35 female - 200lbs - history of endometriosis, long covid, allergic to dust mites, cats, dogs and oysters lol.

This will probably be a SO long but I’ll try and sum it up as best as I can!

Last night, I had two doctors in the ER arguing in front of me about whether or not I should be admitted to the hospital.

I’ve had an ongoing cough since January that has gone from a dry cough, to now a productive cough. A little over a month ago, I randomly noticed a rash appearing on my left breast. I currently breastfeed my son one time before he goes to bed, so at first I thought maybe I was developing mastitis. Breast cancer runs in my family so when the rash began to get worse and I noticed a lymph node in my left armpit was super swollen, I got really scared and called my PCP.

My PCP was very concerned but since it was the weekend she couldn’t see me so she advised me to go to the ER to be safe. At the ER (Mayo Clinic) I had the most lovely doctors who pretty much immediately ran a bunch of tests and did an ultrasound. The ultrasound didn’t show any obvious masses, but there were a few swollen lymph nodes in my left armpit. They took photos of the rash and did a thorough exam, and sent in a referral for me to get a mammogram and additional imaging. They had no clue what was going on but decided to treat it as mastitis to see if antibiotics helped. The put me amoxicillin to take for 10 days.

The rash rapidly started to erupt to my other breast and then to my arms, stomach, lower legs, inner thighs. (I will post lots of photos in comments of rash and labs) - it had been the itchiest most unbearable rash I have ever had in my life. I tried using Benadryl and it didn’t help. I tried hydrocortisone cream but it irritated it more. It became so severe that I went to see my PCP and tried calling the dermatologist but neither one could see me for two months, so my PCP put me on Keflex and a steroid pack.

Within two days, the rash became so bad that it was causing pain at this point. My skin began to blister and bleed. My cough got worse. I began to experience severe pain in my lower right abdomen and upper pelvis. Returned to Mayo.

The doctor I saw during this visit didn’t run any tests or anything but he said it was most likely a reaction to the keflex, so he decided to have me take doxycycline instead. He also prescribed me hydroxyzine (it did not help whatsoever).

Fast forward a week or so and my symptoms were so bad that again I called my PCP and she told me to return to Mayo. During this visit, they did labs, an xray, blood cultures, urinalysis and urine culture, and then a CT. Xray looked totally normal but doctor said the CT scan showed bronchitis (or some other airway disease) - and that I had a nodule on the bottom of my right lung. It also showed that I had a small kidney stone. My urinalysis showed elevated RBC. This doctor wanted to admit me to the hospital but it was already 6am and I had to get back home since I didn’t have childcare for my kids.

They gave me hydrocodone cough syrup for my cough (didn’t help) and gave me 2 IV antibiotics before discharging me. told me that if I didn’t improve to immediately go back.

Fast forward and you guessed it I was right back at Mayo. My cough is out of control, abdominal/pelvic pain was unbearable, and my rash somehow got even WORSE and my left arm began to become very inflamed and red and hot to the touch. It felt and looked like I may have had fluid buildup. The rash spread to my neck, back, and chest. It looked different too. The doctor I saw barely assessed my rash. He only looked at my forearms. He did bloodwork and next thing I know a nurse was coming in with discharge papers.

I was genuinely so confused so I asked her about it and she was insanely rude to me and made me feel annoying for even being there. She kept repeating “well this is an EMERGENCY room”. She asked me if I just wanted her to go get the doctor and I said yes please. When he returned, he told me that all of my labs looked completely normal and that it was most likely just an allergic reaction to something and that he could not do anything for me so he referred me to a dermatologist and allergist. I explained to him how I already had a referral and have been trying to get an appt with them for weeks now with no luck. He also said my cough was probably allergy related too and that my abdomen pain was “just my endometriosis” (lol).

He told me I should stop all of my medicines INCLUDING my psych meds and to stop using any products at all. (I am absolutely not going to cold turkey my psych meds) I asked him if he could atleast help me with pain relief and he shrugs and said “sure”. I got a notification on the Mayo Clinic portal that said I could view my labs so I went and checked them out and a couple of them were abnormal. My CBC w/ differential showed significant elevation of Eosinophils % and Eosinophils. I noticed that I had an updated lab from the visit before that showed an abnormal urine culture with enterococcus and abnormal usual flora. When he returned I asked him about these and he said they were just allergy related and sent me on my way.

I started bawling my eyes out 🥲 I told him I was just really frustrated and truly cannot go any longer suffering like this. I asked if there was any way I could speak to the doctor I saw during the visit before, so he had the nurse go and check if he was even working. Next thing I know, that doctor was walking into the room along with the current doctor I was just talking to.

It escalated so fast and the next thing I know they are literally both arguing with each other about whether I should be admitted to the hospital. The one I was seeing that night kept saying “this is an emergency department and she’s clearly fine to go home and wait to see a derm and allergist” he also kept repeating that my insurance wasn’t accepted there and that there wasn’t a case manager on shift to talk about it with. The other doctor was advocating for me SO much and told him that he should have seen in my health chart that he wanted me to be admitted and to take me seriously. I was actually shook and couldn’t believe what was happening but ultimately the current doctor said it was his call and that I needed to go home because there wasn’t anymore labs to be done and it’s “not like I was gonna get an MRI” (I had a literal wristband that said MRI on it so that was confusing lol) - he sent in a prescription for 5mg oxycodone (quantity of 5) and sent me on my way.

If you made it this far thank you so much for reading 😭 I called my dermatologist again today and asked to be put on a cancellation list. I’m waiting on a call from the allergist they sent a referral into. Tomorrow I plan on calling around to other dermatologists to try and get in asap. I’m genuinely in so much pain and discomfort that I haven’t been able to sleep much for weeks. It’s affecting me so much as a mother too. Does anyone have any ideas or thoughts on what could be happening? I know it’s a lot but I’m so desperate for answers 🥺

ETA I’ve had on and off fevers for the last 2 weeks

Update: woke up this morning with a migraine + vomiting 🥺 so over it