Emergency Room Visit

Entrance to Beebe Emergency Room - I know how to get here

Yes, it happened again. I had to call 911 for an ambulance to take me to the Emergency Room.

I've lost count how many times I've taken that ambulance ride to the Emergency Room at Beebe Hospital. Several times for my kidney stones (lost count) and once when I slipped and fell on the ice and torn my quadricep leg muscle.

This time the cause of my emergency room visit was vertigo. 

I woke up yesterday morning on my back. Normally I sleep on my side. As I opened my eyes I saw my overhead bedroom fan, which was not on. But it was moving left to right. And moving, fast.  Uh oh.  I had this happen before a couple of years ago.  It's a feeling of dizziness and nausea.  The nausea is the worst.  The dizziness is exactly like when you're drunk, not a good feeling.

I thought if I lied down and closed my eyes, eventually the dizziness would go away like it did the last time I had this happen. However, this time it didn't go away.  In fact it got worst, if you can imagine that.  

At 8:45 PM I decided to call 911 for an ambulance to take me to the emergency room.  

I had no appetite at all during the day. The nausea was only getting worse and the dizziness, unbelievable. 

I called my neighbor Bob M. to take Bill and follow the ambulance down to Beebe.

The EMT's were wonderful, as usual, during the ride to the emergency room.  At Beebe I was wheeled right into a room for tests, right past a hallway filled with sad looking people on gurneys. I wondered why they didn't put me aside a wall like that. Oh well, I was feeling too miserable to ponder further.  

While I was in no extreme physical pain like I was with my kidney stones, I was feeling awful with the nausea and dizziness.  I had to keep my eyes closed.

Sick Ron in Emergency Room

They performed a series of tests on me including a brain scan (to check if there was any damage from that fall to my head I had on the SEPTA bus in Philadelphia six months ago).  Everything checked out, thank goodness. No brain concussion. 

What they determined was that I have a severe attack of vertigo, which is an inner ear infection.  I thought that was the problem but I wanted to make sure it wasn't any worse because of that fall I took to the back of my head in Philadelphia.  

The hospital released me to go back home (yay!) with a prescription for medication to combat the dizziness and nausea.  

I slept good last night and woke up this morning to a stationery fan above my head.  

I have to tell you folks, I'm sort of getting tired of these health issues. But I have to put things in perspective, so far my health issues are nothing compared to friends of mine and my brother John who has serious problems (lymphoma).  

I'm still a little loopy today but a LOT better.

Just another day in the life folks.