Ever endured intense pain that caused you to scream at the top of your lungs? I did today and on a scale of 1-10 I would say that was a 12! It was the most painful experience in my life. Ok, for all you people who are reading this you're thinking so what is the big deal? Let me tell ya and you'll be shocked by someone my age of 25 had to even endure something like that. Actually I'm going to paint you a picture. So I go to the puliminary department in the hospital and I'm seated in this glass inclosure where I have a series of breathing tests with a tube in my mouth and my nose clipped with a nose clip. I'm told to do different series of breathing tests like inhale and blow as hard as you can, then do that 4 more times and then hypervenilate. Well that caused me to gag, but after doing it again I was ok. This is nothing compared to what happpens next.

I  was told to change into the hospital gown and then prepped for an ekg. Next I'm taken to another side of the room where my pulmonaligst, not a technician has a respiratory therpist and radiologist hold my hand and talk to me to keep me distracted from what she had to do. Here's the intense painful part of my event. My doctor inserted a thin tubing into my freakin artery, not vein like an iv,but the artery itself. Can you imagine how painful that was for me? I literally tensed and screamed out in a high pitch tone that everone in the waiting room heard. My arm was taped to the workstation table so there wouldn't be as much movement on my part and I had to control my breathing.

 To make matters worse, my artery was not cooperating and was pulsating so it was more shocking to my system especially my nerves to have to be awake and suffer through this. She then threaded a medical sticture through my artery and had to sew it in there to keep it from pulling out. So while nearly breaking the nurses's hand that I was gripping, I then threw up most likely from the shock and pain. Fourty five minutes later, she finished that procedure and told me to get on a stationary bike to measure my oxygendation levels during rest and excerise. So I get on the bike with the bloody painful reminder that the needle and tubes were in the artery of my left arm, and pedal with an ekg wires on my chest, head gear on my head, and a tube in my mouth with my nose plugged.  I pedal with all this stuff and during that time, my blood pressure was checked numerous times and a specialist comes in and draws my blood many times to check the levels while I pedal and try to remain between 60 and 65.

So on top of intense pain in my left arm, I'm feeling out of breath as the pressure increases. I was able to go for 6 minutes before I reached the climax or my max. I nearly passed out and had to rest for awhile. My doctor removed the thread and tubing from my artery and applied heavy pressure to keep it from bleeding. Finally I was able to get dressed after they heavily bandaged my left wrist where the line and tubes were in my artery. I then discovered I was there for 3 whole hours and left with a throbbing stinging left arm to where it hurts so bad to move it and so I had to type with my right hand for this journal entry to tell of my experience one where I hope no one ever has to experience this severity of pain and anguish.