Migraine part 3

Ok so I was not going to post about my silly migraine again but today took the biscuit! 


Ok so Migraine still there and its now day 4, so had booked myself into the GP. Appointment was for 10.10am. 


GP said, Migraine's should not last for 4 days and made a phone call. GP then said take this letter down to the hospital and they will need to run a few tests just to be sure. 


I arrived at the hospital at 11am and they booked me in at 11.10am. I was admitted for tests. Being admitted is different to being an outpatient. When you are an outpatient you are free to walk on your own to go to places. When you are admitted you need a porter to wheel you to the room next door! Very irritating as it is my head that is sore not my legs. 


At 11.45 I am greeted by Harriet, Harriet is a medical student. very sweet and lovely but not terribly confident. Harriet conducts a very thorough examination. long discussion about my headache and then proceeds to check the rest of my body including my ankles. (are they puffy/swollen have reflexes). 


Harriet goes away and I go back to the waiting room, technically I have been admitted to a consulting room, although the reality of this is I have been admitted to a waiting room with trips in and out of the consulting room. 


Harriet comes back and takes my blood pressure. I show her which cuff to use and she works out which button to press on the machine (seriously). 


I go back to the waiting room and Harriet returns again with the bloods trolley. I have to admit I was nervous (medical student - needle- me)  while she is finding something I have a glance at my notes. migraine? virus? cranial hypertension? then something I can't read.


 By the time Harriet return's I am too scared to ask. I ask Harriet what the plan is for my tests (I could not read all of that either). Bloods, Urine, ECG, Chest X-ray. I am scared again, I have a headache why do I need an ECG and a Chest X-ray!!! but of course I do not ask, I am also worried that Harriet would not know the answer. 


Ok So now its time for Harriet to attempt to take my blood,  Harriet puts the tourniquet on my arm. I tell her to put it on tighter. She then starts to try to find my vein. Now I have had a great many blood tests in the past 12 months so know my veins quite well. Harriet cant find a suitable vein in the crook of my arm so then attempts to go for the wrist. I point out to Harriet that only Dr's ever want to go for the wrist, Nurses and phlebotomists always manage to find a vein in my arm. I said to Harriet that if she is confident then to give it a try. Harriet tries and fails. The needle either goes straight through the vein or misses it completely either way, its a lot of pain and no blood.   


I then start telling Harriet that its not her its me (yes seriously I did) I said that it is always harder to find a vein on a larger person. Harriet then offer's to find a nurse to try. Nurse comes in gets vein straight away fill's 3 vials job done. 


I then go back to the waiting room and wait. 


and wait, 


I needed a wee, so asked the nurse for a specimen bottle as I know they want a sample later. I am offered a bedpan! I say that at 35 I have a good aim and can manage to pee into a bottle! I fill my sample and there is no nurse to give it too so I put it in my bag! 


and I wait.....


and wait.....


I then go for a chest x-ray. I get wheeled to the x-ray room. (which is just up the corridor) wait..In a room that is the brightest room in the world. Bearing in mind that I have a headache which is made worse by the light. I gets so bad I do put my coat over my eye's. I did not care how I looked I needed some relief. I then get my chest x-rayed (bra off how annoying). 


afterwards I get wheeled back to the waiting area and wait.......


at 3.50pm the consultant comes to see me..... I get prodded and poked and manipulated and have light's shone in my eyes. He say's I need a head CT, to make sure that I have not had a bleed in the head (I am very scared now) apparently there is a link between PCOS and bleeding in the brain. I did not know this!


At 4pm LSP arrives with a new handbag for me (as a get well treat) and we wait.......


and wait, 


and wait, 


at 6pm I have my ECG.........8 leads stuck to my chest and body with the stickiest sticky pads in the world I lie down while its done and that feel's good. It feels good to lie down. I chat to the nurse, she is the Nurse who booked me in at 11.10, She remember's me from when I worked on that department as a student 5 years ago. We talk about the department and the teams and the changes. 


I give her my wee! 


at 7.30pm I have a CT scan....Lying on a table that gets lifted high into the air so my head can get put into the doughnut. I am told to Lie still for 2 minutes. When he said lie still my head wanted to move so much. It took every ounce of me to keep still and breath slowly. 


we go back to the waiting area and wait....


and wait....


at 8pm a Dr comes and tells me I have a migraine. 


