Initially, I had planned to submit my blog entry last night, after I arrived home from a Pi Sigma Alpha meeting. However, I ended up spending most of the evening in the hospital emergency room. Thankfully, I wasn’t experiencing a fatal or even very serious problem. In fact, the pain I had could be characterized as minor, but it was late, and the hospital was the only place I could turn to for any kind of medical attention. When the meeting ended, I felt fine; I was even rushing on to get to my car because I wanted to stop by the mall for a pair of shoes before it closed. I had undergone a difficult week and, as crazy as this may sound, spending a ridiculous amount of money on a pair of designer stilettos is my form of therapy. As soon as I pulled onto the freeway to go to the mall, I felt a sharp pain running up and down my entire right arm. I immediately held the steering wheel with my left hand and drove home.
When I reached my house, I told my sister what happened. My sister is currently studying to be a registered nurse so she is somewhat familiar with how the human body works. She suggested that I go to the hospital so they could give me an injection, referred to by the medical community as a “relaxant”. She believed that the muscles in the upper portion of my right arm had become too tense, so I needed a relaxant to loosen them up. I believed that she didn’t know what she was talking about, but the pain had become unbearable, so I took her advice, and she took me to Good Samaritan Hospital. As we waited in the emergency room, I was grateful that it was my right arm, and not my left that was in pain. I am left handed, and I would have been unable to fill out the massive packets of forms the medical assistant at the front desk had handed me.
Filling out all of the necessary paperwork led me to contemplate how much this whole thing was going to cost me. I recalled my cousin who was recently brought to the hospital after a mixture of prescription pills resulted in a negative reaction to her nervous system. She had fainted at work and someone called an ambulance to take her to the hospital. A couple of weeks later, she received a bill for $3,000.00 just for the seven minute ambulance ride. She didn’t understand why she had to pay for the ambulance, because she argued that she wasn’t the one who called for it. The medical assistant assured me that my insurance company would take care of most of the charges. After I received my injection, which the doctor administered directly to the area where I was experiencing the most pain, I left the hospital. During the drive home, my arm felt completely numb. The feeling even lasted until a couple of hours ago. Currently, the numbness has been replaced by an awkward, tingly feeling. Although I had hoped to go into more detail about my vast fear of shots and about how scary it was to actually have a needle stuck inside my arm, it’s my duty to end this blog entry, because throughout this blog session, it has become increasingly difficult to type with one hand. Perhaps I’ll further discuss my fear next week.
When I reached my house, I told my sister what happened. My sister is currently studying to be a registered nurse so she is somewhat familiar with how the human body works. She suggested that I go to the hospital so they could give me an injection, referred to by the medical community as a “relaxant”. She believed that the muscles in the upper portion of my right arm had become too tense, so I needed a relaxant to loosen them up. I believed that she didn’t know what she was talking about, but the pain had become unbearable, so I took her advice, and she took me to Good Samaritan Hospital. As we waited in the emergency room, I was grateful that it was my right arm, and not my left that was in pain. I am left handed, and I would have been unable to fill out the massive packets of forms the medical assistant at the front desk had handed me.
Filling out all of the necessary paperwork led me to contemplate how much this whole thing was going to cost me. I recalled my cousin who was recently brought to the hospital after a mixture of prescription pills resulted in a negative reaction to her nervous system. She had fainted at work and someone called an ambulance to take her to the hospital. A couple of weeks later, she received a bill for $3,000.00 just for the seven minute ambulance ride. She didn’t understand why she had to pay for the ambulance, because she argued that she wasn’t the one who called for it. The medical assistant assured me that my insurance company would take care of most of the charges. After I received my injection, which the doctor administered directly to the area where I was experiencing the most pain, I left the hospital. During the drive home, my arm felt completely numb. The feeling even lasted until a couple of hours ago. Currently, the numbness has been replaced by an awkward, tingly feeling. Although I had hoped to go into more detail about my vast fear of shots and about how scary it was to actually have a needle stuck inside my arm, it’s my duty to end this blog entry, because throughout this blog session, it has become increasingly difficult to type with one hand. Perhaps I’ll further discuss my fear next week.
photo credit: http://www.statehousereport.com/images/cartoons/06.0824cartoon_large.jpg
