Staying in the hospital sucks

[mamabear]

So I was admitted into the hospital last night for gallstones. I had some blocking my ducts and more built up in the gallbladder itself. Today they flushed out the ducts, and tomorrow they plan to remove the gallbladder all together. At least it's not COVID. But staying in the hospital for two days is miserable either way. Especially since due to COVID I can only have one visitor a day, but I have 3 kids and a husband...none of which I got to see today because I used my one visitor on a nearby friend who brought me charging cable so I could continue to stay in touch. My husband would have brought it, but since he couldn't bring the kids in, it was a lot harder for him to do. Anyway. I'm hoping I get discharged tomorrow!

[Shane]

Sorry to hear that, mamabear. I had my gallbladder removed in 2005. Keyhole surgery, much better than the old method. Was only in hospital for a day. Wishing you smooth sailing.

[Joyce]

Feel better!

[Scott]

I hope everything went well and that you're doing okay!

[mamabear]

Well they ended up postponing the surgery to Monday, because I aspirated some fluid during the other procedure and they wanted to wait until that cleared up before putting me under again. But it got done and I'm back home as of yesterday. Still sore, but definitely feeling better than before I went in.

[Stormwatcher]

Glad you're feeling better!

[Scott]

I'm sorry you went though all that, but I'm glad you're feeling better!

[Shane]

Good to hear you're on the mend.

[mamabear]

Yeah, me too. I'm healing well and perfectly capable of returning to my job. Too bad they fired me for having emergency surgery. 🤷‍♀️

[Stormwatcher]

They- wait, WHAT?! Can you pursue that as unlawful termination? :growling:

[mamabear]

Jun 27, 2020 23:57:21 GMT Stormwatcher said:

They- wait, WHAT?! Can you pursue that as unlawful termination? :growling:

Possibly. They've done a whole slew of shady things to me over the last year and half or so; including discriminating against me based on pregnancy/maternity leave and trying to force me to quit so they could legally get rid of me and not have to pay unemployment. Their ploy wasn't working, so I think they just figured they'd go ahead and fire me anyway, damn the consequences.
Unfortunately, I don't really have solid enough evidence of the discrimination to pursue legal action. But maybe with hospital records, I can at least get them on that. It won't be easy, both the owners are lawyers. But I can at least consult a lawyer and find out if it's worth pursuing.

[Stormwatcher]

Awful people- I hope you can hand them at least some of what's coming to them for such behavior.

[mamabear]

Well I'm waiting to hear back from the attorney. Don't have much to report yet.

[Stormwatcher]

My turn: I ended up in the ER this weekend with a kidney stone. (I firmly believe the word 'excruciating' was invented to describe the process of passing a kidney stone.) Another symptom of kidney stones is vomiting, which makes keeping much of anything down very trying. The first place I went gave me an anti-nausea dissolve-under-the-tongue prescription, which I managed to keep down for almost two minutes.

So I ended up in the hospital Friday night with an IV, got CT scanned (4mm stone on the left side)- and since the IV Advil wasn't quite doing the job, they gave me a dose of morphine. That was a lot like getting hit by a train. Once my pain was 'managed', they sent me home, about 1:30 am, with more prescriptions, a very fuzzy head, and no filter whatsoever. At one point, I was trying to say that the radiologists were 'interpreting' the scan but it came out as, 'So they took the scans and now they're doing the interpretive dance.'

I did manage to keep my Advils and some food down through Saturday, but Sunday night... that was when I discovered that opiods, like morphine, cause constipation. There's a certain synchronicity there; I mean, one exit's already messed up, why not muddle up the other as well, just for .....whatever. Then, since we were completely obsessed with my lower abdomen at that point, Mother Nature decided it was time to go triple whammy and unleash the Time of Month. At some point in all that messy agony the wretched stone came out, and I spent Monday and Tuesday at home, absolutely reveling in the absence of pain. I went back to work today feeling a bit fragile, but functional.

Public Service Announcement: DON'T GET KIDNEY STONES! They bleeping HURT. Drink lots of water and spend a few minutes of the day with a glass of sugarless lemonade from concentrate; the acid helps break up the crystals that collect in the kidney and prevent the stones from forming. It can also help break down ones that are already formed.

[mamabear]

I can rate to that so much! Gallstones have quite a similar affect! But at least with those you can have the gallbladder removed and not have any more issues with them! I'm sorry you had to go through that...if it makes you feel better, mother nature did the same thing to me while I was in the hospital, as if the stones and the pain weren't enough to deal with! 😆 Glad you feel better now. Isn't it such a wonderful relief when it's over?

