Health- poked prodded and poked again
Adventures in the Emergency Room... or as those with Invisible Illness know it, visiting the Second Home!
Well, with my urine the color of aged apple cider and two weeks until I could see my GI I had one choice... a trip to the ER for an IV of saline to help me hold on just a little longer.
I was supposed to go yesterday, but I fell asleep and my husband could not wake me so he let me sleep and by the time I woke I had just 3 minutes until midnight to get yesterday's blog done (explaining the very short blog entry) and my husband was asleep and he stays groggy when woken from a sleep... not a good person to do the driving.
So, we went today... and I met (or witnessed) some interesting people in the ER waiting room. I had plenty of time for people watching and chatting (was in the waiting room for over 3 hours since they were so busy).
Person number one- the book snob.
I had my husband stop across the street at a discount store and spent a whole $1.25 on a book so I would have something new to read to pass the time (if I could concentrate and just in case of an admission). I have a tried and true way of keeping from getting admitted... prepare to be admitted and it will not happen so the purchase was necessary to make sure that I could go home.
I was sitting there with my book open but not reading it (the words were swimming) and a woman a few seats away decided to tell me the names of all of the Authors that I should be reading instead of the cheap romance novel I had in my hand. She reeled off names I know well and compared writers and writing styles with great animation and conviction, then told me how to get books from the Library (yes, I know how to do that) and seemed insistent that I read from her pool of Authors. It was quite nice when she was called back.
Person two- Happy Harry the Hippie.
He walked (or rather staggered) in with the assistance of Paramedics and when seated raised both hands over his head, fingers locked in a Nixon style Victory sign. He was obviously an original Hippie (maybe even wearing the same clothes he did then) and drunk as a skunk on a Saturday night... at one on a Friday afternoon! His story (which he shared with the room) was that he was riding his bicycle down the road and next thing he knew he was in the ditch and there were fire trucks and police and ambulances all over the place. He had no clue how he ended up in the ditch.
These were my memorable people of the day.
Another memorable thing is that my past work at raising Awareness at this ER has paid off in spades (to a point)... because not one person asked me "what is Gastroparesis?". They knew exactly what to do for me once I got back... with a few tiny exceptions.
I made it very plain that I needed Benedryl the moment the IV was put in because I am allergic to adhesives, so the tape would cause an immediate reaction... but it took 30 minutes before I got the Benedryl and by then my arm was red and itching like mad.
The second snafu was that they just did not grasp that it is not nausea that is preventing my getting liquids in but the fact that liquids are just not getting out of my stomach when I drink, so getting hydrated by drinking is a major issue. I say this because part of my instructions for going home was to use the Phenegren suppositories for nausea so I could drink and eat more without nausea interfering. That and to 'come back if it does not improve... sigh
Still, I consider today a provisional win... they know Gastroparesis now and for those that come after me this means that they will be met with a better responsive team who will not try to talk them out of their condition but will instead treat them.
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