I had been having chest pains and breathing problems for a couple of days, but I kept ignoring it and hoping it would get better. When it didn't, I made the next available appointment with any doctor at my local surgery.
Feeling worse every day, I was sure it was just a chest infection, but thought I had better get some antibiotics to clear it, so I went to the doctors prepared for this. He asked me some questions before listening to my back and chest, and said it sounded very abnormal. He checked my blood pressure which was perfect, and then my oxygen levels which were fine for my age.
Then he made me walk up and down the stairs in the surgery. By the time I got back down the stairs, I was gasping for air and my oxygen levels had dropped drastically. He rushed me back into the consultation room, got me a glass of water and made me sit down while I got my breath back. I suddenly started to feel very unwell, and the next thing I know, I'm lying on the floor sweating and shaking, with the doctor talking to me. I had collapsed.
He took my phone out of my pocket and called my In Case Of Emergency contact which was my Mom, whilst asking me not to move. He passed my water down to me but told me not to move from the position I was in while he spoke to my Mom. After a few minute, he helped me up off the floor and moved me to the bed where I felt like I was going to vomit. Luckily, I didn't, but I was hot and clammy, dripping in cold sweat.
When my Mom got there, he told her he had already explained all this to me (which I have absolutely NO recollection of) but that he suspected I had a blood clot on my lungs, which can be life threatening. I was rushed to hospital.
I was terrified for so many reasons, but more for my family than for myself. After everything my family has been through in the last month, the last thing they needed was me to be poorly as well. We got to the hospital and I was taken straight to a Ward where a lovely man started to calm me down. He did my blood pressure, temperature and oxygen levels. Although my oxygen levels were still okay for my age, they were low compared to earlier at the doctors.
They told me they had to do blood tests and I kicked off. Anyone who knows me understands just how scared I am of them. I was crying and having panic attacks before he had even done anything. I refused to have it done, and because of my age, they can't do it without my consent.
After much begging and pleading from both him and my parents, I laid on the hospital bed to have it done, as I always pass out and throw up afterwards. I told him he could do it, but it took both my parents holding me down while I kicked and screamed to get the needle in me. I just remember crying in my Mom's arms, but they told me after that my body was convulsing all over the bed like I was having a fit. They took four tubes of blood from me.
Finally, it was over and I eventually stopped crying and screaming after I realised that I wasn't going to pass out or throw up. I felt like I should have been embarrassed by my childish act, but I wasn't. Nobody knows just the state of panic it puts me into.
We were sent into a waiting room, and then I was called back in there a little while later by two nurses. They asked if I was okay after the blood test, as they had seen me kicking off, and I got 'babied' for the rest of the day which annoyed me, but I guess it serves me right. I then had to take my top off and lay on the bed whilst I had an ECG done. I made a joke with the nurses about not thinking I would ever have to have an ECG done at the age of 21, and they both looked at me sympathetically, not finding it as funny as I did. It was weird lying there seeing all these wires attached to my body.
From there, I had to have a consultation with the doctor which was the same as this morning at the surgery - explaining my medication and being examined. She said my breathing didn't sound good, but that my ECG was fine which was a relief. My blood test results shown an infection, but didn't show where. I was sent down for an X-Ray.
The porter that took me for an X-Ray asked me if I was missing my first day back at school. How awkward! I told him I was nearly 22 and he didn't believe me, until a little while later and then he apologized for being 'rude'. I found it quite amusing.
Down in the X-Ray unit, there were some states that shook me up a little. I was given a very attractive gown to put on and then taken into the X-Ray. It was the weirdest and quickest X-Ray I have ever had in my life. I had to stand against a machine that looked like a television and push my boobs into it. One click and it was done.
I was taken back up into the waiting room while we waited for the X-Ray results. They came back clear. The last thing to do was to have a water sample.
The end result was simply that I had a severe chest infection which had been aggravated by my anxiety from the recent bereavements in my family. I was given antibiotics and an inhaler, and sent home, being told to go back if it got any worse.
I am so relieved that it's nothing as serious as what they had originally thought, as I have to be honest, for a few moments, I was terrified.
(Bruises from my blood tests)
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