Tuesday, 12/4 5pm
I drove home, sick and in pain. Had been for days and days, plus running fevers for days and taking a bunch of Tylenol to try to make it through each hour.
Tuesday, 12/4 7pm
Joolo came over for the evening to hang out and with the intention of playing video games and such. Situation continued to get worse.
Tuesday, 12/4 8:30pm
Went to stand up and pretty much couldn't. Started sobbing. Pain, pain, pain. Hadn't stopped. Was located really high up - between my ribs right under my chest. Like a knife that wasn't going away. Joolo had been yelling at me all through the day (I called him from work crying in pain earlier in the day) to go to the doctor. No insurance though, and no money in hand, so that made it a bit hard. By this point, he made me put my jeans and such on and go to the ER. So, my Love, Joolo, and I leave the apt.
Tuesday, 12/4 9pm
Arrive at ER and sign in. Proceed to wait. And wait. And wait. (uncomfortably since of course, I was already in pain and I am now on some stupid chair with a bunch of sick people and yelling kids)
Tuesday, 12/4 10pm
Get called over. Whoo-hoo I think. Nope, just for paperwork. Took an hour just to get my name on a piece of paper and get one of those nifty wrist bands with my name on it. Joy. Oh yeah, and I'm not allowed to drink or eat anything until the Dr sees me. This is key.
Tuesday, 12/4 11:57pm
Give up and go to the restroom.
Tuesday, 12/4 11:59pm
Get called back into the ER. It only took three hours. *sighs* The start of all things fun. First things first - they want a urine sample. (I kid you not)
Wednesday, 12/5 1:10am
Finally eek out enough drops to put something in the cup. Draw some blood, sit on a hard gureny in one of those open-ass gowns. Continue waiting.
Wednesday, 12/5 3:00am
Dr tells me that I need to go for a sonogram. There seems to be something wrong with my gallbladder (want to see the antaomy of where it is?) I flat-out ask him "Isn't that an old person thing??" Apparently not. Some 15 year old girl was in just the day before me and had to have hers removed. They wheel me off.
Wednesday, 12/5 3:30am
Done with that, more waiting.
Wednesday, 12/5 4:00am
No signs of stones (good thing), but... my white counts are through the roof and my liver enzimes are really high (bad things). They want to do a 24-hour IV antibiotic injection to remove whatever is in there causing me this pain. (they guess that it's either an infection or an inflamation of the gallbladder) They don't know why the liver is too high.
It is at this point that I'm panicked. I do NOT want to have to be admited to the hospital. Hello? New job, can't just miss work like that. Dr says that if I leave it's against medical advice. He says that an oral antibiotic just isn't strong enough to ensure the removal of the infection. My Love says that it's already 4am (now 7 hours into my stay and 6 hours without water) and I'm not going to make work as it is (true). Additionally he says that if a company fires you for being admitted to the hospital, you don't want to work for that company anyway. (valid point) In the end, I stay.
Wednesday, 12/5 4:40am
Waiting to hear about getting a room still.
Wednesday, 12/5 5:10am
Turns out, they're full. They should have one by 7am. Still no water and definatly no food. They're calling in a surgical consult (eep) as well.
Wednesday, 12/5 6:00am
So tired. So very tired. (and thirsty) My Love finally calls it a night and goes home before he drops himself. Both been up since 7am the morning before. Hopefully, I'll have a bed soon...
Wednesday, 12/5 8:30am
Here is when I finally got moved. But not to a room. Just to the Er Holding area. At least though, it's a matress. I get my first chance to nod off in over a day.
Wednesday, 12/5 10:00am
Surgical consult shows up. Pretty much says he's not interested in doing surgery since there were no stones. Happy for me. Also happy for me is that he says since he doesn't want to do surgery, I can now partake of a Clear Liquid Diet. WHOO HOO!
Wednesday, 12/5 10:30am
Drank apple juice. It was simply the best thing I ever had. (well....not being allowed anything in over 12 hours does that to ya).
(whew this is long)
Wednesday, 12/5 11:00am
Moved to my room! Yeah..finally. Top floor, window bed. Flowers arrive. They are from my work! and they are simply beautiful. They are so nice I start crying.
I just wanted to sleep. No such luck.
Wednesday, 12/5 12:15pm
Just as I'm waiting on some more beverage to make it my way, a tech walks in with two HUGE bottles of this milky white stuff. Bananna Smoothie Barium (according to webmd: The barium milk shake has a chalky and unpleasant taste. Boy, they're being kind). Because I have to drink this and only this, it's hold on the actual beverages again. I am not allowed anything else until after my CT Scan Ugh...they taste HORRID, burn the back of my throat, and slowly, but surely make me want to puke. (oh yeah, and did I mention that it makes you have...um...problems at both ends? Yeah, started just about 15 minutes after I finished drinking it). I could only get down 1 1/2 before I was going to lose it. Couldn't give me anything either since it would interfere...
Wednesday, 12/5 4:00pm
Time to be FINALLY wheeled down for the exam
Wednesday, 12/5 4:30
Sit in the hall until they get to me now. Then they hook you up to this dye that burns when it goes in and makes you really warm. So much so that you think you wet yourself. Proceed with scan.
Wednesday, 12/5 5:00pm
Done and back to room. My Love is waiting and his mom stops by after work. (aww thanks) I finally get something for my stomach so I won't hurl and eventually my clear liquid dinner. (beef broth, tea, yellow jello, and apple juice. Mmm mmm good hu?) I'm drop-dead tired.
