes me look like some freakin junkie, I guess I have a free Halloween outfit this year *hehe* But I’ll miss out on all the festivities, although when they wheeled me in my bed through the hospital all the way to the other end of the building to have the ultrasound done, I passed a nicely decorated reception, covered in glitter spiders and funny pumpkins. A spooky ride through the hospital… Yes I was feeling very unwell but I never lose my eye for detail especially when it makes me smile…

The nurse had to take four more blood samples yesterday and I was prepared for another painful experience. The needle went in… but no blood came out and the nurse wasn’t happy nor was I. She had to pull it out after a few minutes and as soon as she did my blood started to run… I was not happy at all because it meant she had to do it all over again, she couldn’t use my right arm because of all the bruises and my left started to act up. I had the same situation in the past where I had to give a lot of blood and at some point my body just refuses to cooperate. It is saying: ‘I had enough of it, don’t mess with me anymore’. Lucky me I had a very bright nurse and she said she didn’t want to try again because she knew she wasn’t capable. She was used to using much thinner needles so she wanted it done by a pro and told us to wait for the doctor. He told me he had 25 years of experience. Yes it did hurt especially the spot he had chosen which was on the bruised arm but more on the inside and further down. But he had a very steady hand and he was quick, it took five minutes instead of 15 to 20…

Again I had two arms that I couldn’t really use, somehow those veins get into some kind of shock and become stiff. The nurse had almost left no bruise at all but the one the doctor did turned into a nice purple greenish spot. I guess that’s my fault because he asked me to put pressure there and I didn’t do it hard enough. But it’s fine it doesn’t hurt at all, the other spot, the big one does and according to the nurse it will take weeks to vanish. I went home all dizzy again slept for a few hours and send out some emails to people. I felt drained so couldn’t do much. I went back to the hospital in the afternoon. The good news was that the earlier ALT figure had gone down from 2750 last Wednesday when I was admitted to hospital, to 2500, to 2350 on Friday evening when I left, to 1700 yesterday. And I had one result back which made me really happy but will know more about the other tests next week when I have to come back again for tadaaa, another blood test and chat with the doctor. For now I shall rest a lot… My appetite is back and I was told only to eat food that I fancy, oddly enough I eat lots of grapes and bananas during the day and soup with two slices of toast in the evening. To me that’s a feast compared to what I had for weeks.

I would like to thank all of you for sending me words of encouragement, love and care; it meant a lot to me! I would also like to answer some issues that some of you don’t seem to understand.

Question: why didn’t you notice the yellow eyes sooner?

Answer: I didn’t suspect anything until five days before I actually had a look and I had googled for liver symptoms. AS. had asked me about the yellow eyes and I had said no to him because I was convinced I didn’t have them. Then on Tuesday while I was doing my makeup, I decided to have a good look and then noticed some yellowness only on the sides of my eyes. So it’s basically hidden if you look straight ahead. My GP confirmed this the next day; he thought I had a gall bladder obstruction and expected surgery, so sent me off to hospital asap. Over the next couple of days, my eyes were totally yellow but again only if you look in a certain light; you can’t see it when it’s slightly dark like in the evening. It seems to be normal not to notice, most people don’t notice the yellow eyes at all, especially men [according to the doctor at the hospital!]…

Question: why didn’t you notice the yellow skin sooner?

Answer: I know this sounds odd but that’s because I am yellow. I have a different skin colour because of my Caucasian mother and my Indonesian father. In summer it can get really deep tanned: golden mocha. The Italians used to call me Mocha, the French call me Olive… Even my hair changes colour: in the summertime it will be deep dark brown with a red glow and in the wintertime it becomes black. So in the wintertime my skin tends to look slightly yellowish, my dad had the same change. I’m even darker/more yellow than most Chinese… So no… I didn’t notice only now I can see a yellow glow but still. I think it was worse when MvdM. came to see me and we both had a look at it…

Question: why did you leave it too long?

