The HSG From Hell

This week has gotten off to a shitty start. I was told that I had to go in for a blood draw on Monday morning to make sure I wasn’t pregnant before having the HSG done today. However, since it was MLK day yesterday, the lab and RE clinic were closed. I was told that I had to go to the family medicine clinic for the draw instead. I got there at 7:45 thinking that the clinic opened at 8. Wrong. It didn’t open until 9. Not a big deal. Problem occurs when I get up to the receptionist and she tells me that she only sees an order for a pregnancy blood draw from the 16th of December.

I proceeded to tell her that my RE nurse put the order in the system last week and that I needed the blood draw done or they would cancel my test the following morning. I also asked if they could just use the order from December. She told me it was against protocol to use an order that was over a month old. I asked her if they could just put in another order. She told me, “No, that’s against protocol”. Eff protocol. I wasn’t leaving without someone taking my damn blood. That set me off and I started to cry in front of the 2 receptionists and about 20 people in the waiting room. I think this caused the receptionist to panic because she asked for my ID back and told me that she would have the charge nurse check the system again.

About 20 minutes later, the receptionist came back and told me that the charge nurse had found the order. I don’t know where the confusion came in. Shouldn’t have the receptionist been able to see the order on her computer? I’ve never had an issue before. I went back for the blood draw and hopped off the exam table in about 2 minutes. Of course (surprise, surprise), the test came back negative.

I went in for the HSG this morning. The doctor who was going to perform the procedure had to tell me about all of the possible side effects/reactions that could come about because of the iodine. He asked me several times if I was allergic to shellfish. I told him I don’t eat seafood, so I wasn’t 100% sure that I was or wasn’t. I have allergies to a majority of antibiotics but the doctor looked over the list and said that I should be just fine.

The procedure kind of sucked. I felt extreme cramping when he inflated the balloon and then injected the dye. The cramping did go away almost immediately after removing the balloon though. He said he couldn’t see any blockages but wouldn’t read the x-rays until later in the day. I was told to follow up with Dr. P. in a few days.

After getting dressed, I hopped into my car and started driving towards the commissary. After driving for about 5 minutes, I started having a reaction. I thought it might be all in my head because of everything the doctor had said (he basically scared the shit out of me), so I called my friend. She told me that I should go back to the hospital just in case it was a real reaction. My throat felt tight and I was itchy. I walked back into radiology and a very nice soldier who was acting as the receptionist excused herself from the desk and walked me down to the ER. I was able to go directly to a triage nurse and she gave me a high dosage of B.enadryl. I was definitely having a reaction. My skin was blotchy and itchy and the tightness in my throat was still there.

After sitting around for awhile in the waiting room, the tightness subsided. By the time I got back to see the doctor, my throat felt better and the itchiness had improved. I was sent on my way with a bottle of B.enadryl just in case I needed some later on. I feel a lot better now, but damn what a scare. I guess we’ll add iodine to the list of things Lauren is allergic too.

I’m thankful for my friend Brittany and BFF for calming me down and staying in contact with me during the day. My friends are amazing. T.witter friends were also a great support. Thanks ladies!

I hope the HSG results come back all clear after all I had to go through today. Looks like I’m on track to start injects again around February 6th or so. We’ll see what happens. Hopefully there’s no more drama this week. It’s been a long week and it’s only Tuesday.