Doctors & Hospitals

A Difficult Case

Dear Diary,

I am a difficult case. This morning felt like Ground Hog Day, the movie. I woke up, took a shower, dropped my Hubby off at work, then made my way to the lab to get my blood drawn. Just like yesterday.

Thankfully, the result with this independent lab was much better. The middle-aged woman, who greeted me behind the glass window, was friendly. She said she’d be right with me, but it would be a few minutes. There was a big husky gentlemen ahead of me, who must have been there as soon as the doors opened. After I sat down, she called him back, and I could hear him say how he never has a problem with getting his blood drawn. He said, “Thankfully, I’m not a difficult case. But, I’m sure you deal with difficult people all the time.”

I was so happy to hear her respond that they’re prepared to deal with the hard ones (like me) and that they always do what it takes to get the job done. So there, take that, Husky Man!

After he left, I told her that I was known to be a difficult case from time to time. She laughed and told me that she’d heat up my arm to get the veins ready. I’d learned in 2009 during my visit to UCLA’s Medical Center that putting a heat pack on the veins makes them pop up as if you’ve done exercise. It was a relief to learn that she knew what she was doing.

Instead of a heat pack, though, she used an electric heating pad for a few minutes. Once things were ready, she was in and out with two vials filled with blood. One poke. No worries. Thank God.

The next thing was just to wait for the coagulation and spinning. After that, she packed up the tubes. We filled out the forms and boxed it all up. I dropped it off at the FedEx center for mailing out today.

I’m exhausted from all that….

While the first half of today was a success at the lab, the second half of the day, not so much. It was my fourth visit to the chiropractor. He continued his treatment plan of realigning my cervical spine, which he said has been affected by the Lupus. Because of the autoimmune disease, he promised to go slow, saying my body is on high alert and overreacts to everything.

But, he didn’t seem to remember his promise. He didn’t go slow during this visit at all. Unlike the first couple of adjustments after the original consultation, where he adjusted only one area, this time, he adjusted my neck, my middle back, my lower back, AND my hips! What the heck?!

I immediately had that God-awful feeling of shock. My throat seemed to tighten up, I had difficulty breathing, and I was in a daze.

It only got worse with each passing hour. It was hard to swallow, and I developed a sharp pain in the left pectoralis muscle in my chest. Within the next two hours my neck ached and throbbed.

While the chiropractor told me that we’d have a rollercoaster of pain and relief, I knew this pain was way more than expected and well outside of his band of “normal.” It’s just too much. I can’t even cry because I can’t breathe.

My Hubby keeps telling me to hang in there. But, I told him that I can’t go back to that chiropractor. Why in the world would I allow someone to hurt me when I already hurting on my own from the Lupus? No way! I just can’t do it. It’s never easy. Why do I have to be such a difficult case?

Love,

Olivia

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