Answer: people who know me can tell that I am not a whiner and that I won’t go to a doctor just because I have some pain somewhere or because I feel slightly ill. This started off as a flu-like period and I honestly thought it was a stomach bug. It takes a few weeks and then it should be gone. I was hoping for the best and when the symptoms were gone for a week, I thought things were back to normal again and only started to worry the week after when I felt incredibly tired all the time and would fall asleep at my desk instantly. Some Wikipedia: initial features are of nonspecific flu-like symptoms, common to almost all acute viral infections and may include: malaise, muscle and joint aches, fever, feeling sick or vomiting, diarrhea and headache. More specific symptoms, which can be present in acute hepatitis from any cause are: profound loss of appetite, aversion of smoking among smokers, dark urine, yellowing of the eyes and skin i.e. jaundice and abdominal discomfort. Physical findings are usually minimal, apart from jaundice (33%).

Now I need to rest again, I wish you all a spooky Halloween! Be good, don’t scare the Ghouls, Ghosts, Jinn, Demons, Zombies, Death Knights, Scrags, Shamblers, Vores [aka Shalraths], Fiends, Ogres and Rotfish…

Three Days In Hospital

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{edited version 28/10/07}

Complaints:

I haven’t been feeling well for five weeks. It started the day after MvdM. his birthday and back then I thought it was a stomach bug so I didn’t think much of it and thought it would go after some time. The fourth week I felt better and most symptoms were gone or back to normal again. Everything was okay for a week or so but after that I started to feel weak. All the symptoms I had earlier were back again: no appetite at all [I lost over 2 kilos], I was nauseous, had headaches, cramps and felt extremely drained all day. I could only work and focus for a few hours and after that I would have no energy left at all. Then last week, two more symptoms showed up that really started to worry me and I realised something had to be wrong. The final straw was last Tuesday when I found out by coincidence that my eyes had turned yellow…

Tuesday 23rd:

I went to see the GP in the evening and because I had no appointment [it takes a week to see the doctor] I had to fill out an emergency form explaining the reason[s] why I needed to see him. I wrote at the top that I had these complaints for five weeks already so this GP decided that I was no emergency case and sent me home, telling me I’d had to try again the next morning.

Wednesday 24th:

I went to the doctor’s early in the morning, knowing I had to wait for several hours before he would be able to squeeze me in [or not and then I would have to try again the next morning… there was no guarantee he could see me that same day]. So I waited for three hours and spent my time reading a book. I can’t remember the last time I read a book so in a way it was good that I was forced to do so. Then when I finally got to see him, he was kind of upset with me because he could see straight away something was wrong; he told me I had left it too long. [This is a different doctor than the one yesterday who told me to go home…] He cancelled the last two appointments [also emergencies] to arrange a bed for me at casualties at the hospital and told me to go there asap. I went home and packed a bag with clothes, toiletries and a book to read because I realised I probably would have to stay there.

At EMC/casualties, they took about five blood samples and placed an IV [intravenous] soft catheter on my left arm. Then they wheeled me to a different department to have an ultrasound done. It took hours to get the results back and when they finally came in I was told I had to stay at EMC for observations for the next 24 hours. I had a really bad night and couldn’t sleep at all. At 22.30 they decided to take me to a different room opposite the one I was in, it would be more quiet there… Still I didn’t get much sleep because of the fact that I was in an emergency ward where people were brought in and out during the night, lights would be on and off, monitors were beeping every ten minutes, my blood pressure was checked every two hours and so on. I managed to doze off at four in the morning and when I finally got to the REM phase the lights were on again because it was six and time to wake up…

Thursday 25th:

I felt drained all day because of a lack of sleep. Every two hours my blood pressure was checked, every four hours my blood sugar level was checked and again I had to give blood four times during the day which became a nightmare in the end since this is a university hospital and I was kind of a guinea pig. Groups of students would walk in accompanied by their professor, they would ask me questions for half an hour and examine me which was fine but I really didn’t like them practicing their injection skills on me just to get my blood samples. My arm is bruised and sore and at some point when they came to collect blood sample tube number 16 to 20 I really had enough of it all and had a good cry, I just wanted to go home…

