Guess where the Moof is writing from now … !

Home? No …

Camp? No …

Waikiki? No … (but don’t I wish! ;o)

From my window, I can see … a brick wall, and a higher level of another wing of the building I’m in. The service is great here … but the food is terrible! Actually, I haven’t had any during this visit yet, so things might have improved, but I doubt it.

I’m in that same spot I was in back at the end of March … again.

Actually, I’m relieved to have been able to get here. There are two other hospitals between camp and here, and one of them, I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, but the other one is OK, and it seems to be improving all the time. They even have my old nephrologist as a hospitalist there. It was a long ride from camp, though, and I considered going to one of the other hospitals, but I’m glad I came all the way here, instead.

On Saturday, late in the day, we had a tremendous storm blow through - just a hair north of us. We were told that it had nickle sized hail, winds of 70 miles an hour, and was capable of popping tornadoes without warning. Now that’s saying something, up here in Maine. Tornadoes are rare in these parts.

I was sitting on the camp porch, doing a blog run, and watching the unbelievable lightning just over the mountains on the other side of the lake. The storm was just missing us. We got the wind and the lightshow, but none of the rain or lightning strikes. The color in the sky in that direction was unreal, and I wanted to take photos, so I set out to find the camera. However I noticed with growing consternation that my gut was beginning to develop some serious cramping, and I cut my search short … since the sudden onset was rapidly becoming a bit more than allowed me to remain upright and mobile.

I’m not a lightweight with pain. I never take pain meds, with the exception of sneaking an Advil now and again when the going gets really rough. Even so, I knew that this was beyond anything I could deal with for very long. I told Doug that if it didn’t ease up, I would have to get a ride to the hospital … which is about an hour from camp.

It was Saturday night - everything always happens on a week end! I didn’t want to call my new doctor, and I really didn’t want to go to the ER on a Saturday night, either. I decided to try to hold off for the night - to see if it would pass by morning; however, after a very long and sleepless night, I was worse in the morning, and new related problems had also surfaced, one of which really scared me.

When I saw (with great relief) that the sky was beginning to lighten, I braced myself and took a quick shower. I would have to be completely unconscious to ever go to the ER without showering! *LOL* When I got out of the shower, Doug was awake, and he agreed to take me to the ER. We got there at 6:50 AM.

Here, I won’t go into as much detail, because I got there just in time to have a bit of a medical meltdown. For once, I was actually grateful to be in the ER. My only regret was that it was early Sunday morning, and I figured that I would end up with one of the new, young ER docs. It always makes me a little paranoid when the docs look younger than my kids … *blink*

To my absolute astonishment, in walked Dr. MacCauseland! He’s the same one I saw in the emergency room back in March. In spite of being in some pretty engaging pain, I started to laugh when I saw him, and commented on how I always end up with him, and how he always admits me when I do. He smiled a little sheepishly, and asked me when he had admitted me before, and I told him about the other two times; then he wanted to know why he had admitted me on those occasions, and I told him, including the fact that the time back in March had been “for nothing at all!”

Frankly, I was really relieved to see him, even if I was teasing him, and giving him a hard time. I said it back in March when I wrote about him, and I’ll say it again - he’s one of the kindest, gentlest and most attentive doctors I’ve ever seen. I can’t tell you how often I’ve wished he had gone into primary care. I have a serious issue with speaking up to medical professionals, but for some reason, it’s almost completely absent with him.

I was in the ER from about 7 AM until after 3 PM. It was a long, uncomfortable stay. At the end, Dr. MacCauseland came in and said: “Were going to send you upstairs.” I protested, although I knew he was right, and on more than one level, I was actually grateful. It was just actually hearing him say it, and experiencing that “trapped” feeling that comes with the realization. My husband joked later on and said: “What were you hoping for, anyway? A cork and some super glue?” *LOL* But seriously … three times now … my only three times in the ER since my first admission for renal failure, and each time I saw the same person, and each time he admitted me. See a pattern there, anyone? ;o)

Anyway, they admitted me, and I ended up with a little hospitalist lady from Algeria. I was placed on “strict NPO.” I was grateful, however to still be given my meds at about 2 PM … because I hadn’t been able to hold them down the night before, and had missed them that morning. I could feel my blood pressure rising, and I was a bit nervous that no would realize how important it was for me to get those meds. I was also concerned that even if I did get them, that they wouldn’t stay put. We finally did get on top of that situation though … in fact, we got on top of it so well that it’s been wayyyy too low today, and my sweet little hospitalist lady cut my Clonidine dosage down. She and I both agreed that my new PCP and I need to discuss replacing it with something else. It gives me horrendous side effects, and of the possible dosages, the lowest isn’t enough, and the next dosage up takes me off my feet. I must just be really sensitive to that particular drug - or type of drug. My other hypertension meds don’t do that to me.

Yesterday was a bit rough … and overnight was tough, although I did get some sleep - probably thanks to the Clonidine. It did make maneuvering the path between my bed and the restroom a bit challenging, though.

Today, I’ve been on clear liquids since about noon, and am doing well enough with them. Since the inception of the clear liquids, they’ve stopped my IV, so I was even able to take a quick shower! ( YES!!! ) I feel more like people now. I had a “bed head” with a really bad cockatiel crest which I was more than relieved to get rid of!

My hospitalist came in as I was writing the above paragraph, and she’s letting me go home tomorrow. I can finish recovering at camp. w00t! I have finals this week, and I wrote to my professor, asking him what to do if I were still in the hospital past the finals cut-off time, and he was kind enough to tell me that he could extend the time for a short while under the circumstances. I won’t need him to do that, now.

Before I quit, I’ve got to give all of you nurses and LNA’s out there a HUGE cheer. I swear that the sun and the moon rise and set on my nurses! They’ve been great! I want to take them all home with me. More than anything, it’s the nurses and LNA’s that make a hospital stay bearable … and they seem able to create pleasant moments for their patients, even through the roughest times. The girls I’ve had since I got here have been angels … real live angels. Although I’m going to be glad to go home, I’m going to miss my nurses!

Now, when I get back to camp, besides taking my final, I’ve a few awards I need to blog about, and a “sort of” meme from Vijay … wouldn’t ya know it! Vijay doesn’t even have to get meme’d but that he meme’s me! Would you get the idea that he’s relishing some sweet revenge? ;o)

Oh … one final thing. When I realized that I had an internet connection here, I got online and proceeded to have the following conversation over Pownce with Dr. Rob:

Dr. Rob: Dang, moof. Take care of yourself!

Moof: Well, I gave in and actually came to the ER, so I’m trying to. *LOL* What a person will go through for a blog post, eh? ;o)

Dr. Rob: Well, I say you are passionate about your work.

See what I go through for some decent Patient Blog material? ;o)

Posted: Monday, August 27th, 2007 at 6:44 pm under: General Mayhem, Health & Medicine. Comment Feed (RSS 2.0). Interact: Comment or Trackback.