Hospital admission – well, almost

I started getting a bit of a sore throat on Friday, didnt think much of it. Come Saturday i was feeling really ill with it and throwing up, then on Sunday it hurt so much i couldnt swallow my saliva anymore. Sunday night i was honestly considering calling an ambulance because the enormous puss-y lump at the back of my throat was resting on my gag reflex and everytime i tried to sleep it actually occluded my airway, but i held it together and went to see the GP on Monday.

She told me it was a bad case of tonsillitis and prescribed erythromycin. Within a couple of hours of starting the erythromycin, i was throwing up violently, and it got worse and worse throughout yesterday until from about
midnight until 8am i was literally throwing up every 5 mins. Normally when you are sick you get a brief respite afterwards where the nausea goes away for a bit, but the second i stopped retching, it started again. i honestly thought i was going to die, and hadnt been able to keep down any fluids in well over a day, so i called my parents. They freaked out and got me to call NHS direct who seemed to think the problem was a concussion (useless people). anyway, i called out the GP for a home visit first thing in the morning becauses i literally couldnt stop throwing up long enough to even get dressed, and she came and looked concerned, gave me a shot of metoclopramide (god bless metoclopramide, i’ll tell you it is the most amazing drug in the world), and told me she was admitting me to hospital with a quinsy.

so i got g to give me a lift to the hospital and waited in A&E for bloody ages, even though i was supposed to be bypassing the system straight to the ENT on call. I eventually got seen, there was a medical student and i’m guessing the doctor was an F1 or F2, since she looked, didnt say much, then went to get the Reg, who said, ‘open your mouth’, and when i was able to do that, told me it couldnt be a quinsy. Turns out it is an infected aphthous ulcer on my something something at the back of my throat as a complication of the tonsillitis. She tells me it is officially the most painful ulcer that exists (i concurr with that), and essentially, i dont need to be admitted (thank the lord) and there is nothing i can do but sit out the pain for the next 7-10 days while it heals. Dear lord! The reason i was so violently ill was because erthromycin is well known for giving you a bad stomach, and it has to be taken with food and i hadnt eaten for 3 days and hadnt really even drunk anything either, so it wasnt that i was allergic or anything.

So i sat waiting at the hospital waiting for my prescription of codeine (maximal dose), paracetemol and neurofen, local anaesthetic spray , cefalexen (so watch me now get C Diff), and she was going to leave it at that but i told her she had to write me up for more metaclopramide because i refuse to ever in my life experience vomiting like that again. i can see why they say that palliative care patients would prefer to be in pain than be nauseous. They were going to charge me over £60 for all that medication – can you believe it? The guy took pity on me though when i practically started crying and gave it to me for free but told me i had to swear on my grave never to tell anyone. i had to wait an hour(!!) to get my medicines from pharmacy, and i have honestly never seen anyone less than 90 years old leave hospital with such a big bag of drugs.

i decided to try and go get some food from the canteen while waiting, so went for none acidic things and soft things – potatoes and mixed veg, and managed to swallow about 2 tiny mouthfulls before practically rolling around on the floor in agony. Since getting home and taking my major concoctions of various painkillers (it is a REALLY high dose of codeine – i was shocked), i have managed to eat a bit of natural yoghurt, some ham and a bread roll though, and the pain was definitely bareable, if still there.

They also took blood for glandular fever. that;s all i need.

It felt kinda weird sitting here in the hospital with people i know about. i havent had a shower in 3 days, havent got round to washing my hair in 8 days (no joke), and must really look like death incarnate.

And i cant believe that the thing causing all of this has actually been a simple mouth ulcer. it’s rediculous. just very poor positioning i guess. thank god i dont have to be admitted, that’s all i have to say.