HOSPITAL

OK, here’s the deal.  I had been feeling pretty crummy for the last couple of weeks.  I was getting more and more nauseous for seemingly no good reason.  I didn’t understand what was going on.  But everything came to head last Tuesday (10 days ago) when I started puking my guts up.  It was not cool.  After about an hour or two of that I decided it was time to go the ER.  By then it was 12:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.  So we packed our bags because I knew they were going to keep me.  I was right.  First thing they wanted to do (because of my history) was do a CT scan with contrast.  So they loaded me up onto the machine and did a pre-scan and then the fun began.  With the pre-scan complete they turned to do the actual exam.  The CT machine injects a contrast dye into the IV with a lot of pressure.  It turns out that it was too much pressure.  The injector blew my vein.  So they tried to start a new IV.  No luck.  In fact, 3 needles were bent just trying to pierce my skin to start the IV.  They were amazed.  It gave a whole new meaning to ‘man of steel”. 

Well  eventually, 7 sticks later, they were able to get an IV started and it seemed good until they injected the contrast when it blew.  They got permission to do the test without contrast and everything went well after that.  It was still another 6 hours before they put me in my room—my home for the next 7 days.

Now IV trouble didn’t stop just because I was given a room.  During my stay in the hospital no IV lasted more than 22 hours and no IV was started on the first try.  Finally after 3 days of poking and prodding they decided to put in a picc line.  It was smooth sailing from that point on.  They could administer drugs and draw blood without having to poke m any more.  But that only happened after I had been stuck 25 times.  Bummer.

Even with all this to consider, my hospital stay was very helpful.  The hospital staff, especially the nurses, were phenomenal in the care and consideration they provided.  They actually gave the genuine impression that they were concerned with my comfort and well being.  I could not have asked for a better staff to care for me.  Actually, some of them almost seemed disappointed that I had done some tasks without their assistance.  They wanted to be there for me. 

But all good things come to an end…as well as bad things.  Once they were able to administer drugs without worrying about blowing my veins, things went much better and I improved quickly.  And though they were sad to see me go, I was thrilled that I was able to eat solid food and was on my way out the door.  I want to do something, anything, even it’s just writing a letter of praise to their supervisor, to show my appreciation for how easy they made this hospital stay. 

So that’s what I’ve been up to lately.  I hope all of you got your August off to a better start than me.