ER Miseries

After flunking all my liver tests on the 13th, my second doctor called me up and insisted I go to the ER Wednesday since it was the only way to get an "urgent ultrasound". She wasn't sure if this was the beginning of a bigger liver problem or the resolution of my existing problems and felt that given the dark pee and itching, things needed to be evaluated asap.

I went in, told the doctor exactly what she asked me to say and sat down to wait. And wait. And waaaaaaait. And wait. It took about 5 hours for the first doctor, the triage doctor, to actually see me. Urgent my ass. After explaining everything again,  the triage ER doc gave me an IV of Benadryl for the itching and drew maybe 10 or 11 vials of blood. I asked for some lidocaine before they put the IV in but was told they don't do that, and to make things more fun, they prefer their IVs in the inner forearm where the tube leaves a nasty, painful bruise. Then, you guessed it, back to waiting. And waiting. And listening to the other people waiting complain about waiting.  I'm sensing the theme here.

Another hour later, there was an opening in ultrasound and off we went. They insisted on wheeling me there, probably not a bad idea since the Benadryl made me feel so loopy and lightheaded. The ultrasound tech was super thorough, he actually pushed crazy hard with the wand and I was sure I'd have bruised ribs, but better to be a little sore with a a good picture. Then it was back to the ER triage waiting room. To wait. Again.

I was hoping they were just waiting on someone to read my ultrasound before I could leave but the ER nurse said they had to admit me. So more waiting, more listening to this lady I'm fairly sure was just looking for pills complain, and another hour later, they finally had a bed for me! Huzzah!  I went in, put on my gown, and just a little bit later the official ER doctor came in to see me.  I explained everything again for the third time and just for fun, the ER doctor had them draw another 10 vials of blood. I was less than impressed since I already had two holes in my arms but she wanted to run the hepatitis tests for a third time.  She then looked at my ultrasound and since she couldn't see anything but my swollen liver, spleen and lymph nodes, she insisted it must have been an invisible gallstone that you somehow couldn't see in an ultrasound, CT scan or labs. I was less than impressed, my primary card doctor, second doctor and two specialists had already ruled out gallstones. I asked her how a gallstone could be possible, if the pain occurs when a stone is stuck and my pain continued several days after I had both the ultrasound and CT, wouldn't a stone be visible? Shouldn't I have other markers like high cholesterol or a high fat diet? She gave me more BS about an invisible stone and advised me to lose some weight. I wanted to hit her. She may have sensed this because she ordered an MRI "just in case".

Thursday morning, my primary care doctor calls me up after reading the ER report and essentially reams the ER doctor, dismissing gallstones which they've already ruled out because "there has never been any hint of gallstones or a problem with your gallbladder on either of your two ultrasounds, CT scan or labs". She is upset they won't schedule the PET scan sooner (they only do it once a week, it's not a popular test) and thinks I should have another super exciting ultrasound with a tube down my throat so they can ultrasound from the inside.  Unfortunately, she wasn't a fan of the liver supplements I'd just purchased and also dismissed my acupuncture herbs as "herbal crap".  My acupuncturist has me doing just the treatments themselves and after all of this, says I'm likely done with herbs for good.

I went for the MRI the ER doctor ordered Friday morning even though my primary care doctor said it was unlikely to show anything. I'm still itching like a crazy person and peeing orange but some of my liver enzyme tests came down a little so I'm choosing to see those as positives even if some of the other liver levels went up. All of my other labs are perfect, it's the strangest thing seeing my liver throw a fit as if in a vacuum.