Have you been wondering where I've been lately???

Well – surprise…I was yet again in the hospital. This time I spent 10 days in hospital. I will tell you briefly what happened.

On a Monday shortly after lunch I started getting excruciating pain in my back and stomach and could hardly talk or walk properly. I couldn’t get a hold of Mark or Ron so I asked my Dad to drive me to the hospital. I was in so much pain and nearly passed out a few times as I was so hot, and then I was so cold and then so hot again. Anyway, once seen by the doctor and blood was taken etc. it was realized that I had acute pancreatitis which was likely caused .by a stone that was left behind from my gallbladder removal surgery.

I was admitted to hospital and spent the next few days on an IV and not even allowed to drink water. For a few days after that I was on a “clear fluid” diet which consisted of vegetable, beef and chicken bouillon accompanied by jello, tea and a popsicle for my breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I will share with you one of the horror stories from my time here…I am sure that everyone who has had the hospital experience can tell a similar story.

After three days your IV has to be changed lest there be an infection in the vein. So, on the third day the nurse came to change mine…well she seriously had no clue how to do it. She jammed the needle in a little ways, wiggled it around and pulled the skin back and repeated this two other times. Meanwhile I have tears streaming down my face as it hurt SO badly. She then got a syringe and injected some fluid into the IV but the skin was just puffing up so she had put it in incorrectly and had to take it out to try again…..WELL….I took off down the hall crying as I wasn’t about to let her near my hand again at that moment. So Mark and I went downstairs for awhile and when we came back she got her friend to start the IV/ her friend was a bit better but not much! But it was in and I had some morphine which made the pain go away in my hand and my stomach so all was well...heehee

I needed a procedure called an “ERCP” which is basically when they knock you out and put a camera down your throat and winds it thru to the ducts and searches for and remove the stone. In my case by the time they got in there the stone was already passed so they just made the opening slightly larger; put a stent in and that was it.

I was supposed to have the procedure 4 days earlier but because I was in the hospital and on antibiotics and morphine for the pain and was relatively stable the procedure kept being pushed back in order to accommodate the many people coming thru emergency needing surgery or whatever.

That of course was very frustrating. I just wanted to go home, after all, in this hospital, one floor down; our son was born so it’s certainly not a happy place for me.

Anyway, many tears have been shed, many hours of anger and “why me Lord” has clouded my mind but in the end it has been a blessing in a way. I met some dear people, especially this past week.

The past week I have shared a room with a delightful 91-year-old lady named Edith. She is such a sweetheart and we have enjoyed each other’s company tremendously. She told me many things about her life growing up and I have met a lot of her family who have all been so kind to me. Hospitals aren’t always fun but if you look you can find some good in everything and for me she has been a blessing.

Anyway, I will sign off for now. Hope all are well.