Hospital DAY #1

Wednesday November 5th, 2008

The morning the the 5th, I went to the cat-scan to see what could be the problem that I had been having especially the day before. When I was at the cat-scan they told me that they found some gull bladder stones. I went right away to my doctor Richard Danson. He told me that is what he thought it would be and that I should get in touch with Dr. David Thoman. I couple of hours later I had my first appointment with him, and he said that it is easier to have surgery and take out the gull bladder in total. I said lets do it! That way I would not have to ever worry about stones again. We made plans to have surgery on Friday. At this point I was so hungry for I had not eaten all day! So I wen back to Carpinteria, so that I could get something to eat and prepare for a bible study that I had that night. I stop at McDonald's, and got chicken pieces and fries and a diet coke (my usually). I then went home to relax.

It was around 4:30 pm and I started to have the pain again, so I called Dr. Danson and asked him what should I do? He told me to call Dr. Thoman and ask him. So I did, he told me to go the Longs Drug store and to get vicotin and if I was still in pain go the the hospital. I waited for the prescription to get to the drug store, and then I started to drive over the the drug store. I started to have more and more pain, so much that I started to feel sick. I started to walk into the drug store and could not make it. I started to throw-up in the trash can in front of the store. Someone from my church recognized me and gave me some tissues and water. I made it into the drug store and walked up the the desk and told them that I was here to pick up my prescription. I went straight to the bathroom and started to throw-up again. I made about three trips back and forth from the counter and the bathroom. After the third trip I could not make it, I called my roommate Lara, and asked her to come and help me. She was wonderful and came right away. She come and bought a bucket and helped me up to the counter and out to the car. We drove in my car home and she could not really fit in my driver seat (the seat is broken). So we went back over to our apartment to switch cars. She made the conclusion that she was going to take me emergency room. I called my parents and told them they we were on the way, and if they could meet us there. We went to the drive up emergency room, got out of the car, and I was still in SO much PAIN!!

I really don't remember much of the rest of the night. I do remember that they connected me to the morphine machine. This machine gave me control of how much morphine would be going into my body. They told me that anytime that I was in pain to press this button and it would pump the morphine into my IV. At this point I have no clue what was going on. All I remember is them telling me that this would help and press the button when I was in pain, so for me that was like every 10 minuets.

One thing that I do remember, is my poor roommate. She was an elderly women, and I think that she was a little crazy. The nurses had her on bed alert. This means that anytime that she wanted to get out of bed (which was a lot), this alarm would sound off and would not stop until the nurse came in and turn it off. Also she had an alarm that sounded when she would bend her arm. Her IV was in her elbow, so if she bent her arm it would cut of the flow of medicine into her body and an alarm would sound off. After the nurse explained it to her, I understood what was going on, However my roommate did not get it. The alarm would sound and I would tell her to straiten her arm and she would say that she is, however There was a mirror between us and I could see what was going on, on her side of the room, and she was totally bending her arm. So once again the alarm would not stop until the nurse would come and turn off the alarm. However my roommate did not know how to contact the nurse, so I was the one hitting the button asking the nurse to come in and get her back into bed, or to turn off the alarm. So I was up all night!! And pretty much every time that I woke up I gave myself another shot of morphine! So it is no wonder way I do not remember much of that night!