Tuesday, November 6, 2012

And then I became a Vampire...

... sort of.

I still haven't tested whether or not I sparkle or burn in the sun.

So I spent Sunday doing the fun colonoscopy prep... again.  This time it was prep for a capsule endoscopy (swallowing a cool camera pill with a flashy light).  My blood work still showed that I was very anemic so the next step was to make sure nothing in my small intestine was being missed.  I needed to be at the hospital at 6:30am.  The plan was, I go in, swallow the capsule, wear the ever fashionable recording device for 8 hours, and then drop it back off to be read by my GI.

Things rarely go as planned.  I woke up at 6 feeling pretty faint and worn down.  During the process of getting ready to go to the hospital I ended up passing out.  I totally fell off the potty and woke up in the tub.  I was able to get up on my own and even walk myself into the hospital once we got there.  I registered at Out Patient Surgery and the nurses were immediately concerned about how ill I was feeling.  Blood was drawn and it was determined that because of my symptoms I needed to be taken to the ER.

Once I got to ER they drew blood for every test they could ... which seems counter intuitive if my one known issue is very low blood levels... but I'm not a doctor.  Once test results came back they immediately began the blood transfusion process.  The line in my arm promptly blew and then the doctor had to come in and place a line in my neck for the blood.  They set me up in a room with a view and around 12:30 I was finally able to begin the capsule endoscopy.

I must have spoken to at least 4 doctors who all have slightly varying opinions on what might be going on.  The guesses range from my body not replacing blood loss from menstruation, to possible GI bleed.  I am calling to set up an appointment with a hematologist today and will hopefully have the capsule endoscopy results by the end of the week. More tests in my future but hopefully that will lead to more answers.

Now stop reading this and go vote.