Much Ado About Absolutely Nothing

I had an appointment yesterday for an Xray and post-op check up. Xray was great. The trouble began when I waited two and a half hours to see the nurse practitioner. One of the things she checked was my oxygen level -- they use a little device that clamps on your finger. Sitting down it was fine -- 99. Then she wanted me to walk the halls a little and take a new reading. This time it was 77 -- not so fine.

She conferred with the doctor, who was afraid the drop might be caused by a blood clot in the lung -- which would mean daily shots of Lovanox until I could go on Coumadine. So he ordered a CT scan. After waiting two hours for the scan, I found out they wanted to do it with an iodine dye for contrast. The only thing I have ever been allergic to in my life is iodine dye -- which meant that I had to go on an 18 hour protocol of Prednesone. And I would have to check in to the hospital because they were afraid to let me go home with an oxygen level of 77.

Two hours later (are you beginning to see the pattern?) I was in a room. As the intern, resident and nurse began taking down all the data, Jack said he thought I should walk around the corridor and take another oxygen level. This time it didn't go lower than 95.

While we were much relieved, the consensus was that we continue with the Prednesone and CT scan in the morning. So they start an IV, give me a shot of blood thinner and wake me up all night long to take vitals and give me pills. I the morning, Dr. DeHoyos came in and cancelled the CT scan. Based on the oxygen monitoring, he was convinced I did not have a blood clot in the lung, but ordered an ultra sound to make sure I didn't have one forming in my legs.

Bottom line: 26 hours later I was released with a clean bill of health. Joyce Knauff is convinced I was just looking for more attention. I am just grateful for Medicare and Blue Cross who pick up the bills. Of course, maybe if I didn't have Medicare and Blue Cross, they wouldn't order so many tests.