I do not have a virus, or a bleed or a swelling, I have a migraine. I am given some drugs and a prescription and am told to take it easy for a few days and if it has not cleared by the end of the weekend to go back to my GP. 


at 8.10 I am discharged! 


9 hours 


9 hours to be told I have, what I thought I had and finally to be given some pain relief as I was not allowed any while I was in there. 9 hours of sitting under bright lights. (a good way of the NHS to save money would be to turn some of those lights off)


However, I am glad. I am glad that I only have a migraine (as painful as it is) I am glad that the doctors wanted to check that there was nothing more sinister wrong with me. I am glad that the NHS is there, my diagnosis today would have cost hundred's of pounds if I were to pay privately. It may have been quicker but no better. 


I now have to put my feet up for a few more day's. Which mean's cancelling my plans for a riotous Saturday!


I will however resume normal blogging, not about silly migraines but about nice bloggy things like knitting and sewing and vintage! 


Thank you for reading, happy Thursday everyone!

How noisy can 1 house be.

Ok so its day number 3 for the migraine,


 its not as bad as yesterday but still worse than Monday. I have booked to see my G.P but they cannot see me till tomorrow. I had pencilled in to have tomorrow off work  to do some more work on arranging fund-raising. However, as my manager was sick last week and I have been sick this week I will be back at work tomorrow unless I am still unwell. either way there will be no organising going on! I will have to try to pull something out of the bag this weekend.  


Light hurts, noise hurts and smell's make me sick. I have decided I live in the worlds nosiest house.


 The dogs snore, the birds are to loud and I can hear all the traffic for miles around. when the dogs are not snoring they are walking round making noises!. The wind howls down the chimney, the rain hits the patio, the wind makes the fan in the bathroom flap. The neighbour's dogs bark. The neighbours walk round their houses. opening and closing doors (how dare they) watching their tv's, sawing wood. (yes my neighbour saw's a lot of wood). One of the neighbours has a strange bird in the garden which makes a strange noise I don't know what it is its just loud! LSP is watching film's wearing headphones (but I can still hear it). 


The smell of, bathroom cleaner, porridge, banana, dog food all make me feel sick. 


I have managed to eat a bit more then yesterday which is encouraging. I have had toast and scrambled egg, a yogurt and some Ritz cracker's. 


I have been writing this post in chunks all day as the screen makes my eye's hurt. 


I have slept for about 4 hours today which is an improvement on yesterday where I  was awake for about 4 hours. 


I have made a cave out of our sitting room, it is the darkest room in the house and the quietest. I have been hauled up on the sofa with lots of cushion's blankets and pillow's. the lights have been kept off and the blinds closed. 

Spaniel and I on the sofa! blankets and cushion's galore! 


Hopefully normal blogging will resume tomorrow!


Happy Wednesday everyone!

migraine

 Today, I have truly done nothing. 


This morning I awoke to a sharp pain in the head and thought to myself, oh no....Then there is the decision of am I well enough to go to work? As I gave the dogs their breakfast and was throwing up at the smell of their dogfood I thought that I should stay home. 


I hate migraine's. It is not just the pain, its the hypersensitivity that goes along with it. I am over sensitive to smell, noise and light.


I went back to bed and put a pillow over my face! its the only way I can cut out the light to my eye's. There I stayed. I have slept most of the day and had some very crazy dreams along the way. 


Even to light from my laptop hurts and it has taken forever to write this. 


The sensitivity to noise feels like the volume has been turned up on the world and each sound jar's through my brain. I have had a day of no TV and no radio. Food makes me feel ill and I have eaten a hot cross bun and 2 slices of toast all day. I have just finished my 2nd slice, whilst my family tuck into sweet and sour chicken. We are all eating in the dark to help my eye's.


I will stay up for a bit but then back to bed again and hope this shifts for tomorrow!


Why am I blogging this? I think its because blogging has become part of my daily routine. 


I don't have time to be ill, there are so many things I should be doing, I have finally found a suitable free pattern for the bunny for my niece! I just need to start it as Easter is fast approaching. 

Happy Tuesday everyone!