If these walls could talk

• Trip to the ER at Big Barnes

I was at work this morning when I started having pain and what felt like pressure in my chest. And it was kinda scary. After a phone call to my oncologist's office, Hector came and took me to the ER down at Big Barnes on their suggestion.

I had a good conversation with the nurse who checked my vitals and ran an EKG (which was completely normal). He is being treated at Siteman for bladder cancer. I said to him, something like, "oh man I'm sorry, that really sucks." And he said, "that's what I say about colon cancer." I guess it's just the cancer part, that part really sucks. I don't think he necessarily treated me any differently than any other patient, but it is a bond, one cancer patient to another. We got to laugh about the bagpipe player that he had at treatment the other day and I think he was jealous of the Irish dancers that were at my last treatment.

I eventually made it back to an exam room, and I stared at these blinds for about 6 hours. There was a TV in the room but the sound was weird so it only lasted on for a few minutes. And I looked at my phone a few times, but I really was just there, in that room, looking at the blinds, and listening to the sounds outside my room.

They ran some blood tests and I did get to venture outside of my room for a chest x-ray and a chest CT. (Getting the x-ray took longer than expected, as the tech suggested that we allow a police guarded woman to get her x-ray ahead of me. Go riiiight ahead.)  They were checking to make sure that I didn't have a blood clot and also checking my blood for signs of heart damage (Troponin test). The doctor that was responsible for me when I arrived talked to my oncologist's office directly and I found that to be really reassuring. When she came in and explained what tests we were doing and why we were doing them, she was compassionate and kind. Unfortunately, that was the last that I saw of her.

After a shift change, a second doctor came in much later to go over my test results. Basically, they didn't find anything new and I'm not pregnant (no divine intervention to report). She offered (a couple of times) to give me a script for pain medication, which I turned down, and then she set my discharge in motion.

It was a roller coaster day of emotions and I'm glad that it's over.