Let the lava flow

Let me start this entry by saying that I’ve always been proud that Canada has a “free” universal health care system for all of its citizens. I know there are longer wait times and other issues but basically it’s an amazing thing that anyone who is ill or injured is treated the same.

In case you’ve missed a few entries – this pregnancy hasn’t exactly been textbook easy.

First of all I’m 35 – apparently that’s the magic number for all the “bad stuff” to happen so to begin with I was tested for everything from Scurvy to the baby having Downs Syndrome (both are negative by the way).

Then at 23 weeks my cervix was shortening – hence being benched and Rick coming home early from the sandbox.

That apparently decided to reverse itself just in time for intra-uterine growth restriction – a fancy way to say that the little miss isn’t getting all she needs from the placenta and is grossly undersized.

So in response to all this I go to the doctor at least three times per week. Twice for bio-physicals where I get an ultrasound and they take a stress strip of the baby’s heart and movements and once to my OB/GYN for all the other stuff. Amongst all of this I also see the OB specialist for a “special” ultrasound where the baby is measured etc.

So yesterday I’m at one of the anti-natal bio-physicals and they take my blood pressure. I sort of figured it was up a bit because I haven’t seen my ankles in weeks and I woke up with a puffy face. My BP was 150/100 – not a good sign. The nurse waited a few more minutes and took it again – it was 157-107 – wonderful.

So off to Labour and Delivery I was sent for blood work and urinalysis. Instead of inducing me – they decided to give me blood pressure medication. The twit who gave it to me tested my blood pressure twice within a 10-minute window – it was, after all just a few minutes before shift change. The BP was going down I was allowed to leave with a prescription to take at home.

The last thing I was told was (and I quote) – “If you are feeling any headaches, flashing lights, upper abdominal pain – make sure you call L&D and come in to be checked out.”

So off we went. They told me to expect some light-headedness as the BP was dropping and until it levelled off I’d feel “strange”. And I did.

But around 8 PM I started to get a headache.

I’m a migraine sufferer – so when I say I’ve got a headache – it doesn’t mean I’ve got a little discomfort. It means “Dear God take me now”.

Tylenol – the only crap I’m allowed to take – doesn’t touch it. Lying down in a dark room with a facecloth over my eyes just makes me want to cry. So after an hour or so I call L&D – following orders like a good patient.

The nurse, Lynn, tells me to take more Tylenol and to have a hot bath. “The damp weather could cause some people to have headaches.”

It’s been raining for 8 days straight at this point – it’s not like the barometric pressure is going up and down – I feel like crying and reaching through the phone to choke the life out of nurse Lynn.

So I take the bath – it makes me nauseous. I take more Tylenol and lie down. When Rick climbs the stairs I’m crying from the pain. I beg him for one of my migraine pills and he relents and gives it to me. These knock me out and I wake up without the migraine – usually.

This time – I wake up and am thinking what I can use to hang myself. The pain is horrible.

Rick is pissed that I haven’t called L&D again.

Both my OB and the specialist OB have told me time and again – that I should go to L&D and that I’m not bothering anyone by doing so – they understand what kind of a person I am and that I’d rather die in a corner than bother someone. But they didn’t hear Nurse Lynn. And in all honesty I’d rather the top of my head blew like Mount Vesuvius before I called her back.

That and I’m afraid that even at 9 months pregnant I’d find the energy to kick the crap out of her and the Resident Dr. MacDonald who despite having my chart in front of him – having several conversations with me and, I thought, was smarter than a brick – told me to take a freaking bath! I’m not so much into giving birth in jail.

So I’m here. Wearing sunglasses on a rainy morning inside so I can look at the monitor. Needing to get this frustration off of my chest before I actually pick up the phone to call Labour and Delivery to tell them that my “little headache” has now been 14 hours long I’ve taken the blessed bath and lay down in the dark and can I please come in to have someone take a whole two GD minutes out of their shift to press a button on an automatic BP machine to check my freaking blood pressure…

I don’t think it’s so much to ask.

I keep thinking about my friend who told me what the acronym for our local hospital DECH (Dr. Everet Chalmers Hospital) really stands for – Don’t Ever Come Here. After the last 24 hours - I think she’s right.