icnmgrjill
08-24-2006, 08:58 AM
8/25 update! He's home. We brought him home last night! See my post below for what happened. Thanks to everyone for their prayers and good wishes! - Jill
We've had a rough week here at the ICN. Just as the lecture was ending on Tuesday night (which was great, btw)... I had an emergency call from my father who asked that I come home immediately to take him to the ER. Had been suffering for several days with what I thought was gastritis from a bout of food poisoning last week. He, however, thought that his bowel had become blocked.
Drove home like mad got there about 8:15 PM and we were on our way to ER by 8:30PM. He looked fine... color good... but his belly was really bloated outwards. At the ER, the first thing they said was that it would be atleast 3 hours before a doctor could see him. I'm thinking.... hello.... 83 year old man with a pacemaker/defrib that the same hospital had done surgery on four months earlier.
They got him into a room by 9:30PM... had a catscan by 10:30... and by 12:30... the doctor on call finally arrived and announced that they thought that it was blocked and that he needed a surgery consult. They kept him overnight.... and I was finally able to get my mother home (she's also not in the best of health) by 2AM... and to bed.
Yesterday, we were numb. Thinking cancer, the worst thoughts. The surgeon didn't come by and talk to dad until about 5Pm... and announced that he thought that it wasn't a blockage... but gastroenteriitis.
Went and saw Dad twice yesterday. If you knew him, you'd know that he is very predictable when he's in the hospital. #1 he flirts with all the nurses and they love him for that. #2... he likes to play dead with family members visiting... but, well, we're on to him.
This morning, they've started him on soft foods and if he tolerates them, he'll be home. If he doesn't, they'll probably do a colonoscopy.
So, in any case, I'm not in the office... taking care of mom instead and myself too. Thank goodness I took an anxiety management class... that's what got me through the day without having a total meltdown. Lots of deep breathing and thinking "i am not god, I can't predict the future" whenever I had those dark cancer thoughts.
Couple of things.
(1) Why are emergency rooms so uncomfortable?? If they expect you to sit for several hours, you'd think that the chairs would be padded. Right?? Sitting was so difficult for someone with PFD and I finally had to ask if they would let me into the cafeteria to sit on the benches there. Was escorted by a security guard with a pass because it was after 10Pm
(2) Why is the AC on after dark??? We're having October weather here ... and for the past few weeks it's been down in the 30s/40s at night with a heavy, icy fog. I was wearing summer clothes... sandals... no socks. By the end of the night I was wearing four sweaters and still shivering like mad.
Wish us luck!
Jill
We've had a rough week here at the ICN. Just as the lecture was ending on Tuesday night (which was great, btw)... I had an emergency call from my father who asked that I come home immediately to take him to the ER. Had been suffering for several days with what I thought was gastritis from a bout of food poisoning last week. He, however, thought that his bowel had become blocked.
Drove home like mad got there about 8:15 PM and we were on our way to ER by 8:30PM. He looked fine... color good... but his belly was really bloated outwards. At the ER, the first thing they said was that it would be atleast 3 hours before a doctor could see him. I'm thinking.... hello.... 83 year old man with a pacemaker/defrib that the same hospital had done surgery on four months earlier.
They got him into a room by 9:30PM... had a catscan by 10:30... and by 12:30... the doctor on call finally arrived and announced that they thought that it was blocked and that he needed a surgery consult. They kept him overnight.... and I was finally able to get my mother home (she's also not in the best of health) by 2AM... and to bed.
Yesterday, we were numb. Thinking cancer, the worst thoughts. The surgeon didn't come by and talk to dad until about 5Pm... and announced that he thought that it wasn't a blockage... but gastroenteriitis.
Went and saw Dad twice yesterday. If you knew him, you'd know that he is very predictable when he's in the hospital. #1 he flirts with all the nurses and they love him for that. #2... he likes to play dead with family members visiting... but, well, we're on to him.
This morning, they've started him on soft foods and if he tolerates them, he'll be home. If he doesn't, they'll probably do a colonoscopy.
So, in any case, I'm not in the office... taking care of mom instead and myself too. Thank goodness I took an anxiety management class... that's what got me through the day without having a total meltdown. Lots of deep breathing and thinking "i am not god, I can't predict the future" whenever I had those dark cancer thoughts.
Couple of things.
(1) Why are emergency rooms so uncomfortable?? If they expect you to sit for several hours, you'd think that the chairs would be padded. Right?? Sitting was so difficult for someone with PFD and I finally had to ask if they would let me into the cafeteria to sit on the benches there. Was escorted by a security guard with a pass because it was after 10Pm
(2) Why is the AC on after dark??? We're having October weather here ... and for the past few weeks it's been down in the 30s/40s at night with a heavy, icy fog. I was wearing summer clothes... sandals... no socks. By the end of the night I was wearing four sweaters and still shivering like mad.
Wish us luck!
Jill