So yesterday I was scheduled to work my first in my set of nights, so I try to sleep in until ten thirty. Around quarter after I am waken by a charlie horse in my right leg. It lasts for about 3 minutes then goes away. I go back to sleep. About ten thirty I get another one but in my left leg. Damn these things hurt like a bitch, rub the muscle it goes away after a few minutes. Back to sleep, hey I'm owed 10 mins or so now. About quarter to I'm ready to face the world, but, uh oh. Legs not moving. Hmm. Am I in one of those half in, half out of sleep things again? That would suck. Nope. I can move the rest of me alright, arm sort of hurts but I'm cool. Roll a bit, legs so don't want to face the day like me. I know the list of chores is daunting but come on. It takes about five or so minutes to actually get my legs rotated from the bed to the floor. At this point I realize this probably isn't good. Well I'm sitting up, might as well see if I can walk. Two tries to get up, failed, third try I am up! Woo! Standing perfectly still and sort of hunched over but it counts. I'm not really in any pain but both calve muscles are tight as hell. Feels like they have solidified and are hanging off the bone.
Sit up, standing up, done, now walking. I'll just walk it out, yeah. Walk, walk, near fall. I like that my room is small and there is a wall pretty much in arms length at all times. When I walk it's like I'm drunk, I'm so uncoordinated, balance sucks and my calves are pulling. Hmm ... walk this out a bit more. I start doing laps around my apartment to try and you know, get the blood moving. Then I feel dizzy, light headed so I sit down. Shit. I first thought it was a reaction to my remicade, it does have joint pain as a side effect but not muscle. Check in with my friend who is a RN. Find out it does have the potential for muscle pian too. Ok so maybe this will wear off. I tried to get a hold of my coordinator for my Remicade but it's one of those, leave a message we'll call you back deals. I wait a bit and it's not getting easier. Walking is hard and I start getting a headache, I make the decision to go to a walk in clinic. Not before struggling through a shower and shaving my damn legs to they are smooth, my pride will kill me.
My dad is a sweet guy and picked me up to drive me to the walk in. Very fast as he says "I cannot help you, I do not have an xray." Xray? I didn't break my legs? Apparently I might have cracked or fractured them in my sleep? I realize I probably wouldn't want his medical advice anyways. He sends me to emerg. No way. This wasn't an emergency situation. I was fine. I just wanted to sleep. I call the 811 system, which is like talking to a RN for medical advice. They wouldn't really do anything where I technically saw a doctor, so they couldn't re-triage me. Sigh, they only said I would have to do what the doctor suggested.
My dad drove me to the pharmasave first, I was still thinking it over but if I was going to go I was going to get Emla patches. As I'm waiting at the pharmacist desk I realize that I can't really stand up that long. I had to lean on the counter, my legs were twitching, my eye was twitching, headache was so bad and I just wanted to sleep. Ok. So maybe I'd go. I'd see how busy it was, I had things to do before work that night. Went in and well there was like one or two people. Shit. Now I have no more excuses and I go in.
I will say 99% of medical staff I have ever come across in this hospital were excellent, they are all so very friendly and they explain things to me so I understand. I get some bloodwork done which is , ugh but anyways. The doctor is examining my legs, I'm on my gut, with my feet dangling off. My left leg is swollen. Great. They are very tender the touch. She was pressing on the calf muscle lightly but it felt like she had pincers and hated me. Both legs but the left was definitely worse. As we are talking my headache is getting worse, I am squinting, the light hurts, all the sounds hurt. She was sweet. She turned off the light and we talked in the dark. It was better. They thought I might have a blood clot as my blood work was fine, so no nutrient defences. Ok. They wanted me to come back in the morning for an ultrasound. Ok. They wanted to give me blood thinners overnight though. Sure. Needle in stomach ... no fu*king way. Ya'll know by now I have this phobia thing of needles, veins are hard enough but in direct skin. I was no good and had a mild panic attack. After that I left to return in the morning.
I didn't go to work as when I was discharged it was already well into my shift and I had a headache which my doctor said was a migraine. I get home, I lie down on the couch, with a rag on my head and hear this 'plop'. Opening my eyes I see Lee drop his ball beside my head, his front paws on the couch and his eyes looking at me. If he could talk he'd be saying "You're legs are broken not your arm."
Got the ultrasound done, which hurt more then I thought it would. I asked the tech if she was trying to go through the other side? I said in joke so she laughed. Back in Emerg and waiting for the results. New doctor comes in. God he's cute. Sex therapy? Ok. Ha! Just kidding. He examines my legs again while telling me the ultrasound was fine. He's going over my history a bit as he too pincers onto my calf muscles. Painful as hell. There were no tears or things like that but what we've discovered is this. From January to August of 10 I barely moved, because of my fistula. I just could not walk that far and was pretty much confined to sitting. August-Mid January of this year I was getting rides to work and walking a little bit. Mid January to now I was walking all the time and really putting some stride in it. He said my body wasn't ready for it, I'd have to take it easier but that I could do it. He even showed me some stretches, that I could do for a warm up and 5 minutes in. I always thought a walk was a warm up but I've been proven wrong. So essentially I strained the hell out of those two muscles and as he said 'lost my sports injury virginity.' Didn't think of walking as a sport but hey now it's out of the way. i will take it easy for a few days and stretch before walking. I mentioned that I wanted to run and he thought it was a good idea. Just start slow and easy and build up. I can do that.
Got a redbull, vitamin enhanced water, and two chocolate eggs for tonight. Since I can't nap and have a 12 hour night shift tonight, oh it's going to be fun. Look out Crazytown, this girl is sore, tired and hyped up!
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