Ulcerior Motives

Wednesday would have been a normal day, and for the most part it was, until I noticed my chest getting more and more uncomfortable through the day. Well, to the doctor I went, and after some stuff was ruled out, it turns out I have both costochondritis and an ulcer. Now, I’ve had inflamed cartilage in my chest before, and normally it’s very easy to control with Advil or Aleve, and time. But there’s a problem here… NSAIDs, which can control inflammation and pain, also aggravate ulcers.

The hospital prescribed Tylenol for the ulcer and the endoscopy-induced sore-throat that found it, but nobody said anything about the costochondritis. How do you reduce inflammation without NSAIDs? Ice kinda helped, but luckily I had some leftover Hydrocodone from a previous injury, and that helped immensely. Before that, I spent nights trying and failing to sleep, drudging through most of the day in pain, and planning my next visit to the clinic.

The hospital still hasn’t called to tell me the results of the stomach biopsy, so I don’t know if the ulcer was caused by Helicobacter Pylori or something else. If it is H. Pylori, I’ll need a specific type of antibiotics to kill them, or my stomach lining could spawn other ulcers. So I’ll be making some phone calls tomorrow. What’s really annoying is that I had to cancel two other appointments on Thursday and Friday while sorting out this whole “why is the left side of my chest in pain” issue, one of which took two months to schedule.

I did see Alice in Wonderland in 3D with Jen on Saturday, however. I liked it, but something about the whole thing seemed forced. I did enjoy it though, so don’t let my pain-fueled disdain aversely derail your plans. About half way through the film, I had to squirm into several positions until one was at least somewhat free of discomfort. We had great seats because we showed up early, and I think the whole three hours I spent outside the house may have been too ambitious while under-medicated. I can only hope this coming week goes better.

Until Tomorrow