I wonder if Britney Spears karaoke has ever sent someone to the ER before or if it's just me lol. Explanations:
Remember how Montanita tried to kill me with it's waves and I nearly drowned? Well, turns out the waves were so powerful they gave me a concussion. I had appointments in the hospital Monday-Thursday because I had been experiencing headaches ever since the incident (literally, I had a headache from Sunday to Thursdays). Two times, my headache became so severe, all I could do was lie down and cry. And I am not a crier. It was that intense.
On Monday my neurologist looked into my eyes and said I needed a CT scan. Getting a CT scan here was quite an adventure. My neurologist spoke English, but the nurses who were setting up my IV and such, did not. We had a lot of communication problems since I don't know medical terms in Spanish haha. After many failed attempts at trying to understand what was going on, they pumped this fluid into my body which was INSANE. My whole body turned burning hot and for a second, I thought I may have peed my pants because the burning sensation began in my legs haha.
Tuesday and the days to follow, my family and I learned the inefficiency of Ecuador the hard way as many of my appointments were pushed back, nearly 12 hours at a time. It was Thursday night, and I STILL had not received my results, which was frightening because I still had a headache and by that time, had one "headache attack" that my couzin Melissa helped talk me through. After a day full of classes, my friends and I went out to dinner then decided to do karaoke (karaoke is pretty big here). It was finally our turn to sing Britney Spears- Hit Me Baby One More Time. We were dancing, singing/belting into the microphone, having a great time, until I literally fell back into my seat because I was in such immense pain. I felt a slight pain in my head as I was singing, but it immediately exploded and I could not function. My friend Kyle helped take me outside, since walking was even a struggle, and I laid down in the disgusting sidewalk crying because my head hurt so bad. My friends all got me tons of water and tried to help, but it was obvious I needed to go to the ER. My friend Jessica took me home, we woke up my host parents, called the student supervisor and headed on the the ER (by then, my pain had been going strong for nearly an hour. It was terrible)
In the ER they checked all my vitals, took blood samples ect.. I asked the internal doctor to please check my CT scan (SINCE IT HAD YET TO BE LOOKED AT. Rude Ecuador, rude.) and give the neurologist a call. The neurologist told him to hook me up to an oxygen tank so I had to be WHEEL CHAIRED to the room directly next to us. I despise wheelchairs. Anyways, as he was checking my CT scans, the oxygen being pumped into my nose quickly got rid of my pain. It was amazing. One of the doctors came in and put a blanket over me and turned off the lights, but I told him to turn back on the lights because I didn't want to sleep despite it being 2 am since sleeping on a bad head injury is obviously bad. He was confused and probably thought I was rude, but whatever. I didn't want to go into a coma haha. A little later, the internal doctor came in and told me my CT scan was good and there's nothing wrong with me. Again, I confused a doctor and told him something is actually wrong with me or I wouldn't be in so much pain. I don't think the ER doctors there like me very much, but oh well lol. Finally got home around 3:30 am, had some pain meds, and crashed out until it was time to wake up and see my neurologist the next day.
My neurologist confirmed that my CT scan showed my brain to be healthy (no tumors, internal bleeding ect..) but she said my concussion triggered "cluster headaches." Anytime a large amount of pressure is applied to my head, I basically get an explosive headache attack which is even worse here because of the extremely high altitude (so my brain is lacking much more oxygen than normal). Anytime I sneeze, cough or laugh I have a slight headache, but nothing painful. I guess belting out to Britney Spears was too much for my head to handle. Anyways, for my personality, I have the WORST TREATMENT EVER. "Don't laugh too hard, don't jump, try not to be hyper because you have a lot of energy, don't cough or sneeze too much, don't dance quickly, absolutely no belting out to songs, no energy drinks or alcohol. You can walk, rest and be calm." WHAT. I am not a calm person. I do not like resting. My host family all the time says I am hyper active because I am constantly on the go. This is going to be really rough. My stupid cluster headaches will last anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months (hopefully 3 weeks). I am on preventative medication and pain killers. I also have emergency pills to take in case an "attack" occurs. My doctor said if I have another attack (which is pretty likely to happen honestly) and my emergency medicine doesn't work, I need to go to the ER again for oxygen. She said if I have to go to the ER one or two more times, she is going to send me to the coast for 10 days. She believes that the altitude has a lot to do with it and wants to see what will happen if I am at sea level for 10 days (I have work and classes....so I don't exactly know how spending 10 days in the coats will work). If I still get severe headache attacks at sea level, then we will have to explore other options. Hopefully this does not occur. I feel so much better after only one day of medication! For the first time in 6 mornings, I woke up without a headache! Great success.
Well I am off to go explore the old part of Quito today called the Centro Historico. There are 163 churches built there! One made out of gold which I have already seen, but you're not allowed to take pictures. On Saturdays there is usually music and free entrances to museums and such so it should be a nice "relaxing day." Tomorrow we plan on leaving Quito and going to a special zoo so I will probably post pictures of that tomorrow! Unfortunately yesterday I was in the hospital all day and missed the trip to the equator. Pretty bummed about that, but hopefully I can gather people to go for a second time.
Anyways, just wanted to send an update about my health! Tomorrow I will post a nice happy blog with pictures. Yay. Chau!
No comments:
Post a Comment