Friday, March 23, 2007

My stay at the hospital

Last weekend I went snowshoeing and it is normally a lot of fun... when you are not sick. I woke up Saturday morning feeling like poop but I went snowshoeing anyways. As we were shoeing I was completely exhausted and felt like just lying in the snow and having a nap. I also realised that if I did that I would probably freeze to death. I am sure my friends would not allow that to happen... I think.
When I got home from this excursion I went straight to bed and tried to sleep off my sickness. At about... really late o'clock I had severe abdomen pain and needed to go to the hospital. I went to one and because they take all the gang bangers and drug lords there I was going to have to wait about 9 hours. I almost resorted to stabbing myself with something in order to get a bed quicker... Dave would not let me do that and he took me to the other hospital. We waited for about a half hour and then I was sleeping in a bed with my new best friend Morphine. Her and I get along quite well. She came by my room at least 4 times through the night.
The doctor thought I may have something wrong with my gall bladder. He was doubtful because problems with the gall bladder generally happen with 'chunky people'... I did not fall into that category. They did an ultrasound to check the gall bladder out. Turns out that there is just 'sludge'. (I read it on my chart... not too sure if I am to read that but if they are going to stick in my lap I am going to read it.) Anyway, they then decide to do a CT scan which just confirmed something else for me: I am not pregnant. Apparently they cannot do a CT scan if you are pregnant. That's beside's the point. CT scans are wierd. First I had to drink a litre and a half of this stuff called tetrilix (I think) and I had an hour to drink it. This amount of 'water' plus the 200ml/hr that the IV was pumping in me made me have to pee every 45 mintues I swear. The nurses had me lie down on this thing and they covered me with this blanket that I swear was just out of the dryer... it was so warm and welcomed. The nurse then tells me that she is going to inject something in me that will give me this warm sensation all over my body and oh yeah, the sensation like you are peeing. First it was not a 'warm' sensation. I was bloody hot. Second, I totally thought I was wetting my gown (wasn't wearing pants) but it was really hot. Thankfully there was no urinating because that would have made things awkward for everyone.
Back to the hospital room I went. Keep in mind I am still in Emerg and it was now Sunday afternoon. The CT scan showed that I had an inflammed appendix. By this point Morphine was not allowed to visit me. This was fine because there really was not any pain. So a resident surgeon came in and told me that I had this inflammation and that I would need surgery. I was okay with this. Then her 'boss' surgeon came in and told me that I would most likely not need it considering I was not in any pain. I was slightly disappointed. I would not have minded laying in a hospital for a few days (remember that for later) I never had surgery before. I asked if I could have something to eat and he just said I could drink something... oh yippee it felt like i had not drank anything for ages (note: sarcasm). It is Sunday night and I had not eaten or really drank anything for over 24 hours. I can get combative when I have not eaten.
A little while later I was in a different hospital room in an actual bed that was so much more comfortable. The woman in the same room was just out of surgery and was in pain, was crying... I did not sleep well. Although, in hospitals how much sleep can you really achieve. As soon as you fall asleep a nurse is waking you up to take blood or vitals or asking how you are.
They moved me the next day into the lounge... yes the lounge. Apparently I was not 'bad enough' to warrant an actual room with a comfortable bed. The only good thing about the lounge was that I had my own free cable.
By Monday night the Dr. finally came back and asked me if I wanted to go home. I said yes. About a half hour before this I was crying because I was tired of being in the hospital and not knowing what was going on with me. I mainly said yes because I just wanted to eat something. It was Monday night 6:15 and I was finally allowed to eat... over 48 hours without food. I wondered how that was really possible since I did not really have hunger pains. Apparently the nurse was giving me drugs so my stomach would not start eating itself.
I still do not know what happened... I may have some 3rd world virus. I am leaving my life to God.

4 comments:

janaya said...

i'm not sure if i'm supposed to be laughing about your awful situation, but i am (you're just funny). i'm sorry to hear you have had the unfortunate experience of having to deal with doctors who poke and prod and xray and tell you they're going to cut you open, because if they can't see it they can't tell you what's wrong with it, only to be spit out of the hospital days later with no answers and a huge medical bill on the way (oh wait... minus the medical bill cause you're in canada). anyway... i married into a family of doctors... but the reality is (aside from loving the person inside the M.D.) i hate doctors. 99% of the time when at a doctors office, i want to stand up (close my gown), shake their hand with my free hand and say "congratulations, you will be paying off your student loans until my child goes away to college and i just learned more about my problem on the internet than you will ever be able to tell me". AHHHHH! let me say, i'm glad you still have your appendix. i'm not a fan of removing vital organs to figure out if that might be the problem. good luck. (and next time, make dave sneak you food from the vending machines... 48 hours! geez).

alipooh said...

Hay I am glad to here that you are okay. I cant belive i just find out about this right now. I am happy that you didn't have to get surgery. Just think you would have been able to have time off work. But I know you would have been taken care off. Yes you are right it was not me in the picturs but it was me on the ground when snowboarding and that was I wanted to point out.

Slobodans said...

Holy crap! So, you still don't know anything? Did they perhaps give you the standard line of visiting your family doctor? That sucks to have been in the hospital for so long. I hate hospitals with a passion, which is odd since I work in one. I guess what it comes down to is as long as I am not a patient I can handle it. Hope you're feeling better!

Higa said...

I am not dying... I am on anti biotics for the next few days. I wrote that story as a bit of a comedy more than a "panic I am in the hospital, someone pay attention to me!" Hospitals don't necessarily suck, it is the odd incompetent person that does. When there are no answers I just trust that it will not come down to me having to sue someone.... although I would get money out of that.