Coworker in hospital!!

[Dave1982]

Apparently she has some tests scheduled for the morning, and whether or not she's discharged is dependent on the results of said tests. Hopefully they'll let her go home with a clean bill of health, but if not, I'm working on a surprise to brighten her up, because I know she's going to be very upset if she has to stay another night.

I'd be upset, too, because I'm thoroughly unimpressed by this hospital. I've heard a lot of horror stories about it (including someone supposedly dying in the waiting room before they got around to helping them). But competency aside, the building itself sucks.

She's staying in room 3**. So I went up to the 3rd floor, and followed the sign for rooms 3xx-3yy only to find a dead end at room 311, beyond which was an office, a closet, an unattended janitor's cart, and no sign saying where to go from there.

After a few moments of looking around in bewilderment, I realized that there was another corridor that run past the nurses' station, except that it ran DIAGONALLY to the corridor I was in, and because of the perspective, you couldn't even see it as you approached the nurses' station.

So I followed that corridor to ANOTHER dead end ending at room 326 and a bay window. Only this time I knew what to look for and found the next corridor easily. It seemed like the floor plan was actually a triangle, with little extensions off each "point" of the triangle. I've never seen anything like it. By the time I found her room, I was totally disoriented and had no idea where I was in relation to the elevator or stairs.

I do not envy her liquid diet. Nor to envy the screw up regarding it. It seems that whoever sent the list down to the cafeteria of who could eat what screwed up and listed her as "normal diet," so the cafeteria called up to her room to take her lunch order. Only after eagerly anticipating a lunch of stuffed shells was she informed that she was on a liquid diet and was served chicken broth, cranberry juice, an italian ice, and a cup of green jello.

Oh, and here's where insult was added to injury. Around the time her "food" arrived, her SIL and cousin arrived, and her cousin stole her italian ice! And she doesn't like green jello, so she didn't even get to eat all of what little they gave her. The italian ice was likely the most filling component of the lunch, so that sucks. This caused her to cheat a little and have a couple bites from one of the cookies I brought in.

"SQUEEE!!!! You made me COOKIES!!!! You're the BEST!!"


And one last item that I found amusing.....obviously Angelica isn't her real name, but something I made up. But I noticed that for some reason, her bed sheets had the name "Angelica" on them. How appropriate.

[Dave1982]

Well, the good news is that she's out, and pain-free.

The bad news is that they have no idea what happened to her. Ultrasound, CAT scan, and MRI all came up empty. I have no real basis for this, but my guess is that perhaps she did have a gallstone but it passed before any of the tests were performed, leaving them nothing to find. Hopefully this does not happen again.

I spent about 3 hours keeping her company before going to work yesterday, and threw her a little ice cream social (she was off the liquid diet by then). After going home and taking a long hot shower she came into the store to let everyone know she was still alive, and also gave me a big hug and said she was very grateful for all the care and attention I gave her; she said I was there more than anyone else was, including her family.

One consequence of this whole episode is that she's been ordered to not drink anymore, at all. Apparently she had some abnormal liver counts in her blood work. Nothing super serious, but they told her not to drink as a precaution, and I *think* she's actually going to heed this advice (not that she had a drinking problem before this). Amazing what crippling pain and a 3 night hospital stay can do to motivate people.

Still, she seems ok, and that's the important part.

[bainsidhe]

The crippling pain is very very scary and I hope they figure out what caused it. Hope she feels (and stays feeling!) normal real soon.

I'm not a doctor, but usually where there's one gallstone, there's more. I'm sure they also tested for ulcers and anything that might cause similar symptoms. Something to think about, I once met someone who extreme stomach pain. Her problem wasn't gallstones, but rather a gallbladder that wasn't working properly. She ended up in the emergency room a couple times before a specialist realized what caused it. She was really looking forward to surgery so she could be pain-free and eating hot fudge sundae's again.

I really hope the good docs pinpoint the cause of all this. We're wishing her well.

[Geek King]

She might have what my mom's doctor called gallbladder "slush". Basically, your gallbladder forms lots of micro-stones that never collect to become a traditional stone. My mom would have similar-sounding pain attacks, and even after they identified the issue, the doctors were unwilling to remove the gallbladder for years as the pain attacks would pass. She did eventually get it removed once things got bad enough.

[wolfie]

Before you offer the amazing cookies, I'd like to first suggest finding out what's ailing her. If she has her gallbladder removed, high-fat items such as your devilishly delightful cookies may be a poor choice for a few weeks, since she may have...err...an uncomfortable reaction to fatty foods.

While it's a moot point in this case (since she's been discharged), in situations like this I'd advise taking an indirect route. Due to HIPPA, the only person who would be allowed to tell you what's ailing the patient is the patient themselves, and do you and the patient (collectively) have enough medical knowledge to know what would and would not be OK?

If you were to call the hospital, say your friend (name and room #) is there and that you'd like to send something to cheer them up (giving a list of a few things), you're giving the hospital a chance to steer you away from "no-go" items without a HIPPA violation. Using the example above (gallblader), while they couldn't tell you the condition, it wouldn't be a HIPPA violation to say "those cookies would not be advisable for this patient", or even "Hospital policy forbids visitors bringing homemade foods for patients".

[Dave1982]

I'll keep that in mind for next time, though hopefully there won't be a next time.