Hello,

I just needed to vent here.  Things really, really didn't go as planned over my brief vacation. What was supposed to be a relaxing time turned out to basically be a nightmare.  But, that is why emergencies are emergencies, you don't know when they are coming.

Some of it could have been avoided if my new doctor (endocrinologist) had have listened to me when I called him about eight weeks ago.  I told him that since my operation a year ago, I had been having very severe and intense abdominal cramping and numb face/hands due to a drop in calcium.  I had two of my parathyroid glands removed because my calcium was *too* high and that is also dangerous. Now, becuase it's too low, there are other issues. The solution is simple: calcium and Vitamin D supplementation.  He *refused* to listen to me and stonewalled me on this issue when I said I had severe cramping earlier this year. (The paramedics had been to my house because I thought it was my appendix-it was that bad). I had figured it was a result of the operation because this is a brand new thing and was never an issue before.  I also explained to him that since the operation I was not able to lose weight, and felt like my medication was out of balance. He also stonewalled me on this issue and told me it couldn't possibly be an endocrinology problem and that if it happened again that it was because of a gastric issue and to go to the hospital in case I had a gastric hernia that was going to burst. I knew this was probably not it, but I just took his word for it. 

So, guess what happens? I go out of town to a cabin in the woods. I didn't realize the nearest hospital was 30 minutes away.  I knew the mountain roads were precarious, but not much really prepared me for what happened next.  (At least myself and my car are really well insured). Because of the elevation, I woke up with a level-ten migraine and my host drove me to urgent care.  I spent that day of the trip in bed. She said, "Don't you think you could have avoided this whole migraine thing if you were relaxed?"  I was very offended by this comment and felt that she was basically saying, "You ruined this and it's your fault." Migraine is a neurological disorder. It isn't caused by "negative thinking," "low vibrations" etc.  Hard to say it was stress because I woke up with it like that. It was because I was at 6,000 feet. 

She was smoking a ton of pot and drinking heavily (she is 76 years old).  I didn't know she was such a heavy drinker and drug user. We connected at a support group years ago and she is a retired educational administratior and I'm a teacher so this is how I got to know her. I thought she had better judgment than this and I thought I knew her. On the way down the highway to the urgent care, she was utterly out of it and was driving full speed into a severe accident on the freeway that saw several cars backed up. Probably because of her excessive drug use and drinking, and yes, I will say at that point, her age, she drove full speed ahead. If it wasn't for me screaming "Look out!" She would have driven straight into the line of cars, causing a pileup. She could have killed the both of us and people in front of us.

Two days later, as I was showering and getting ready to drive home for Thanksgiving (Wednesday), the severe abdominal cramping came on out of seemingly nowhere. I was on the bed in agony, unable to move or barely breathe. Thankfully this lady wasn't so far gone and she called an ambulance. I was in screaming pain and they gave me morphine drip in the IV as I was ushered to the emergency room. Again, my bloodwork came back with a false positive for pregnancy, so they would not CT scan my abs, but did an ultrasound. For the seond time, I was told: "There is nothing in your uterus". I had no gallstones, nor any abnormalities in the rest of my intestines and was released.  My GP called me back and said, "Your calcium is too low."  When I was reviewing the discharge paperwork today, the blood work showed that my calcium was in fact too low, which was the cause of alll of this, and it could have been entirely prevented if my specialist would have listened to me and adjusted my calcium and vitamin D. Thanks to him, I had to go to the hospital on vacation in the middle of nowhere.  I was so furious when I was reading the discharge results as the entire thing would have been totally avoided completely. But I was stonewalled by my doctor.

As for the host, the entire visit was completely bizarre. I knew she was a vegan and sort of new agey. I didn't know it would be that difficult to be in the house with her for four days. I was SO HUNGRY eating beans, beans, beans. I was in her house, so no animal product or dairy were allowed. Maybe this excessive food approach makes her feel better about the fact that she is probably an alchoholic. I thought she was talking crazy when she was high the first night. I smoked with her because "when in Rome." I smoke/drink occasionally and sparingly, but she was talking crazy about "how we all don't exist and nothing exists and I'm not real and neither are you."  I thought she was utterly forking nuts, even when I was high.  I think the woman at the general store thought she was cracked, too. Her Thanksgiving plans went for bust because her guest got Covid, and it seemed like she was trying to keep me up there and keep me from leaving, kept talking about me staying up there for Thanksgiving and that I shouldn't be leaving. I was desperate to leave. She was telling me how she was attracted to women, and I'm not into that kind of thing. I thought, "where are we going with this."  She doesn't pay for garbage collection, so she wanted me to drive her trash 100 miles back to the city and throw it out. No thanks. 

When it was time to leave, my tire lights went on due to the elevation. I wasn't sure if I had a flat. I ran out of psych meds and didn't sleep the whole night prior after this hospital disaster, and wasn't about to drive back home on a two-lane dropoff with a precipice with no guardrail and I was feeling horrible, so I called AAA to tow myself and my car home. Worked perfectly. It was all covered.

I need a while to sort through all of this. I don't think I will ever call this woman again. Now I remember why I had quit the support group. I had stopped going on zoom over the pandemic when I thought people were going off the deep end with their new age crazytalk and anti vaxx garbage.  I'm not going to convert to be vegan, either, but I do try to eat clean and keep my fats down.   The ER doc then said my bloodwork said I could have cancer. Well-we shall see.  I was told the same thing three years ago due to elevated growth hormone. I'm stil here. I've had most of my body scanned, including my brain, and had Pap and breast exam. No sign of tumor. I think the abnormal reading is from hormonal change of menopause.

I certainly will check it out and do the tests, but like the low calcium, which I investigated, I think I know the reason for the false pregnancy test (high growth hormone) becuase I looked it up a-la internet. I'ts  menopause.   Cancer is far-fetched but I will investigate per doctor's orders. They will probably find nothing like they found no child in my uterus-go figure.  After all, they were convinced the first time I was pregnant and lying to them, "Don't lie to us maam-we know people have affairs all the time." To-"Oh, well we looked with the ultrasound and you're not pregnant." Uh-huh.