Yet I had to stay another night because the results were still tricky. In between examinations and tubes I tried to get some sleep but there was just too much going on all the time. AS. came over to visit and MvdM. called me in the evening which was a really nice surprise and two hours later he came to visit me too. He left me a special letter from a very special person that put a smile back on my face instantly after having such a really bad day. It was so good to see someone and talk for a bit even though I was extremely tired. This day was such a bad day for me, I just had enough of it all and wanted some peace, go home but I knew that was impossible…

During the second night I had earplugs in and I slept much better than the previous night although at four in the morning some drunk decided to wander around the ward and disturb the peace. They had to call security twice and the police came over but nothing was done really. It took hours before he finally fell asleep. I was wide awake before six in the morning and felt a lot better than the day before even though I again didn’t get much sleep.

Friday 26th:

More tests were done, more blood samples were taken and another weirdo decided to disturb the peace for hours… He was paranoia and slightly aggressive trying to get out [this ward was secured and you needed a special code to open the doors]. Three men had to hold him down and they sedated him in the end.

In the morning I had to see a dermatologist and was wheeled through the corridors of the huge Victorian building which was nice because it was a bit of a sightseeing tour after spending two days in the same room with the same boring view. The dermatologist reminded me of Thatcher [her hairdo did] but with an extremely good sense of humour; we had a good laugh when she made a funny remark about cannabis. Once people find out that I’m from the Lowlands somehow the conversation always seems to get herbal… I don’t mind I think it’s kinda funny. An hour later a porter came to collect me and wheel me back to EMC.

I saw five doctors today but nobody could really tell me what was going on since the results are still not in. I was told that if my last blood test would have improved I could go home for the weekend but had to be back on Monday for more blood tests. So basically I have been waiting all day for the results to come in and I was thrilled to know that I could go home… I asked the nurse in the afternoon about the progress and she told me that I had to stay over the weekend because the doctor didn’t leave a note on my medical chart. I was very disappointed to hear that I might had to stay after all. I noticed one of the doctor’s team members and asked her about the situation, she called the doctor and told me they were still waiting for the results, she would push the lab for the results in the meantime and the doctor would come to see me before 17.00.

So she did… she explained the situation and said that my blood tests were still not good although there was a tiny improvement and they weren’t sure whether I had reached the highest peak already or if it would get worse than that still… so basically she would take a risk by letting me go home. But I was taking up an emergency bed and they wouldn’t be able to test over the weekend anyway because the lab would be closed so she decided to let me go if I would promise to be back at the hospital when things would become worse over the weekend or if there would be any change… I’m not supposed to do stuff and rest as much as possible so hopefully the tests will be improved by Monday.

An example: they did a liver function test and one enzyme that they check for is called ALT which is an enzyme present in liver cells. When a cell is damaged, it leaks this enzyme into the blood, where it is measured. ALT rises dramatically in acute liver damage, such as viral hepatitis or paracetamol (acetaminophen) overdose. Elevations are often measured in multiples of the upper limit of normal (ULN). A normal dose would be between 40-45, mine was measured 2750 when I came in on Wednesday and it was still on 2500 two days later…

Another thing she was worried about was INR which wasn’t normal either and to her the main reason for keeping me at the hospital. The liver is responsible for the production of coagulation factors. The international normalized ratio (INR) measures the speed of a particular pathway of coagulation, comparing it to normal. If the INR is increased, it means it is taking longer than usual for blood to clot. The INR will only be increased if the liver is so damaged that synthesis of vitamin K-dependent coagulation factors has been impaired. It is very important to normalize the INR before operating on people with liver problems (usually by transfusion with blood plasma containing the deficient factors) as they could bleed excessively out.

Anyway, I’m home for now and it took me over ten hours to write this post on and off. I do need to get some sleep as soon as possible because I feel drained again. Forgive any typos, I am too tired to proof read and have more important things to worry about at the moment *hehe*. Oh but the good news is that I got my NI number in, finally!