(5.23)--May Hospital Stay

The story begins on MONDAY, May 23rd...

It was a long night for me since I woke up at 3, 5, and 6 with abdominal pain, abdominal distention, and bleeding. At the 6:00 a.m. trip to the bathroom, I woke my dear Ace and told him I was not feeling well, and that maybe I needed to go to the emergency room. My thoughtful husband said, if you can wait one more hour, you can just call your doctor. So I waited for the clock to turn 7:30 a.m. (Funny side note, I called at exactly 7:28 a.m. with no answer; however, calling at 7:30 a.m. I got an answer...they really mean they start working at 7:30 a.m. on the DOT!) When the nice voice answered, I asked to speak to a nurse so that I could leave my doctor a message...well, the nurses don't get in till 8:30 a.m. So again, I waited another long and hurtful hour. Finally I get to talk to a nurse, so I told them my message. They want to see me at 9:15, it's still 8:30, it takes 45 minutes AT LEAST to get to my appointment. I rush out the door (in my PJ's), thru my crutches in the bed o' the truck, hop in the truck, pop in to drive, and off I go!! I must tell you that I was in lots o' pain and not really thinking very clearly, plus by the time I got into the truck the clock shone 8:54 in bright red.

Now, I was on my way!! It was at this point, I was so concerned with my health, my concern for safety flew right out the window. As I sawl the tops o' both my crutches from my driver's side mirror, I realized they probably were not down far enough in the bed and might go flying. A commercial came on over the radio, so I changed the dial so I could listen to some MUSIC....finally, music!! Keeping my mind off the pain, I started to sing, musical notes blending so perfect...and anybody who has ever sang a song with me, knows my talent for lyrics!! Just then I noticed that there was no longer two crutch pads visible. I knew I needed to stop the truck, turn around, and see if I could locate this crutch...again being pressed for time, I had to continue looking thru the rear viewed mirror to see if I could see anything that looked like it didn't belong.

Once I got on the main interstate, I confess I was flat out speeding...as far as how much over? I will leave that to the imagination. In my imagination, I was trying to figure I could use the one crutch left, make it a wee bit shorter, and it could be used quite effectively as a cane. Quite proud o' my ingenious plan, I admired the crutch thru the mirror. Then right in front o' my eyes, I watched the crutch get raised up and then is disappeared...I quickly blinked, then watched for traffic to swerve out o' the way or make any sort o' sudden move...nothing! At this point, it was 9:15 and there was still quite a few more miles to go, so all I could do was drive at an alarmingly faster rate o' speed. At 9:24 when I pulled the truck in I hobbled around the back o' the truck only to see that both crutches had fallen on top o' each other safe and sound in the bed o' the truck; however, I couldn't reach them, so in the truck bed would they stay until some knight in shining armor would come to my rescue.

Admitting me into the hospital on a 23 hour observation was how long my PA/MD predicted they needed to solve my case and send me home cured. Obviously, you could tell my normal MD was out o' the office!

Doctor's decided to do a direct admit, with which they added that I was not allowed to drive myself to the hospital. Has anybody ever heard o' this before? Cause this is the first time I'd ever had to get a ride. So my knight in shining armor's name was Erica Stephens. I called her to see if she would be willing to drive me to the hospital!! PTL...she was willing!! (: It was great to catch up with her, she was even willing to stay till I was settled in...IV...MED's and all!! What a great friend she is!! (:

My knight in shining armor...Erica!! (:

I had to get a list o' things together for what I would need during my wonderful vacation at Altoona Hospital. The plan was to send an email thru my phone to my wonderful hubby, Ace, so he could pack me a hospital bag. Now normally there is a hospital already packed and ready to go...it's very similar to how a pregnant mother has her bags packed for when her water breaks and she has to grab the bag quickly and go to the hospital. Same thing...normally I bring it with me to my doctor's appointments because my sense o' when doctor's will admit me is usually pretty good; however, I was off and didn't have the bag with me.
Erica helped me with the list...Here it is:

She then typed it all out and sent it to Ace.

...because I had to drink this disgusting drink!

