Cough, Cough, Ouch, Ouch

The cold may be resolving itself, but various other issues are popping up. I started having abdominal pain yesterday. I was thinking about whether to trundle myself off to the emergency room, but I called an advice nurse at Kaiser, described my symptoms, and she said that they’d arrange a doctor’s appointment.

So I went to see the doctor today (escorted by Nick Matzke, who shepherded me around health care today — thanks, Nick!). Another thing that showed up today was a slight loss of feeling in my left hand. So I let my doctor know what’s been up (cold, abdominal pain, loss of feeling) and she looked me over. She did a palpation of my abdomen, confirming the region and extent of tenderness. She also listened to my lungs, and expressed concern that I might have an early case of pneumonia on the right side. So it was off to another building for a couple of chest X-rays. In the meantime, she contacted the gastroentorology folks at the hospital about my case. When we met again, she showed me the scanned X-rays on the computer in the exam room, a cool thing. No pneumonia, they showed, but I may have a small amount of atelectasis, which she assured me was not uncommon following a severe cold.

The gastroenterologists will want to see me soon, but not immediately. In the meantime, my doctor has set me up for a bunch of lab tests to follow a 12 hour fast. I figure to fast Sunday evening to Monday morning and get the labs taken then. Hopefully, I will get some news on the appointment with the gastroenterology people early next week, too. In the meantime, I should not stress my system too much, and head for the emergency room on the appearance of certain symptoms (I have the list). Oh, about the hand… could be compression of the ulnar nerve, carpal tunnel syndrome, or a couple other things. I may get a nerve conduction test by and by. What fun.

Nick and I grabbed sandwiches on the way back to my house, then watched some episodes of Firefly to take up time until the rush hour traffic was over.

Wesley R. Elsberry

Falconer. Interdisciplinary researcher: biology and computer science. Data scientist in real estate and econometrics. Blogger. Speaker. Photographer. Husband. Christian. Activist.

4 thoughts on “Cough, Cough, Ouch, Ouch

  • 2006/03/05 at 1:19 pm
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    If it’s not one thing it’s another! Hope you feel better soon, and you will be in my prayers.

  • 2006/03/06 at 2:55 pm
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    Ouch! Hope you’re feeling better soon, Wesley, and that the hand problem won’t keep you off the computer!

  • 2006/03/07 at 1:04 pm
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    Wesley doesn’t want to admit that he hurt his hand from smacking ID theorists around.

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