Emergency Room

My husband and I were out till very late last night, but alas it wasn't a night on the tiles, or a romantic evening for two. For the past few days I have experienced incredible pains that were not there before, in my calf muscle on just the left leg. Particularly painful when standing up and made even worse by walking, our family doctor became quite concerned. To rule out a DVT (deep vein thrombosis) I was sent to the Emergency Room at our local hospital, which is not the hospital that I normally attend. We were pleasantly surprised to find the hospital has been refurbished and spruced up since the last time we were there and highly efficient in their procedure of receiving and checking people in. The doctor asked if I minded a student doctor examining me first, and of course, being very aware and in favour of students gaining valuable hands-on experience whenever possible, I agreed.

Usually when I arrive at any hospital I firstly have to explain what Gaucher disease is, after all, being a rare disease, normally doctors have not heard of it, or know very little. I have my description down parrot fashion after so many years and can concisely explain in a matter of a few minutes. I knew he would know something about Parkinson's, but much to my amazement the delightful young student doctor in his third year had indeed heard about Gaucher disease. What totally astonished me was that he told me he had two brothers, both with very mild forms of Gaucher disease. Lucky I was sitting down for you could have blown me over with a feather. With just 10,000 Gaucher patients world wide, what are the chances of being seen to by a student doctor who knows the disease and has siblings who have Gaucher - it is a small small world after all.

Thankfully a DVT was eliminated and it appears there is some form of inflammation which showed up on a Doppler ultrasound examination. By this time the ER was overflowing with casualties and busy with a hive of activity. It was obviously a popular night to be out! I was released after five hours, and we made our way home, rather weary, but I was awfully glad not to need hospitalisation. My poor husband who patiently sat with me the entire time, was exhausted and thanks to me had missed hours of work that he'll somehow have to make up today! I hope you had a better evening than us last night. It had to be better than five hours in the Emergency Room for I don’t think this is anyone's idea of a good night out!