“The technician missed her vein! The injection didn’t go into her blood stream! Page Dr. Lizensczhacts! STAT!” The flustered nurse screamed across the Emergency Room. The skin on my arms bubbled up until it was covered with welts and blisters. The heart monitor beeped loudly and the oxygen mask strapped to my face felt suffocating………
Some of you may remember the passage above from Meleah’s post here. Well, guess what? Yes. it happened to me. Very soon after my op, they were concerned that I may have a clot on my lung and ordered an immediate scan. They wheeled me off and got me onto the scanner bed. He placed the needle into my ‘whatever it is they call those things that they leave in your arm for injections’ and told me to hold my arm in a certain position. “We’re just going to inject a coloured dye into your veins so it will show up any clot you may have. Follow the instructions the machine will give you and you will be fine.” He started the machine up. CLUNK. I move along a bit. HOLD YOUR BREATH WHEN INSTRUCTED….HOLD… ONE… TWO… BREATH. CLUNK, move HOLD YOUR BREATH… ONE… TWO… BREATH. CLUNK…. “The dye will be injected now” CLUNK… I come backwards. “Did that injection feel strange?” (Me) “It felt a bit warm, but…” I feel my arm being pressed and squeezed….. “It slipped out of your vein and the dye has gone into your arm”….squeeze, squeeze. (I think of Meleah’s post) “We’ll have to put another ‘whatever it is they call those things that they leave in your arm for injections’ into your arm.” At this point I have had enough. My arms had bruises all over from recent failed injections, because my veins are hard to find. I had another of ‘whatever it is they call those things that they leave in your arm for injections’ where I had a drip and my morphine pump attached. I had just had enough! “No!” I do not want another injection. I have had enough.” “But it’s better for you to have it now, than wait” He said. I knew they couldn’t make me have it and didn’t think I had a clot anyway. “I do not want it done. Please take me back” A slightly disgruntled scanner man ordered them to place me (in a great deal of pain and a quick pump of morphine) back into my bed and wheel me to my ward.
The next day saw me sitting in my chair having showered myself and looking every bit like a woman who did NOT have a clot on her lung. The anesthetist came and grinned at me “That’s one to you” he said laughing. “We’ll work towards you going home tomorrow.” He was a lovely man, with a sense of humour. In fact they all seemed to have a good sense of humour there, which suited me well.
My arm did swell up but went back down in a day or two. I wonder if I had a florescent arm under the right light.
I put a little photo montage together so you could see what’s been happening
I’ve had a few bad days, when the pain has made me feel a bit down, but things seem to be under control now and I’m mending nicely, I think. A photo of me taken today, while writing this post. I think you can see an improvement 
Thank you all for your well wishes and the love you have shown us both during this. It helped a lot!
I go to the hospital for my results tomorrow, so hope I can give a good update.
I ALMOST FORGOT!
The cyst weighed in at either 20 pounds or 21 pounds! We got two weights, but what’s one pound difference when you’re talking this weight?
I have chosen two winners, because of it’s hugeness, so the winners are….
Congratulations Jackie, who said 17 pounds and Meleah, who said 15.2 pounds
A close runner up was Rebecca at 15 pounds.
Please let me know which Magnabeetle you would like and email me your postal address, so I can get them posted off to you as soon as possible.