Ugh...it says it's berry flavored...but it is NOT!

The CT scan showed intestinal thickening and a stricture. Indicating that my Crohn's was indeed flared up and there was a stricture present. Oh joy, oh happiness! They would set up a surgery consult and with the colorectal surgeon and we would discuss options...options being a possible surgery.


Erica's boo-boo...Poor Erica... ):

I'm so lucky to have a great friend like Erica!

Well, you can see my silly face great...

There we go...much better...we're silly! (:

The first IV blue within hours...

It was rather painful...

The 2nd IV blew Monday Evening!

Somebody really need to hook me up with some veins.

By morning, the 3rd IV had blown...

This made my quite sad...

It made me want to cry...

It did make me happy to get a nice bruise!! (:

It was so swollen and sore...*sniff...sniff*

THEN, I got a new roomie...
a psycho-roomie!

My Psycho Roomie (Whom shall be called, Beth)

Every morning the nurses stop into my room to give me my morning pills. This particular morning the nurse informed me that I would be getting a roommate! I have a very hard time adjusting to change and having a roommate definitely is pushing my "change" button. So this is where the story begins. My roommate was brought to my room (notice I said MY room!!) on a gurney and she was mumbling words; however, she was still under the anesthesia so words were impossible to make out. Behind Beth was her concerned husband. When they wanted to talk to each other they screamed as if they were in different states! It was terrible. I swear that Beth's eardrums were punctured during this nose surgery! Making matters worse, I started to get a headache, which didn't help! When Beth finally came to, she wet her bed and got really upset about it. A few minutes later that Beth's daughters came in to visit her. Want a mental picture o' them...super freakie!! I'd call them freakie and freakier!! They also talked super loud to her and they fought between each other. You see they were stepsisters so they fought and yelled at each other...and again they talked to each other like they were on separate sides o' the globe! Also realize that our beds were separated by a shower curtain, so it wasn't really a sound-proof barrier, so I heard everything. Finally they were into a conversation...Beth started to cough. Then she started dry heaving...then finally she threw up...then the pandemonium broke out...The one girl let out a blood curdling scream and ran out o' the room, down the hall, and towards the nurses' station. The other daughter ran to her mother's side hugging her in her arms and screaming, "Mom you can't die on my now! I love you. Don't worry about not finishing the will. I love you so much!!" Beth started screaming and crying. With panic in her voice she began to yell, "I'm going to die. I haven't even finished the will. I'm so sorry. Ahhh...help me!!!" Now, I'm going to panic if something drastic happens, but she was throwing up blood, which is not uncommon for someone that had just had surgery. It definitely is scary to see that much blood, but it's normal. No need to flip out! Haha... finally the nurses came and got everything cleaned up, they told her it was normal...scary, but normal. So that was my first hour with my new roommate! Then right after that, she coughed and apparently wet the bed...then she started crying...and then the crying turned to screaming...uhg...no wonder I have a headache!! Forget the pain medicine for my belly/Crohn's...I need something for my headache-turned Migraine!!

Finally they get her to relax, the children leave and she is by herself over there. Things went ok for the most part until it was night, and we were to go to bed. Next thing I know there is the loudest snoring I've ever heard!! Heaven help me!! Even when she's asleep she's still giving me a headache! What a crazy time...

Every time that I'm in the hospital, they always measure intake and output (what you drink/what's thru the IV and what you pee). What the normal patient does is pee in the pee-hat, leave it in the bathroom till the nurse comes back and she measures it, dumps it in the toilet, flushes it down the toilet, then finally recording it in the chart. However, you never know when the nurse will be in, it could be a very long time. Well, I hate to have pee just sitting there in a hat. So I pee, measure it, dump it, flush it, wash my hands, open the door with a paper towel, record the time and amount on my pee chart! The nurses love it cause they can just record everything from their shift; I love it cause my bathroom is CLEAN!! Well, when you get a roommate things get a li'l bit more complicated...they don't understand my pee-chart and they just pee and leave it in the hat sitting on the toilet. Then when I go into the bathroom, there is somebody else's pee sitting there...I literally have to pick it up and set it gently on the floor, careful not to spill any roomie's pee on me or anywhere else! Ugh...my one roomie would fill the pee-hat up too the very tippy top and then leave it there for me to move when I had to pee!! Gotta love roommates, right?