Wednesday, 12/5 6:15pm
My friend Rand shows up and brings me the coolest Angel ornament. Thanks too. :)
Wednesday, 12/5 7pm
Everyone (including my Love leaves). I'm waiting to hear the results on the CT scan before I can do anything like eat or have non-clear liquids. It's now been about 36 hours and I've had about one hour of sleep. I pretty much pass out at this point.
Wednesday, 12/5 7:00pm - Thursday 12/6 7:00am
Slept most the night. Got woken up a few times of course with things like being stuck for my ever continuing IV, blood work, etc.
Thursday 12/6 7:30am
Wake up for the day. Enjoy another hearty breakfast of chicken broth, tea, orange jello, and more apple juice. I feel MUCH better and am not hurting at all anymore. Yeah. Now I just want a shower (it's been like three days at this point) and want to go home.
Thursday 12/6 10:00am
Meet with the GI specialist again. No one has the CT results yet. I tell him I want to go home. He says I can so long as the results are normal. My liver enzimes are still high, but he says there's no reason to stay in the hospital for that. I need to see him in a week.
Thursday 12/6 10:00am - 12:00pm
Watching TV, bored, HUNGRY, and wanting to go home. Waiting is the name of the game. *sigh* My Love shows up on his lunch and brings me a lovely red rose and the cutest racoon stuffed animal. My still liquid (in the boring way!) lunch shows up. He has to get back and I watch some more tv restlessly.
Thursday 12/6 1:00pm - 4:00pm
My mom shows up. She's just about hysterical, but my normal sarcasm shines through and she soon calms down. She leaves for a bit to get some lunch for herself and brings back this floppy moose stuffed animal. It's cute too. She just sits around with me in my room despite me telling her over and over again that she doesn't have to sit there all bored and stuff.
I'm getting overly edgy to hear something, eat some solid food, and just get home. I decide I'm leaving today whether they figure out the paperwork problem or not.
Thursday 12/6 5:00pm - 6:00pm
My Love calls and is on his way over from work. THEY FINALLY GET THE CT RESULTS AND IT'S ALL NORMAL. I'M GOING HOME. In the meantime, my diet is increased to "Bland" and my dinner of meatloaf shows up. Bleck. I pass and eat the roll instead (I know I'll eat when I get home). Solid food rocks.
Thursday 12/6 7:00pm
Paperwork is done. I'm allowed to dress and the IV is removed from my bruised arm. (my second one since the first clotted up and made my fingers numb - it was in the crook of my right arm. dorks) Get in the wheelchair and they roll me to freedom.
The rest of Thursday consists of an hour long shower to scrub myself clean of all hospital nastiness, some Swiss cheese fondue, the thrill of wearing something with a back AND a crotch, and sleeping in my own bed...bliss...
Friday 12/7 noon-ish
I slept great. Took the day off with my boss' well wishes so I could have the weekend to get better. Problem was that I needed to go get my paycheck or we'd be broke over the weekend. Bit the bullet and decided to drive down there despite not feeling well and it being 20 miles one way.
Friday 12/7 3:00pm
Go to work. See everyone. Tell everyone I'm pretty ok (except for the liver thing still but...who knows what that is). Thank everyone for being great. Get my check, head home.
Friday 12/7 4:00pm
In car, heading home. Smell something nasty. Look down and see my temperature gadge plummet from the mid section of "normal" to psycho-car-about-to-explode "hot." Pull over. Smoke everywhere from under hood. Fan not spinning. I'm fucked. Call my Love. Call AAA.
Friday 12/7 4:15pm - 4:30pm
Tow arrives. It's not a flatbed. HAS to be a flatbed. Been told for years by dealers, mechanics, and even AAA to ALWAYS tow Mustangs flatbed only. (don't drag it behind the tow truck) Guy is some punk asshole. Gives me a bunch of BS. I flat out tell him not to touch my car. Says it will be an hour before a flatbed can come and basically treats me like I'm some stupid "woman" who just doesn't know better. Whatever, he's not towing it drag.
AAA calls back and apologizes, says it will be about an hour. My Love shows up. We're both hungry, I don't feel good (weak from the hospital ya know?)
Friday 12/7 4:30pm- 6:10pm
Waiting for another tow. Turns out a different company had to come because the first one never sent another out. New guy was older and REALLY nice. Followed him up to the dealership.
Friday 12/7 7pm
Get the car there and finally go home. Call it a night just about.
Saturday 12/8 9:30am
Wake up. Call dealership. Leave voicemail.
Saturday 12/8 10:30am - 11:40am
Speak with dealership. Motor to cooling fan shot. Warrenty item, but they're rental center is closed today so no rental car to give me. Also, no part available until Monday. Shit Shit Shit. Need to go to work Monday. No car. No rental.
Call warrenty company. Explain situation. Turns out Enterprise works like the Ford dealership - direct bill, not paying upfront and waiting for reimbursment. Call Enterprise. They can help afterall. But they close in 20 minutes (noon). Not dressed. Shit again. Throw on clothes and we race there. Rent car successfully. Rock on.
Res of Saturday 12/8
Have an exciting Chevy Caviler for the weekend. Dealership will call me Monday. Run some errands etc.
Sunday 12/9
More stuff to do. Then spend hours (literally, whew!) typing this up. Finally done, snacking on a sub for dinner (mmm....solid food) and getting ready to go home. Work tomorrow. Need a vacation. (ha) Have an appointment Wed 12/19 with the GI Dr in his office to follow up on the liver issue. We'll go from there. Scared to see what the two days in the hospital are going to run me with the sonogram, CT scan, and four specialist doctors consulting me and no insurance. *shudder* Oh well. Good thing is that I'm not sick anymore and all is well.
And that was the short version. *lol*
~ flowers bloom near Memory and Dream
at 12/9/2001 07:59:20 PM ~
~
