I had called our military clinic's appointment line, yesterday afternoon, to see if I could get a routine appointment next week. This was before I met with Nancy and her family for dinner. The scheduler told me I should really speak with an on-duty Tricare RN (Tricare is our insurance company). So, I called the RN-line, but they couldn't return my call until much later, they said.
Well, they called me 11:48 PM, ladies. Yes. Twelve minutes before midnight. The RN woke me up, but that's OK. I answered all of her questions (about symptoms). I was expecting her to say, "Oh. It's OK. You can go ahead and make a routine appointment on Monday." Instead, she said, "This is serious, ma'am. I need you to go to a medical facility within 24-hours and get examined for the symptoms you are presenting."
So, at midnight, last night, I was in a taxi cab, heading to Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington. Sean, my husband, stayed at the Marriott Hotel with our son. I wasn't going to drag them to the ER with me.
I get to the ER. The nurse in charge of in processing asked me some questions. Then, she ordered an ultrasound. 2 1/2 hours after checking in, I was on my way to ultrasound. At 3:00, I was finally taken back inside the ER. At 3:45 am, the doctor finally came in and examined me. They were looking at symptoms of appendicitis, an eptopic pregnancy, a twisted ovary, or connective tissue damage. Just a wide variety of things.
In the end, it turned out that I had several ovarian cysts, one being 2 cm wide and full of blood. This is what's been causing me severe pain for six weeks, now.
I was finally discharged at 5 AM. I made it back into our hotel room at 5:30. I slept until 9 AM; got up and got ready; and our family went to the Mall. We went to the Lincoln Memorial, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Capitol, and the Hard Rock Cafe. So, I've been running on less than four hours of sleep at this point. LOL! Despite the ER visit, I had another terrific day exploring Washington DC. I just can't believe I ended up in the ER. I'm very thankful it wasn't appendicitis, and it turned out to be a pretty benign problem. I appreciate the RN's concerns. Though, going to an ER during vacation was the last thing I had expected to happen.
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Paula 
