Adventures in Hospitalization

The ordeal started on Friday, Aug 23rd. That night we went to dinner and a concert in SF. During both I noticed I was having a slight difficulty taking really deep breaths - rather I was having pain while breathing. I thought I had just strained some muscles in my back. We went to bed and a few hours later I woke up in extreme pain and John gave me some aspirin and I managed to get into a comfortable position and went back to sleep. I was very sedate most of the day on Sunday and felt ok, although in some pain all of the day. Sunday night I took a shower before bed and while trying to get to sleep the pain became shooting and I could not breath in more than short gasps.

John took me to the emergency room where they gave me some pain medication, oxygen and told me that they suspected that I had a blood clot or pneumonia. They came in to give me an IV and were not doing a very good job of it and I passed out. I have never passed out before and I found it to be quite a unique experience. I thought I was dreaming and then I woke up and did not know where I was and who the woman was standing over me. She changed hands and eventually got the IV started and then John came into sit with me. They gave me some pain medication which made me sick to my stomach. So I was not in very good shape. They sent me down to Xray but since I could not take deep breaths it was hard for them to get good Xrays. The on call doctor for the doctor's office I use came in and took a look at me and said they would need some more tests before they could be sure regarding the diagnosis.

They kept me in the emergency room until 9am when they found me a room. Transport showed up and rolled me up to the room until they could find the people to come in and run the slew of tests which the doctor had requested. John went home once I was safe in my room. I slept since I had been up for over 24hrs at this point. The rounds of tests started a little before noon when they rolled me down to the Nuclear medicine lab. Here I got to breath in Nuclear particles while they took pictures of my lungs. The only problem with that is the fact that there was some resistance while breathing and I did not like that. Then they injected me with some more radioactive particles and they took some more pictures.

After we were done the transport people came and picked me up and rolled me to the Ultrasound Dpt. There they Ultrasounded my legs to look for blood clots. It was pretty interesting to watch the blood zoom by but it tickled. From there I was on to the Xray dpt. I was in less pain by this time (for no apparent reason) and was able to take nice deep breaths for the Xrays. After that they dumped me back in my room and bought me some lunch since the tray they had sent up earlier had somehow disappeared. I had no appetite but I nibbled and waited for John to stop back and see me. No one showed up to talk to me about my tests that afternoon. I called Laurel to let her know I was in the hospital and talked to her for a while. My friend Nicole also called me and chatted for a while. Later John stopped by and we read together until Nicole and Steve stopped by with flowers and a magazine! John stayed until the visiting hours were over then headed home. Some time later they came in and ran a cardiogram which was interesting although the firmness of the probe hurt my ribs. I slept fitfully most of the night with the nurses coming in every 4 hours to take vital signs.

In the morning John stopped back and then went to work. I waited around reading and fretting until Dr. #2 came in and told me that I did not have any of the a fore mentioned things and I could go home today. He said I had a kidney infection (which fit the symptoms). I was happy and called John to let him know. Dr Chang went off to look at the test results and called me later and told me I had pneumonia for sure and they would keep me another night for monitoring. I was crushed. I called John who had told everyone that I would be coming home. It was very depressing. Later in the afternoon the woman in the room next to me started howling - which she did all night long. Patrick called during the day and I talked to Laurel and Mom a couple times. John and Justin stopped by that night and I had another night of minimum sleep.

Dr. #3 came in at 5:30 on Tuesday morning and said I could go home and that I should have no trouble travelling. He did not provide activity guidance other than to take it easy. I called John at a decent hour and told him I would be able to leave by 8:30-9:00. They came in and took the IV out, which bled for a long time, gave me my papers and I was out. John came and picked me up and I went home and slept.

I was only in marginal pain at that time but I was really tired. I lounged most of the day then tried to go to bed. Sitting in the dark it felt like I could not breath and my heart rate was racing. I stayed up most the night finally crawling into bed at 500 when the sun was up. I was able to go to sleep. On Thursday we were off to NY, taking the red eye to Boston and then a commuter to Ottawa. The trip was really tiring and the stop over in Boston was very long. We rented a car in Ottawa so the folks would not have to make double trips to Canada. We arrived safe and sound in Potsdam, got rooms at the Clarkson Inn (for the air conditioning) and went to sleep. We woke up for dinner then were back to bed. I felt pretty good for the first couple of days and we went up to Higley so Tony could jet ski around. Laurel and Tony wanted me to see the very nice sandstone wall that Tony built and we waded in the water for a while. I carried the baby around a bit and then we headed back. That night my back started to hurt and the next day the pain was pretty bad. John left on Tuesday and I was not much fun for the rest of the vacation. Laurel took me to the doctors and I had more x-rays which were clean and I took Tylenol. We played scrabble several times and that was fun. I got to go shopping out at Marilyn's and bought a bunch of Muffy Vanderbears. I like the very velvet ones and the Christmas ones. The rest are just too cutsie.

By the day I left I was feeling pretty good although I can feel the tightness in my back. The trip home was cake and I was happy to be back in my own bed. I worked from home the day after and then was back to work.