An Evening in the Hospital

I've now been several days without a migraine. The only thing that lingered, as of this morning, was the ringing in my ears and a slight headache around my left ear. I did my time on the traction this morning and went on to work.

At lunchtime, an RN friend of mine asked, "Are you going back to the doctor today?" I told her no, I'm done for the week. She commented that maybe I should call the doctor and get checked because while we were sitting at lunch, my left temple and cheek started swelling up and "You now have a substantial sized knot running along your cheekbone back into your hairline." I got up and went to the bathroom to look into a mirror and about fainted!

I had grown what looked like an extra thumb across my cheekbone; and my temple looked like a small plum had crawled under my skin.
So my friend drove me back to get my car, while I was on my cell calling the doctor. I was told it sounded like temporal arteritis and to get into the office and get it checked.

I got in my car and went straight to the doctor's office. By the time I got there, my head was pounding again and my face was swelling up around my left eye. I had tried to call the office back to tell them I was enroute and getting worse. But their danged "at lunch" message was on; and I couldn't get past the front desk. I was an emotional wreck by the time I got into the office.

I got in there to be told by the wicked little receptionist that I didn't have an appointment.
Me: I don't care. I called earlier and was told to come right in.
WWW(Wicked Witch of the West): Well, you don't have an appointment and can't get to you today. You'll have to come back tomorrow.
Me: LOOK AT MY FACE! Do you see this temple?!? This is NOT a good sign! Now go tell the doc or his nurse that I'm here. I've already talked to them. They knew I was coming.
WWW: You'll have to come back tomorrow. They're already behind today. And there is nothing written on your chart about you coming in. You should have called.
Me: I DID CALL! I even tried to call back again while I was driving but your...
WWW: No, you did NOT call because this phone hasn't rang in the past half hour.
Me: I KNOW! Because you put the stupid thing on the lunch message after I talked to the nurse the first time!
WWW: Would you like me to try to schedule you in tomorrow or not?
Me: NO! I'll drive myself to the ER and will bill YOU for it! Tomorrow, the only reason I'll be back is to pick up my records to change doctors and to explain to my doctor why YOU have just cost him my business!

I left the office FUMING and drove myself across the street to the ER where a nurse immediately got me in with a gorgeous young doc who immediately commented, "WOW! Looks like you have a bad case of temporal arteritis there; sit down here and let's get on this."
They called for STAT labs, drew enough blood to do a transfusion, and had me lie down to await the results. The doc cautioned me with "We may need a rheumatologist and neurologist on this....may have to start some meds here.....gotta get that swelling down....that's soft tissue, not fluid...gotta watch your eyes...are you having any visual changes, blah, blah, blah."
I figured all that. And I watched my eyes in my rearview mirror the entire drive from work. I KNOW what this COULD mean. But I expected to hear all this from MY FP doctor who I couldn't even get close to because of the WWW!

Then I started thinking again, and questioned the ER doc....
"Hey, are you checking for enzymes?"
Doc: Yes, we're on it.
Me: What about my Sed rate?
Doc: Got it
Me: Do you think maybe my RDW vs MCV ratio might...
Doc: Stop worrying! We're checking it
Me: What about RNA? If it's my immune system, maybe my WBCs....
Doc: Yes, I KNOW. We're testing it.
Me: Oh. Ok. I guess you'll know when the labs come back?
Doc: Yes, that's usually when we find out *LOL*
Me: But then to know for sure, that means the neuro will want to biopsy the artery, won't he? Should I call my husband?
Doc: He might. But will you PLEASE stop worrying?!?
Me: You don't understand; I'm never sick! I'm a clutz; I trip, fall, run into doors, get hit by drunk drivers, need stitches, need xrays. But I'm never SICK! This last month of doctors, tests, more doctors, more tests, etc is about to send me over the edge!

(OK, so I'm not the most patient patient in the world! ~sigh~)
I know that poor man (the ER doc) must have dropped to his knees to thank God I was gone when I left!

But he remained very patient and kind on the outside, regardless of the frustration he must have been feeling on the inside. And he was honest about my results. He sat down next to me, went over every single test and then said, "I don't understand this and really have no idea why your face is swelling. Your vital signs, blood tests, etc, show you to be a perfectly healthy young woman with no abnormalities nor irregularities on any test we've run."
He even gave me a copy of my tests to check them myself. I'm a smoker; and my O2 Sat was 99%! I was madder than fire when I got to the ER and my BP was only 116/70, respirations 16 and heart rate 80! (And that's after literally stomping up the hill from my car and into the ER!) My MRI and CT are perfectly normal.

But my left cheek/eye/temple area still looks deformed!
The only thing I could get out of my mouth was, "Are you SURE these are MY test results?!? My smoking and temper alone should have done more damage than THIS! OMG! This looks like I'm 25 again!"

Anyways, I was sent home with orders for more anti-inflamatories for the swelling and yet another referral for another specialist, "just in case."

Maybe my "just in case" doctor can figure out what in the heck is going on?!? In the interim, I wait...again! But tomorrow morning I'm seriously going to pull our records and move them back to my previous doctor who moved about a year ago. We may have to drive an extra half hour. But I won't be given the run around that I've gotten today.