I hate missing work.

I hate missing work as a teacher. I'll work through most illnesses because it's terrible to write substitute plans and then come back and the kids didn't learn anything. But sometimes I have to miss work. Here's my story:

Yesterday at work I started feeling kind of sick. By 3rd period I was too weak to walk around, and at the end of 3rd I was in immense pain, just where the ribs meet but inside.The pain was constant and stabby, but worse when I took a deep breath (like when I was crying). I was crying and shaking and terribly weak and kind of dizzy and nauseated. A teacher found me and called for help, and I was walked downstairs. My husband came to pick me up, since I couldn't drive, and I went straight to the doctor.

At the doctor, they examined me by poking around a bit and checking my vitals. I felt pain when they poked at my left side, but not at the place where I was feeling pain regularly. I had a slight fever of 100 degrees and white blood cells in my urine. They gave me a shot of Demerol and Phenergan for pain and nausea, and one of Toradol (an anti-inflammatory). The shots worked, in that I was no longer in immense pain after the meds kicked in, but the shots made me dizzy and motion sick, so while my mom wheeled me to the blood lab, I almost passed out - pins and needles, ringing in ears, the doctor came back out to help me. I laid down for a bit and ate fruit snacks because I hoped if I had some sugar I would be able to make it downstairs to the lab. My mom wheeled me so slowly, with some breaks, that I made it. I had 3 tubes of blood drawn, and again got super dizzy and felt like passing out. This is a typical reaction for me to have to needles. I don't know why. I'm not scared of them, but my body just thinks I have to lose consciousness around them.

After recovering a bit I got wheeled over to imaging and drank a contrast liquid (radioactive grape juice that tastes like poison) before going in for an abdominal CT scan. After that, I went home and slept like a zombie for many hours.

Today, I'm exhausted, and didn't go to work, but I'm feeling so much improved. I'm not in pain, just tired. And I'm coherent enough to have understood my results (which they read me yesterday, but I didn't know what was going on, and I forgot everything). Here they are:

-I'm slightly anemic, low white blood cells, so there may be an infection.
-Urine culture should tell more about infection when it's finished.
-No signs of issues with pancreas.
-Liver and kidneys look good.
-No signs of kidney stones, gall stones, appendicitis, or bowel infection on CT.
-Slight increase of right kidney cyst but nothing "concerning" (huh?!).
-Lymph nodes and pelvic organs look ok.
-I was prescribed Carafate Slurry (an ulcer medicine) and Omeprazole (a heartburn medicine) and told to avoid NSAIDS like Advil and Aleeve for a while.
-Waiting to hear back on H. Pylori test (a bacteria that indicates ulcers).
-If I become lightheaded or dizzy or throw up blood I am go to to the E.R.
-When I asked if they checked for blood clots in my lungs because my sister said that is what hers felt like, they said no, and recommended if the pain comes back I return for a chest CT scan at the doctor's office to check for that.

Whew! Can I go get a free doughnut now? And some prescriptions, I guess.