GIP... but not really

[thistlechaser]

No one makes GIPs anymore (Gratuitous Icon Posts) -- posts only to show off a new icon. Well, to be fair, this isn't one either. Showing off a new icon is just bonus! Larger version of it:



I wanted one for posts about my upcoming surgery, and I've been watching for an artist I liked/reasonable priced for a while. What the heck happened to cheap/reasonable commissions? So many "artists" (and I use that term loosely) want $15 for an icon, when I wouldn't bother taking their art for free. I mean that literally: Some of them have offered free art as well as charging, and I didn't even like their work enough to go through the effort of posting a description of what I wanted.

Ah well, on to other subjects. Bad start to the weekend. My leg was having issues, so after watching it for 24 hours I decided I better go to urgent care (walk-in clinic) and have it looked at. Doctor there took one look at it (really, one look, didn't touch it or anything) and told me to go to the ER to be admitted to the hospital for IV antibiotics.

I nearly broke down crying, but I didn't have time for that. I went straight home, packed a bag with all the things I wished I had had the first time (phone charger! underwear!), and took Ellie New Cat to the vet for emergency boarding. (tersa, I was going to call you and my boss once I was settled into a room.)

And then I cried. I sat in the vet's parking lot and sobbed for a while. Going back into the hospital is my nightmare, especially for the same damned problem I had the first time!

The ER was great. Almost no waiting time: As soon as I sat down in the waiting room, they called me. I hadn't even had had time to put my bag down. The ER doctor disagreed with the urgent care doctor and sent me home with care instructions and such. I could have kissed him. I did say "I love you!" (in a silly way).

So that was most of Saturday. By the time I got home, I was stressed out of my mind and ready to crawl under my bed and never come out. (All this on top of no more than three hours of sleep per night for the previous six nights.)

Sunday was better. I slept almost ten hours straight. I feel a lot better now.

All I can say is that 2014 sucks. This is the worst year of my adult life. This medical stuff needs to end.

One day I'll write cheery posts again. Or cherry posts. Mmm, cherry.

Comments

[hamsterwoman]

The art/icon is very cute!

Sorry to hear the leg is continuing to give you trouble and worry :( But yay for the ER doctor letting you go home -- I hope everything clears up with his advice!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Isn't it cute? I'm really happy with it, and it was only $4!

Thanks! And yeah, I would have rather it never happened to begin with, but if it did have to happen, that was the best outcome!

[tea-blossom.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you had to go to the ER, but glad the wait was short and you didn't need the IV antibiotics.

Don't feel like you need to write happy posts. There is absolutely no pressure to do so.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Thanks, for both parts. I feel like people are going to get tired of reading about how stressful things are right now, plus I'd rather have people be cheered up by my posts. Just not possible sometimes though.

<3

[tea-blossom.livejournal.com]

Personally, I prefer what is real. I know when I'm stressed out it's helpful to vent here, and for me to pretend to be anything else would only stress me out even further. For my own well-being, I try to be grateful for small things when I'm going through an extended period of stress, but I keep a gratitude jar for that.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's a good idea. I certainly don't want to be dishonest in my own journal!

Huh, a gratitude jar is an interesting idea. I hadn't heard of that before now, but I googled it.

[tea-blossom.livejournal.com]

Every time something good happens I write it down and date it. It keeps life in perspective.

[spike7451.livejournal.com]

Love the icon.

Sorry to hear that the leg is still giving you such problems but glad for you that you didn't have to have another hospital stay.

*hugs* you, and hopes the damned medical issues are over very soon.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And I'm glad, too. :)

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

That picture is adorable. :)

Oh man, I'm glad you didn't need antibiotics again and that you could go back home. I hope things get better!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Isn't it? :) And I'm glad, too!

[tersa.livejournal.com]

:|

Boo about the toe and the Urgent Care doc, but glad the ER doc sent you home and you thought of me this time! :)

*hug*

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'm glad, too! :) *hug*

[manue7a.livejournal.com]

phew...at least no hospital. Now..mend.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Phew indeed! And I'll certainly do my best. :)

[ani-mama.livejournal.com]

Oh you poor thing, at least you did not have to go back in the hospital. I really hope the rest of the year is fantastic, to make up for the crappy beginning. *hugs*

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'd be very happy if it were! :) *hugs*

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

*hugs* I would have cried, too. I'm so glad you didn't have to go back to the hospital. I hope things clear up soon.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I hope so too! <333

[teaandfailure.livejournal.com]

I swear some of those urgent care doctors have no idea wtf they're talking about. I went to one once and they diagnosed me with septic arthritis in my right hand. Shot me up with antibiotics and sent me home.

My father is a anesthetist, so I called him just because when I am hurt I like to hear him tell me it is nothing and I will be okay. Unfortunately, this time he went really silent and then said get to a hand specialist. Now. Right now. LIKE NOW.

It turns out the only correct answer to "septic arthritis" is "go get your hand cut open and rinsed out with saline OR YOU WILL LOSE A HAND."

Fortunately it was not actually what I had, but it sure scared the balls off me, and this was difficult since I am in fact a woman.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

MAYBE THAT EXPLAINS WHY YOU'RE A WOMAN

But man, I agree. Turns out the ER doctor ended up giving me the same kind of advice: 100% wrong. He told me I needed to stop all antibiotics, that I had been on too many for too long. He told me this when just four days earlier there was a culture test done and I have a "heavy load" of MRSA.

WE SHALL CURE THIS WITH THE POWER OF AN "ANTIBIOTICS VACATION" -- his word for it!