[Stormwatcher]

Mother Nature does have a particularly cruel streak at times, and that was definitely one of them. Unfortunately it made catching the stone impossible, so when the pain suddenly muted down to zero, I didn't know whether to trust it or not. I spent Monday kind of tensed and waiting, but it's definitely gone. The hospital scan caught a 1 mm waiting in my other side, though: hence the lemonade treatment and the followups. Not doing that again.

Glad you're feeling better too. It really makes me feel for people who have to manage chronic pain- it's so exhausting!

[mamabear]

It most definitely is exhausting. I thought childbirth was painful and exhausting, but it paled in comparison. At least it didn't last as long! I'm glad you're getting treatment before you have to experience it again!

[Stormwatcher]

I finally got a follow-up appointment with a urologist... via phone. I'm not all too sure how effective that's going to be, but hey.

How goes it with the lawyer?

[mamabear]

You know, I never did hear back. I've been so preoccupied I hadn't realized it until now. I'm not sure if it's been too long to do any good at this point.

[JD]

Goodness, so sorry to hear about what's been going on with you and Mamabear, Stormwatcher!  Glad you're both feeling better and that the issues seem to have settled themselves.  

[mamabear]

Aug 2, 2020 23:06:55 GMT JD said:

Goodness, so sorry to hear about what's been going on with you and Mamabear, Stormwatcher!  Glad you're both feeling better and that the issues seem to have settled themselves.  

Thanks! Now that I'm well again, it's my mom's turn to not be well. I've been taking care of her, which kind of hinders getting a new job...we've been trying to figure out how I can get paid to take care of her. All we've figured out so far is that it is possible, we just don't know how to go about it.

[Stormwatcher]

Thanks, JD!

I hope your mother is well soon, Mamabear. :headshake: 2020 is really being a vicious one, isn't it?

[mamabear]

