Saturday, April 7, 2012

Emergency Room Drama

Could not take the sickness any more. We called Dr. F. yesterday about noon and he sent me to the ER at Baylor (I am a transplant patient at Baylor). The signs of rejection are very similar to those of the flu so he wanted blood work and chest x-rays.

Never been seen as quickly as I was yesterday. When we walked in, told them our reason for being there, I was immediately tagged (bracelets) and moved to an ER room. I was immediately seen, blood work drawn, x-rays done, meds checked out, etc. Then the waiting began for results.

In the meantime a gentleman in the curtained room next to me was moved to a hospital room. A younger man was brought in by ambulance. He had physical injuries and was talking out of his head, kept calling for Jessica. He was told there was no one there by that name. Turns out he had been in a fight. Jessica is supposedly his wife. Guess he caught her with her boyfriend and he got hurt in the ordeal. But he was so out of his head that he thought everybody was lying to him about Jessica not being there. So he got out of his bed and was coming into MY curtained off area. Needless to say Ken wasn't happy about that at all - Ken's not strong enough to fight him off, and I'm in there on a gurney in nothing but a hospital gown. The nursing staff finally got him back in his bed and then had to get security to come take care of the fellow and restrain him. They finally got an IV line into him and gave him some meds so they could get him settled down.

My situation turned out to be ok. No pneumonia; no bacterial infection; kidney function great. Blood sugar was over 400 so had to stay there until it started downward trend. Have no idea why it would be over 400 - I had nothing to eat but a one package bowl of oatmeal with raisins (no sugar, no sweetner) yesterday morning. Oh, I did have a diet coke and a package of crackers around noon. Suspect is caused by the steroids and additional antibiotics. I was discharged home; should be better in about six weeks (takes a long time for those of us with no immune system).

We stopped at Braum's on the way home (we left hospital about 7) and then we drove home thru the Ryan Place neighborhood so we could see the new roundabouts put in to slow down thru traffic. I was thrilled to make it back to the house and now can get Ken to stop hovering over me every time I ego into a deep coughing spell. Must admit I will be glad to get over this - I am tired of peeing my britches all the time - that's exactly what happens when I have one of the coughing episodes.

Oh, did get a new inhaler for the asthma. It's albuterol sulfate - glad the nurse told Ken it would cause me to shake/tremble. Otherwise he would freak out.

That being said, I haven't done anything of value thus far today. I've been told not to do anything physical, so I think instead I'll work on some of my quilting projects.

Family Hell Again

My husband was talking with his sister and learned that his dad (be 92 in May) has been in the hospital this week having his pacemaker changed out. DH knew nothing about it - no one bothered to tell him. The sister (who lives out of town) said, "He didn't want anybody to know about it." So DH says something like, "Well, you knew." To which the sister promptly said she had to go - she's out of town. What DH suspects is that she is in THIS town with the dad. So now Ken is all upset, crying, depressed, and his weekend has been ruined.

Ken's family has nothing to do with him; his son and wife decided in 2009 that DH is not worthy of being a part of his family and let him know that he will never be a part of his child's life (born in January 2010). DH has never seen the baby, etc. The entire rest of the family conspired to keep the news from Ken and to further keep DH excommunicated from the family. What makes me so mad is that just about the time he adjusts to that, somebody communicates with DH and lets him know that this or that is happening, etc., and then DH (who is under the care of MHMR and docs due to depression, etc.) gets all down again. I wish if the damn family was going to treat him so cruely by not allowing him to be part of the family that they would all just leave him the hell alone completely. I can guarantee if DH kicks off before me that I will never notify a damn one of them about his passing. I have watched how this family treats DH for over 10 years. He doesn't deserve it.

Hopefully the day will get better. It's beautiful outside.

Bluebonnets at Dutch Branch Park, Benbrook Lake

We needed to do something to get back into good spirits, so we loaded up the doggies (Maggie, Bennie, and Luci) and drove out to Dutch Branch Park at Benbrook lake. We drove around a bit, took a few pics of the bluebonnets (everywhere this year!), got out at one of the lake areas to let the dogs enjoy seeing something different, and then came home in much better spirits. We really need to do that more often.

This is Daddy doing the "doggie dance." Maggie and Bennie always get wrapped around each other, us, and whatever pole or obstacle is in the way.
Luci Grace had a blast. This was her first outing other than going to the vet. And now she is completely tuckered out. She definitely needs a bath! And so do the other two, but Luci is the only one I can bathe myself. (Maggie is the black spaniel; Bennie Jo is the dachshund.)