The E. R. Is No Place To Spend a Sunday 5
Or any other day, for that matter.
But at 6:00 on a Sunday morning, you do get quick service. All the knifings and shootings are taken care of, and the lawn mower and leaf blower accidents haven’t started yet.
My girlfriend developed a nosebleed early this morning. To stop it, the doctor had to inflate a balloon in her nose (think: abscessed tooth pain levels).
She will remain in the hospital until the device can be removed, at least one night, possibly two.
November 4, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Very eerie post, Frank.
Last year, my girlfriend’s father had an uncontrollable nose bleed, had the balloon treatment but was in the hospital several weeks if I recall correctly.
Sadly, it happened again tonight and he had to be taken by ambulance and I just got word he’s being admitted to ICU because they can’t get the bleeding to stop.
Even worse, we were in the ER this morning from about 2 – @ 7am down at CHOP because Elliott had a high fever from what looks like residual ear infection that he had just undergone Amoxicillin treatment for.
Now he’s on Augmentin so hopefully this will clear up real fast. It also means lots of smelly dirty diapers since Augmentin causes diarrhea.
But man, our stay was not quick by any stretch of the imagination. And to top it all off, I left at 6:30 because I had to be at work at 7am. And mind you, he didn’t really sleep a wink last night which meant we didn’t sleep a wink either.
I only worked until around 1 but I still haven’t really gotten any sleep so you can imagine how I’m feeling right now.
Best wishes for yours and hopefully she’ll be out soon and won’t ever have to go through this again.
November 5, 2007 at 2:05 pm
My younger daughter had nosebleed problems when she was little, and someone told me there was laser cauterizing surgery available for the problem. But when I mentioned it at the office, a friend asked me how old Sarah was, (I think she was about 6 at the time,) and he said dryly, “Well my 18 year old son is an all-state wrestler and when he had that laser surgery done on his nose membrane he only cried for half an hour.” We skipped the idea.
November 5, 2007 at 4:56 pm
They have finally got her pain meds adjusted, so she’s in much better spirits today. The doctor told her that that nose balloon is one of the most painful “treatments” medicine has to offer.
The doctor is going to evaluate her nose tomorrow. Cauterization may be an option if the balloon didn’t fly.
Her blood pressure has been swinging wildly over the last couple of months, from high to law and then back to high again. I hope that they figure out the right BP drug regimen as a side effect of all this.
The lady they brought into the other side of the room last night has a feeding tube, catheters, and all kinds of stuff wired up to her. She’s not supposed to get up–if she gets up, an alarm goes off.
She’s so out of it she keeps trying to get up and the alarm keeps going off. And, as ancilliary damage, she disconnects herself from some of the tubes.
As the nurse was fixing her up (for the third time this shift), I observed to my girlfriend that it’s surprising health care workers don’t go postal more often than they do.
(Aside to Phillybits) I remember the Augmentin days. It’s amazing how high their fevers can get, ain’t it?
I hope Elliot’s a lot better today than yesterday and that you got some sleep. I know yesterday I was pretty zonked–sat up late talking politics with Raymond Krauss and then had to get up early to go to the ER.
Now, we were in the ER for 5 hours before she got a room, but the treatment was quick–she was in a treatment room before I parked the truck and a doctor was there minutes after I got inside. (Then again, she was actively bleeding, but there was no one in the waiting room at all when we arrived.)
I was visiting some friends once down home (haven’t seen them for a while because I haven’t been staying over down there). They were talking about the travails of their kids–teenagers at the time–and the husband looked at the wife and said with great feeling, “God, I’m ready for the empty nest!”
There’s a BAC V-Line cooling tower on top of the building.
November 6, 2007 at 7:34 am
I hope Linda is doing better. A lady from church is having the same issues with her nose as well.
I too remember the Augmentin days. But with Joe is was pneumonia. 4 times. The highest his temp ever got was 106, & we were in the emergency room at the time. A shot & sitting in a sink in the exam room having lukewarm water put on his head & his lap, until the fever broke. It’s a wonder he survived it. I thought for sure he would have a residual problem from it, but he didn’t.
Between Chris & Joe, I’ve seen pneumonia 7 or 8 times. I never want to see it again.
November 6, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Thanks for all of your well wishes. I am home now. The hospital did a wonderful job of controlling my blood pressure in 3 days, when my doctor, soon to be ex, could not control it in 2 years. They have said over and over again, the body is a wonderful machine. If my nose had not bled out like it did, I probably was headed towards a stroke. The procedure was painful, device going both in and out, but it worked. My face is overly swollen, but it should go down soon. Other than that and the pain in my nose I feel fine. Thanks again