Deja Vu All Over Again

Much to my dismay, my adventures at Sutter General were not over after my May 12 visit.  On Tuesday morning I woke up feeling fine, and within an hour I was sinking quickly.  I called my friend Lori to ask if she could take me into the ER.  Good thing, too, because by the time we arrived, I could barely walk and function at all.  Same scenario:  critically low blood pressure, dehydrated to the extreme, at blood sugars over 400.  I spent 10 hours in the ER getting every test imaginable, telling the same story over and over and over again.  Liters and liters of fluids pumped into me (meant liters and liters coming out through the foley as well).  Lori was - oh gosh, how can I put it - the greatest freakin' supportive woman on the planet earth. If not the universe and beyond.

Still no diagnosis, but a lot of theories and each one a little more scary that the last.  They transferred me to ICU for the night, and then yesterday transferred me to a regular bed after they were sure I was stabilized.

Sunrise over Sutter Hospital

I must have been stable, because I was bored out of my mind, so I took pictures and played with my Photoforge2 editing program.  With the foley removed, I was free to move about, which was a good thing.  I had a roomie who kept the t.v. on all bloody night, watching every white-trash-red-neck television show that that she could find.  There are, apparently,  a lot of them in the wee hours.  I tried headphones, earplugs, self-hypnosis, walking around the corridors, and finally, at 3 am I called for an ambien.  That did the trick.

New Rules for Hospitals with shared rooms:  ALL TVs AND LIGHTS OUT AT MIDNIGHT.

There was also the woman across the hall who screamed all night, and all day today.  Later in the day they brought in a new patient, a man who croaked out obscenities and was calling to the poor screaming woman, "I'm coming darling! Don't you fret! Cough! Hack! Wheeze!"  Which made the screaming woman just scream all the more.

Why can't all patients be as well-behaved as I?  I asked myself, "Am I in an insane asylum or a general hospital?"  Really!  Don't these people know that sick people need peace and quiet?!

Still no diagnosis.  I'm convinced I had an infection somewhere, as I was running a fever in addition to the other symptoms.  When you have diabetes, unexplained high blood sugars are usually a result of infection.  Just because they couldn't find one, doesn't mean I didn't have one.  They loaded me up with IV antibiotics to appease me.

CrackFacebook was my constant companion after I was finished being critical.  Important to keep the kids entertained, don't you know?  It kept my spirits up, anyway, and I figured all the good thoughts and prayers were helping in their mysterious way.

Now I am, thankfully, home again, in my own bed.  Exhausted.  I've tried to sleep but it eludes me.  I'll try again.  I thought maybe banging out this story would get it out of my head.

I am pleading with the universe (which hears me not) to make this the last time this happens.  It is a medical mystery which I can add to my long list of personal medical mysteries.  It makes for an amusing story -- the first time you hear it.  After 10 times, not so much.

Here's to your health!