Ching’s 2026 ER Trip
Posted on June 29, 2026 by Ching under Life.
I’m calling this post “Ching’s 2026 ER Trip” because I’m really hoping it’s my only ER visit of the year.
Unfortunately, emergency room visits have become a little too familiar for our family. In fact, Kansas Medical Center should probably name one of their exam rooms after us. It was the same room I ended up in after fainting at YaYa’s 15 years ago, and the same room Brian was assigned during some of his health emergencies, including his bowel obstruction.
We’ve landed in a different room once or twice, but it honestly feels like this particular room has been our designated spot 99% of the time.
How We Got Here
As many of you know, I’ve been dealing with fibroids and endometriosis since 2022. After months of symptoms, I talked with my gynecologist about treatment options, including an ablation and hysterectomy. At the time, though, I wasn’t eager to pursue either. My thinking was simple: menopause couldn’t be that far away, and surely all of these issues would eventually resolve themselves.
By late 2023, my periods had become wildly irregular, and the cramps were sometimes so painful they were debilitating. However, since I wasn’t completely sold on the idea of having surgery, my doctor prescribed birth control pills to help regulate my cycle and reduce the pain. I’m thinking I just need to hang in there for a little while longer.
For almost two years, they worked remarkably well. My periods became predictable, the extended bouts of bleeding disappeared, and the cramps were either minimal or nonexistent. For a while, life felt normal again.
Then my blood pressure started creeping up. Because I’ve historically had low blood pressure, we initially assumed it was a fluke. But after several months of consistently high readings, my new gynecologist (around this same time, Center for Women’s Health closed, forcing me to transfer my care to Associates in Women’s Health and establish a relationship with a new doctor) and I decided to stop the birth control pills to see if they were contributing to the problem.
Stopping the pills didn’t help my blood pressure at all. Poor eating habits, less exercise, and the extra 20 pounds I had gained since this all began probably didn’t help matters either. I gained quite a bit of weight last year while Brian was undergoing cancer treatment because people kept bringing us food and, since he couldn’t eat, I was eating all of it. Eventually, my primary care doctor prescribed blood pressure medication – which is ironic because prior to Brian’s cancer diagnosis, he was the one who was on the verge of being prescribed blood pressure and cholesterol meds.
What stopping the pill did affect was my menstrual cycle. All of the symptoms I thought I’d left behind came roaring back: unpredictable periods, prolonged bleeding, miserable cramps, and all the fun that comes with them. Since I wasn’t planning to go back on birth control, I basically accepted that this was just my life now.
Things Started Going Sideways
Fast forward to May and Parker’s wedding in Kansas City. I felt awful that entire weekend. I was crampy, bleeding for unusually long stretches, and then it felt like my cycle started all over again just a couple weeks later. Around the same time, I began noticing back pain and shortness of breath. Because I had recently bought new shoes for Zumba and pickleball, I initially blamed the back pain on that.
I pushed through it anyway. I taught classes, worked, and kept up my usual schedule, even though the pain was becoming more constant and intense. One weekend, while playing pickleball with Huyen Nguyen, Angie Farlow, and Diona Marshall, I had to ask Michael Farlow to fill in for me every other game because my back simply couldn’t handle it.
The next day, I attempted to practice with my MiLP v3 team and was in so much pain that I immediately knew I needed to give up my spot. Still, I convinced myself this was just my new normal.
The Friday before my ER visit, I tried playing in Friday Night Fiesta. My back hurt, I was completely out of breath, and I felt terrible for my partner. Thankfully, Heide Bartel was there and finished the rest of my games for me.
That weekend, I ran the IPN mini tournament at TapNPaddles on Saturday but took it easy on Sunday. I stayed home, rested, and did nothing because I had absolutely no energy. Since I work from home on Mondays and Fridays, I was able to get through my work day on Monday by resting in between meetings.
The Day Everything Changed
Tuesday, June 2, started like any other workday. I felt awful but I didn’t realize how sick I actually was.
I drove into the office despite feeling miserable. When Chris texted to see if I wanted to grab coffee that morning-something we do regularly—I told him to go ahead and get coffee without me because I wasn’t feeling well.
I was crampy and also felt constipated, so I headed to the restroom. No luck. I returned to my desk and tried crocheting a few rows to distract myself from the discomfort. When that didn’t work, I leaned forward, pressing on my abdomen. A few moments later, I looked up at my computer and realized something was very wrong.
My vision had become blurry. I wasn’t blind, but I couldn’t read anything. I could see my screens and the lines of text, but the words themselves were unreadable. I felt disoriented and scared. I immediately called Brian and told him I needed to go to the ER.
While waiting, I was so out of it that I ended up lying down in the lobby. Alicia happened to see me on her way in. She waited with me in the lobby and walked me to Brian’s car.
The drive to the ER felt endless. The wait at the ER felt even longer. We arrived around 9 AM, but I don’t think I got a room until nearly 11. Brian stayed with me the entire time, only leaving briefly to grab lunch and bring back a hoodie because he was freezing in the exam room.
Finally, Some Answers
The ER team discovered I was severely dehydrated, so they started IV fluids immediately. They also found that my hemoglobin had dropped to 6.5, low enough to require a blood transfusion. They gave me Toradol for the cramps, and at some point I fell asleep.
When Brian came back from lunch, he asked how I was feeling. I paused for a second because I was genuinely surprised. The cramps were gone. The mental fog was gone. For the first time in what felt like months, I felt clear-headed and normal. Other than being attached to a collection of tubes and needles, I actually felt pretty good.
At one point I told Brian he could head home to check on Saki and just come back when I was discharged. He refused. His reasoning? Every time he stepped away, I seemed to come back wearing a new bracelet. When they added the blood-transfusion bracelet, I joked that he didn’t need to worry unless they started tagged my toe.
Most of the day was spent waiting—waiting for doctors, waiting for tests, waiting for bags (of fluids and blood) to be depleted, waiting for results. And waiting to eat. Because surgery was still a possibility, the nurses wouldn’t let me have food until they knew exactly what was going on. It was 2 PM by the time I finally ate lunch. The hospital lunch was surprisingly good.
The Diagnosis
The CT scan confirmed my known fibroids, but it also revealed something unexpected: colitis. Since I’ve always been somewhat prone to anemia, the combination of prolonged menstrual bleeding and colitis likely pushed my hemoglobin down to the dangerously low level that landed me in the ER.
The ER physician prescribed two antibiotics for the colitis (which I had to take for a week) and a 30-day iron supplement to help rebuild my blood supply. He also stressed the importance of follow-up appointments with both my gynecologist and primary care physician.
As he explained it, the ER could treat the immediate problem, but I needed a long-term plan for the underlying issues.
Looking Ahead
Overall, I’ve felt much better since the ER visit. The antibiotics are finished, and I’m still taking iron. The cramps haven’t disappeared entirely, but they’re much more manageable. Interestingly, the back pain that had been making me miserable is gone, which makes me wonder whether it was related to the colitis all along.
I’ve been paying much closer attention to my diet, tracking what I eat and how it affects my symptoms. I’m also making a conscious effort to stay hydrated.
We have our annual health screening coming up in July, and there’s a good chance a hysterectomy is in my future this October. For now, I’m grateful to finally have some answers—and I’m feeling better than I have all year.
And hopefully, this will be my one and only ER trip of 2026.
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