A Very Long Saturday at the hospital...

This went with us everywhere we went on Saturday. Where did we go? Not my daughter's previously scheduled doctor appointment. I had to cancel at the last minute to take Anastasia to her former doctor in Naperville. Let me tell you, you walk around with someone carrying a medium size mixing bowl (red no less) and people will open doors for you and they will JUMP, they will run to help you!

Anastasia has been sick for the last week, was given antibiotics on Monday, had an allergic reaction and had to stop the new medication that was supposed to help her acid reflux because the doctor wasn't sure if she may also be allergic to that. So she suffered for days, spending time in the bathroom and hugging the red bowl at the same time. (There's not much worse that that.) She spent Thursday and Friday using that red bowl every 2-3 hours. Even plain water and ice chips made her ill.

So off to the doctor, with our daughter in tow. Anastasia was immediately escorted to an exam room upon arriving with the red bowl in hand. Anastasia was seen briefly by her doc's associate, only to find out that he couldn't give her an anti-nausea shot because she could have an intestinal blockage. He sent her to the ER.

On to the hospital in Naperville, red bowl still in hand, the ladies at the ER desk literally ran to get her a wheel chair and whisked her off to an exam room. (Note to self: carrying a red bowl really does open doors and gets you the red carpet treatment.)

Every nurse and doc who came in saw her clutching that red bowl. They knew they needed to act quickly. They drew blood and started an IV drip. About 2 hours after arriving they gave Anastasia a nasty drink about the size of a large sports bottle. It was for contrast for a CT scan. She said it smelled like chlorinated pool water and tasted worse. An hour later the scan.

Our daughter and I went down to the cafeteria while Anastasia awaited her scan. When we returned there were 2 policeman outside Anastasia's room. When I walked in I asked Anastasia what were the charges? She laughed. She said the patient across the hall had a hissy fit because the nurses took her purse. We were then treated to screams of "you can't take my purse! That's Grand Larceny!"

It was nerve wracking waiting and I kept trying to lighten things up because I could see our daughter exhibiting signs that she was stressing. Anastasia started hamming it up with the red bowl, first on her head, Colonel Klink (I zeeeee nozhing!) Devo! (Whip It!) then on the girls (look bulletproof single holstered bra!) then like a top hat and I started singing "New York New York" (very off key) and told the story about how before last Halloween there was a guy at Meijer with his 2 boys trying to teach them the song and the moves in the Halloween aisle with top hats and canes. (Yes, I swear it's true!) Then every time Anastasia felt nauseous, she put her finger to her lips, so I kept mocking her. It made for some good laughs and broke the tension.

Then the word...no obstruction (thank God! that means probably no surgery), but a lot of inflammation in her small bowel. They finally gave her an anti-nausea shot and we had to wait for a room.

While we waited I had to periodically run for the nurse because she shared a bathroom with the patient next door and that patient rudely kept leaving it locked. (WTF? It's an ER, what kind of germs are lurking in that bathroom and you have to share with another patient? What are they thinking?) We were also treated to the patient next door's bathroom sounds and her constant cries for assistance (I need hellllp! I'm bleeding outttt! Help meeeeeee!).

It took over 2 hours to get a room, and it was funny because when transport came and saw the red bowl, she could not get Anastasia up to her room fast enough. We got up there and suddenly I had flashbacks from 5 years ago when Anastasia had an emergency bowel re-section. I swear she was in the same room. We stayed until they gave Anastasia the good drugs. A shot in her IV and she was all 'wow, psychedelic man' and slurring her words. Finally, pain relief. We watched her have a few sips of her liquid diet and we were off at 8pm. A little over an hour ride to our fair city and we stopped for dinner.

Sunday, hopefully, the Gastroenterologist will visit Anastasia and prescribe IV-antibiotics (ones that she isn't allergic to). She is on Outpatient Observation and will stay 24-48 hours and if need be, she will be admitted. We are hoping it won't come to that and she will get the medication she needs to get this under control and be on her way. I told her to be prepared for Steroids and made Ahhnold jokes. (In the past we've both been on Steroids for colon issues. It's pretty common for severe inflammation.) I told her she'd get Dr. Lola's bill next week.

I'm exhausted, so I'm blogging to try to wind down. (That and some Seagrams Whiskey on the rocks, because there isn't a damn mixer in the house. Oh well, I guess I'll relax faster, right?)

Oh, and I'm blogging because I can't call my sister to talk because her husband is having some anxiety issues and has been to the ER twice this week and she can't be bothered to take a flippin minute out of her day to talk to me. And yes, I took several phone calls from her about her issues this past week (even in the midst of Anastasia's issues) and let her cry on my shoulder and gave advice. Anastasia almost died 5 years ago! Only by the grace of God has she been walking around without an ostomy bag for the last 5 years. I had an extremely stressful day, it would have been nice to have been able to call her to have her help calm me down. But then again, my sister has never really been there for me in the past, so "mah nishtana!" (yiddish for: 'why should things be any different?') And guess who kept wanting to talk to me about Anastasia? My ex-husband. Umm, no. I'm not crying on his shoulder, we are not friends (like he thinks we are), and I am not discussing any of this with him. Grrrrrrrrr!

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