omg! what a couple of days! so i spent last night in the ER. i woke up at 4 a.m. yesterday, nauseous again and with the chest pain. like, right below my ribcage, in the middle. i slept badly until 7 or so, when i called the doc.. i went right in and talked to the doc, who guessed that i either had 1) an ulcer, 2) an eroded esophagus, 3) gallstones, or 4) i can't remember. gave me a prescription for prevacid and a gallbladder ultrasound. he said if it got worse, i could go into the ER and they'd do the ultrasound there.

i started to feel a little better on the way home, so went into work. i was here for all of an hour before i had another attack that left me bawling, so i went home. was fine again for a bit, then in horrible pain. so i grabbed some books (be prepared!) and went to the ER at about 3. at 6 or so, i started to get anxious - i had been sitting through attack after attack in the waiting room. bawling. in pain. i said i had an appt. the next day for an ultrasound, so if it was going to be much longer, i'd really rather wait it out at home rather than in an uncomfortable wooden chair. on top of that, i was starving (all i could think was: boston market!) and had a headache from crying. but they got me an ultrasound. luckily, i'd have half-hour periods where i'd feel fine and was able to read and actively hate on some of the other people in the waiting room. but then it would start to hurt again..

then i had more waiting. at about 10 p.m., i got a room. the doc came to talk to me.. very very nice doctor.. nothing was wrong with my gallbladder. he figured the Rx the dermatologist gave me earlier in the week had caused some stomach problems. he'd give me some stomach drugs and painkillers.

40 minutes of sitting in a hospital gown and freezing my ass off, the nurse finally came with a cup of "GI cocktail" - drink it quick, she said, as it numbs everything, including your mouth. and some percoset. and she gave me a TV, on which i promptly found an episode of Law & Order. it was around now that i wished i had someone close enough, in proximity and in relationship, that i felt comfortable calling.

30 minutes later, i was still in pain enough to cause me to cry out.. the nurse came back in and was worried - everything should've kicked in by then. so i got a nice little morphine injection and scheduled for a CT scan.

within 2 seconds of her injecting the second painkiller, i could feel it.. first in my neck, then everywhere. it was awesome. i had my phone the whole time but didn't feel like talking until then, so i tried to call dawny first.. today i looked at my phone and had to laugh. i'd get "60660" dialed and fall asleep. try again: 60860. i remember trying to call alli too, on the hospital phone.. i'd dial, having to concentrate VERY HARD on the buttons.. then fall asleep.. wake back up and check the phone where i got one of those angry "you've left the phone off the hook too long" noises. apologies to alli if i actually did succeed in calling her. three times. and falling asleep before i could say hi.

they woke me up at 3:30 or so and said i was okay to go; the CT scan, that i only barely remember being done, turned out normal. i was still stumbling around, from the painkillers, but feeling so, so, so much better.

i woke up today -- at 3 p.m.! -- in a panic - i was still hurting! within a few seconds, it sunk in that it wasn't like yesterday's pain.. thank god. that shit was exhausting. so now i'm chugging maalox and taking it easy.

that's been my weekend so far! fun, fun! :)  ¶ 8:28 PM