All that to say...here is my pee-chart!

VISITORS!!!
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Joyce and Adam Brubaker

Joyce really wanted to press the nurse button...

Joyce was very sad to see me in the hospital...

Because I was tired, she tried to wake me up...

Yes, those are my hands on Joyce's face! (:

Joyce had to check her facebook!! (:

See Joyce's face...it's from facebook
Your face will just start to disappear

I absolutely LOVE this picture o' us!!
(Well, love this picture o' Joyce!)

Joyce loves her picture taken...see?

Adam came along too...(:

Poor Adam, don't think he liked his picture taken!

They brought me a balloon and a red rose! (:

Adam bought me some presents!! I was ELATED!!

Then we made faces in the balloon...

We were quite silly!! (:

See all those li'l barnacle-looking bumps...?
What ARE they?

Whoops...one fell off!! ):

The barnacle bumps and Adam in the background.

One morning when I woke up, the water was BROWN!

The CCA Senior Class stopped by to visit me since they were already in Altoona for lunch. It was very nice to have visitors. How sweet o' them to stop by and visit me!! (: So o' course I had to take some pictures...

Back Row: Alyse Kilian, Ben Straight, Johnny Coleman, Ben Flaig

Front Row: Lexi, Me, Coryna
CCA Class o' 2011 (and me too)...

This was the first attempted silly picture...

This one's much better...

Erin's pretty nails I did for her...
Shamrock..............................Soccer Girl

She was happy with how they turned out!!

Kinda silly face?

Thanks for stopping by, Erin...had a blast!

Gram stopped by and got to see Gage...(and me too).

Baby's make me feel better...
.........maybe I should get one?

Hannah got a pedicure...

I painted Gage's face too...since he fell asleep.

The finished product...YAY!! (:

That's right...I drew them on drugs... (:

Me and Hannah...we are so darn cute!

Not sure what face this is...

Winking...

Silly faces...

Jasmine, Me, and Nurse Kelly.

Jesse was going to give me some o' his hair! (:

Me and sweet sweet Jasmine.

Love this picture...my favorite!

Nathan stopped by for a visit!!
YAY NATHAN!!

Big stinky feet and my cute li'l yellow slippers.

Haha...Nathan trying to take a picture o' us...a li'l off?

There we go...he got both o' us in the picture!!

It was so nice to have Bobbi Jo stop by unexpectedly!


Jesse and Me...Love this guy!!

This girl is soo sweet!! (:

We made cards for all o' my nurses! (:

My Nurse, Bekah!
We hadn't seen each other in so long we had to catch up.

Dear Kelly...she was such a great nurse!

My favorite nurses! (: YAY!!

Haha...love the silly faces...Bekah's is the best!

More throwing up...UGH!!

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Johnny & Lindsay Stopped by for a visit!

Johnny happy to see his sister!

Johnny and Lindsay road the bike up to visit me. When they were getting off the bike, Johnny went to get something out o' his backpack when Lindsay's cousin's pottery thing fell to the ground and broke! So he was pretty upset about it.

Johnny being sad...

It was then time to go home. After all was said and done, I had a Crohn's flair...a stricture that was surgically repaired...as far as all the vomit, they were pretty sure it was due to all the antibiotics I was taking. Although, after the stricture surgery, I was still not feeling well and still throwing up. My doctor gave me a shot o' solu-medrol (type o' steroid/prednisone) in the evening. At 6 a.m. the next morning, they took some blood to test my cortisol level. My cortisol level was 2.2 (normal is 6-38), so this indicated an adrenal insufficiency. At discharge, I'm to take prednisone 10 mgs every day until I can see an endocrinologist who will better regulate my issues. I also have an appointment in June with my Crohn's specialist in Pittsburgh, so it'll be good to hear what advise that he has to give me. So.....we will see!! (:

THE END!!!