I had an unplanned hospital stay last week, when I went to the ER with severe pain on Wednesday. I think it was Wednesday. All the days ran together after that in a blur of pain, drugs and awfulness. I was hurting so bad I couldn’t even get on my phone and do one of those, “Hey look at me in the hospital” social media posts, lol.

I did finally manage to take a pic, because you know, pics or it didn’t happen. This was after I pulled off all the things connected to me (except the IV, I’m not touching that) and changed out of my hospital gown and basically said I don’t care what’s going on, this place is killing me, I need to go home.

And I never ever want to go back again.

What Had Happened Was

My day started off great. I went to a 6AM yoga class and was impressed that I was finally showing some improvement in my strength and form and was able to do a little more than usual.

Later that day I was moving some dirt into flowerpots to bring upstairs to my porch. I was being extra careful not to twist my back, because I’d hurt it doing that before. I went slow and easy and made sure it wasn’t too heavy. I thought I did a good job, but later my back started hurting.

I ignored it and kept making dinner, until it got really bad, and I sat down with a heating pad. It continued to get really bad to where I could barely catch my breath. Then it stated radiating around the front and got even worse to the point where I started crying and getting worried it was more than a hurt back.

I started worrying it was my appendix or a kidney stone and told my husband I needed to go to the ER. I really didn’t want to go, but then the pain got so bad I was having double vision and my hands and feet started tingling and going numb. I thought I was having some kind of stroke or heart attack at that point. I’d never been in so much pain that my vision blurred like that, and I’ve been in some very painful situations.

Lots of Drugs and No Diagnosis

We were admitted to the hospital quickly, and they gave me some morphine for the pain, which barely took the edge off. Then I was sent for a CT scan, an ultrasound and given various medications for kidney stones or GI issues, just in case it was that. They couldn’t figure out what was wrong, and just kept trying different things, all while I told them, “It’s my back, can you look at my back?” Nobody looked at my back.

At one point the frustrated doctor asked me if I was just having a panic attack. I told him yes, I’m having a panic attack but that’s not what’s making my back hurt!!

During this time, they withheld food in case I needed surgery. Because of that, I got a migraine. So on top of the back pain, my head hurt so bad that I started throwing up every 20 minutes. To counteract that, they pumped me full of anti-nausea meds on top of the morphine, Oxycontin, and something they called a “migraine cocktail.” I also had to drink two different “GI cocktails” that were awful. I threw everything up, including the pain pills.

My only relief was the few minutes after the filled my IV with morphine. The pain went away for about 10 minutes before returning, and then I’d start barfing again.

And every doctor seemed concerned that I smoked marijuana. Maybe they found THC in my blood or something, but every one of them asked me about it and I told them I had a prescription for it, for the migraines. Marijuana is the only thing I’ve found that can break the puking cycle from the migraines. It honestly doesn’t do much for the pain, but stopping the vomiting and making it possible to eat again is a really big deal.

I spent an entire day in the hospital being shot up with drugs while waiting for a GI doctor that never showed up. I have never been so uncomfortable in my life. My back was in terrible pain, my head was now in pain, and I barfed all night long.

And because they were filling me with fluids to keep my hydrated, and the barfing was making my stomach clench really hard, I ended up peeing all over the bed. I don’t think I’ve ever been so miserable in my life, and I went through a car windshield before and punctured a lung.

The nurses came in and did the quickest full bedsheet change I’ve ever seen, laid extra pee pads on the bed and put a pile of barf bags next to my head.

After making it through the most terrible night, I was determined to go home. I was not going to wait around for the doctor all day and continue barfing. And the bed was making my back hurt so much worse. So hard and uncomfortable, and every few minutes it would make a loud noise and pop up in different places.

I asked the nurse why my bed was raising up and down on its own, and she said it was to prevent bed sores. It wasn’t like I’d been in there for weeks, so it seemed pretty unnecessary and just added another layer of torture onto an already miserable situation.

I’m Going Home

I managed to eat a few bites of breakfast and muster up enough strength to text my husband to come get me and call the nurse and tell them I wanted out. The doctor arrived about an hour later and told me to follow up with the GI doctor and a neurologist. The prescribed me nothing for the pain, and I didn’t care, I just wanted out. I was afraid if I asked, they’d want to keep me there.

I’ve never been so happy to get home in my life. I was able to stop the barfing and get some rest, and the next day made an appointment with someone who would actually look at my back- a chiropractor.

I went the next day and felt better immediately after the adjustment. Not 100% better, but an improvement.

They said my right hip was tilted back and most likely pinching the nerves. The put it back in place and told me to ice it. After that, I steadily improved. I went back the next day for another adjustment and walked out feeling like a new person.

My back still hurts a little, but I’m continuing to improve little by little.

The whole situation sucked, but I keep telling myself that at least we ruled out anything internal that could be life-threatening. Last night was the first night I didn’t have nightmares that I was still in the hospital. It was an overall hellish experience.

I’m so happy to be back at work, sitting here writing with an icepack on my back. And I’m getting ready for a trip to go see my sister and grandmother and take my sister to her very first comic con. I look forward to sharing all about that soon.

So that’s the whole story! I’m back to being busy and trying to catch up on all the things.