It sure is! Just a couple weeks ago, my daughter's grandma (my ex's step-mom, who was still family to us) passed away suddenly. We made a last minute trip out for her funeral, which we couldn't afford but my parents and my brother pooled their resources to pay for our trip. The trip was a big mess in and of itself. First of all, I found a decent price on plane tickets, but only if we flew out of a city about 4 hours away. I booked the tickets, but the screen kept jumping around (I was using my phone), and after booking, I realized I had accidentally booked our departure and our return date on the same day. 🤦‍♀️ Well, I called customer service and got that canceled and got rebooked (or so I thought) for an even cheaper price! The only downside was we had to extend our trip by one day (being right at the start of school, I didn't want to be gone too long). But they "conveniently" never issued the tickets (I suspect on purpose), so when I called the next day to find out why I hadn't received my tickets yet, they informed me that not only did the tickets not get issued, but now the price had skyrocketed to 6x what they were before, if I wanted to fly out the day before the funeral. It would only be 5x the price if I flew out the day of, but I would have to stay an entire 6 days before the flight home. The flight would have to be incredibly early in the morning so as to make it in time for the funeral, so we had to be at the airport by 3 am. In a city 4 hours away.
Well, normally it would be 4 hours away. But due to wildfires, the main interstate was closed, so we had to take a detour which would take an extra 3 hours.
So we left about 8 pm the evening before the funeral. We made it to the airport in time, but I was unable to get any rest on the drive, so by that point it had been a 19 hour day for me. Still no time to rest.
Since we were only able to get tickets for me, our daughter, and the baby, my poor husband had to then turn around and drive back home. Fortunately, he had slept all day that day.
Anyway, we found our way through the airport, through security, and to our gate. We had a few minutes left before boarding. It was only about a 2 hour flight, and I still wasn't able to get any rest. By the time we landed, it had been a 25 hour day. After landing, we grabbed some breakfast and let my brother know we landed. We originally were going to stay at his house, but his husband was not feeling well and to be safe had a COVID test done. He hadn't gotten the results back yet, so my brother hired a Lyft for us to take us to his house just to borrow his (freshly sanitized) car. We made arrangements to stay with a friend, and upon picking up the car, we headed that way.
It was about a 1.5 hour drive to her house, and then we had to get around for the funeral. Another 20 minutes to the funeral, and nobody had had time for lunch beforehand, plus it was past baby's nap time and he hadn't slept much during our travels. At this point, it had been a 30 hour day for me. So I can't say I got much out of the service, between my pure exhaustion and a hungry, sleepy, teething baby.
Afterwards, they announced there would be a wake at the park in a town about 20 minutes away. I wanted to go in order to show my support, but I knew I just couldn't. I took the time to speak to each of her kids (except the 6 year old who had already run off to play with a friend) and her husband, and let them know I just simply didn't have the physical capability of making it to the wake. They understood, but I still felt bad.
Somehow, I managed to make it to Taco Bell to grab some lunch, then back to my friend's house. As soon as I was able to get the baby to go back to sleep (he'd slept in the car so it was a little tricky), I crashed. Total awake time: 33 hours. Only napped about an hour though, as my daughter; energized by her car nap, kept complaining of being bored. :-P
But, it helped some anyway. And after dinner and a bit of visiting, then getting the baby to bed, I retired early for the night. We all slept beautifully that night. Either that, or I slept beautifully and was completely oblivious to restless children lol.
The next morning, my brother's husband got his test results back and they were negative. So that afternoon, after they'd had a chance to cleanse the house of whatever germ it was that had him under the weather, we headed over there.
Despite the sorrow, we were able to enjoy some time with them. We went to the beach, we went to the zoo, and we enjoyed some nice relaxing time at his house.
The evening before we were supposed to fly back, my husband was supposed to pick up a rental car to take to pick us up from the airport. However, because the credit card was in my name, they refused to rent him the car. They refused to even talk to me on the phone for verbal authorization. And they treated him rather poorly. So, not knowing how we were going to get the rest of the way home, I didn't sleep well that night.
Our flight the next morning was rather early, but at least it was a couple hours later than the one out. Of course, having not slept, it didn't matter. I was so tired, I knew a one way rental to drive us home myself would be out of the question, and not just because it was too expensive. We landed and it was around lunch time. But I didn't even know how we were going to get home, let alone what to do about lunch. I had been so focused on getting our luggage that I hadn't thought to grab food before exiting the secure area, and there were no options once we exited.
The idea occurred to me to check on prices of train tickets. Since the tracks were on the opposite side of the river from the major fire, the trains were still running. Unfortunately, we'd already missed the train out for that day, and the one for the next day was booked up. So we were looking at a two night stay before we could head home, and I knew we couldn't afford a hotel.
I remembered that a cousin of mine had recently moved to that area, so I messaged his wife and asked if they would happen to have a couch or something we could crash on for a couple nights. Despite having 5 boys, they graciously made room for us and we were saved, at least as far as accommodations went.
We took a Lyft first to the closest drive through, then to their house. We were settling in when my cousin's wife announced that my cousin planned to go to a wedding in a town very near ours, and he was heading out the next day! She had to work and the kids had school, so there was plenty of room for us. I offered to pay his gas, knowing it was cheaper to do that than even buy train tickets.
And so the next day, we set out for (almost) home. Since the town was so near our home, we were more confident in our van's ability to make it there and back, so my husband would be able to pick us up. The drive to the town ended up being about 8 hours since we were going during the day when the diverted traffic was heaviest. And then another 45 minutes to home, but finally, around 11pm, we made it! It was good to be home.
The next day, I went to my parents' house. My mom has not been well (not COVID) and I had been caring for her. We had found people to take over for me while I was gone, but now that I'm back, it's up to me again. I don't mind it, but I worry she won't pull out of it this time. She's never been in good health and has good times and bad times, but this is the longest she's been bad. My brother was concerned enough he finally decided the risk of spreading COVID to her was low enough he should come out and see her, lest he regret not getting to see her for what could be the last time. He hadn't been wanting to take the risk of spreading COVID, especially not to our parents. But my dad pointed out that she was likely going to die regardless and would like to at least see him one last time before she does.
So, he's out here now. He got in on Thursday, one week from the day we left his place. It's nice getting to see him so much for a change, I just wish it were under better circumstances. I can't say I'm ready to lose my mom yet. I'm not really sure what to do without her. But unless some drastic changes happen, I know I need to prepare myself for that possibility. I just don't want to.
Anyway, so that's been my life lately and the reason why I've been absent. Sorry about that, things are just crazy right now. Hope everyone else is doing well!

[Shane]

Sorry to hear about your mom, mamabear. You've had a rough run lately.

[JD]

Very sorry for all your difficulties, Mamabear.  Hope things improve soon.