September Hospital Stay

A month in the hospital is a long time for anyone, especially when you don't see it coming. I went into the hospital just after 9 pm on August 31, 2010. I was in an ICU room for a few hours, during and directly after receiving a blood transfusion. I was then transferred to my own room, which I would reside in for the next full month, until I was released on October 1st.

It doesn't look too bad at first, but then you stay in the same small room for weeks, and it gets to be a bit much. You can see some of the board games I had in the room to play, and the bottom of the tv. Considering I don't watch tv at all usually, this tv was very helpful. There were a few simple card games and very limited internet access. The best part about the tv however was the movies! There were like 30 movies on there that you could watch for free. I watched every single one of them throughout the month I was there, some even two and three times.

I had a couple of books, and a few magazines to read also. I couldn't read for the longest time though, because after I had such a bad reaction to the first (and following few) dialysis treatments, I couldn't really focus at all for basically the first 2 weeks I was in the hospital.

The first two weeks were pretty scary. Besides the dialysis treatments being so rough, I had to have numerous tests to really figure out what was going on and what could be done, if anything, to fix things. I might list all the kinds of different tests that were done at a later date. I wasn't able to do much more than sit up in bed without being exhausted.

I started improving a little after the first two weeks. I was still really weak, but I could at least think straight somewhat, which was a huge improvement. Things weren't all clear yet, but it was getting there. I had physical therapy every other day, and was able to gradually go from just sitting up in bed, to standing, to walking to the hall, to eventually walking all the way down the halls. In this time, I saw an insane number of doctors and nurses.

What happens when you're feeling better in the hospital but you can't go home? Extreme boredom sets in, that's what. I was laid off from my job in July, and I was 25, so I had aged out of my parents' insurance the previous December. To be able to get a chair at a dialysis clinic, you had to have insurance. There was a crazy mess of red tape and going back and forth setting me up with MediCal, and I wasn't allowed to do dialysis in the hospital as an outpatient. I had to stay in the hospital for an untold amount of time until all of the paperwork went through, I was approved for MediCal, AND they found an open spot at a local dialysis clinic. The first guess of how long it might take was anywhere from a month to 45 days. Oh boy.

By this time, I basically felt fine besides getting tired easily and being a little weak. When I wasn't resting or watching movies, I would play card games with my family, or if it was too early for them to be out of work/school yet, I would just wander the hospital aimlessly, just for something to do.

The hospital food was decent I suppose for hospital food, although I did have to have them change what they served because of my diet a few times. All of the staff, nurses, and doctors were extremely nice and helpful. The nurses repeatedly referred to me as their favorite patient on the hall because I never gave them any trouble, and never really asked for anything besides maybe a cup of ice or some snack pack jello.

Speaking of giving the nurses trouble, patients in the room next to me, and all over the hall would often start randomly yelling at the top of their lungs. Sometimes it was in English, sometimes I had no clue what language it was. Sometimes it would only be for 2 or 3 minutes, in the afternoon. Other times, it would be for hours upon hours, starting at 5 am, and going all day.

Someone would come in and check my blood pressure and temperature every couple hours. I would have bloodwork drawn usually every other day, sometimes every day though. The lab technician would usually come to draw my blood at 6 am. What a wonderful thing to wake up to! I would have to have a various assortment of medicine at each meal too, which was not always the same. On certain dialysis days, I would have to get an EPOtin shot, which helped boost red blood cells so I wouldn't be anemic. I still get those at dialysis, although it's given through the machine instead of a shot.

It definitely wasn't easy going from what I thought was perfectly healthy to being in the hospital for an entire month. It was pretty hard on me at times, especially when I just wanted to go home, or at least get some new scenery. All of the nurses and doctors did their best to make my stay as decent as it could be, and my family was there almost constantly, which couldn't have been easy for them, but it made my day every day, just to have someone there to talk to. I appreciated everyone that visited and called too.

I was released from the hospital October 1st. Of course I couldn't get away without some farewell shots, thrilling! I was so happy just to be able to go for a car ride.

I might have missed some things that I'll think of later, but I'll add them in new posts as I think of them.