I'm baaack. Wait, you say you didn't know I was gone?

*sighs* Why am I not surprised. LOL

Tuesday, I went to see my doctor about an upper respiratory issue. Yes, I had an upper respiratory infection. But, (you knew there had to be a but, didn't you? Else, why this blog? We all get sinus infections and such on occasion.), my doc did a general checkup, and as she pressed on the left side of my abdomen, I said "Ouch".

Big mistake.

Why, you may ask? (Okay, I know you didn't really ask, but heck, it's my story...)

She next asked me how long it's hurt. Well, about 4 weeks ago (now), I had a week where I thought I had gas in the intestines. Nothing serious, I thought... (More later.)

Soooo, to lengthen a short story, she decided I should get a cat scan of my abdomen and pelvis region. (Sadly, they didn't find any extra organs down there this time either.) My appointment was for half an hour later, so off to the Hospital I went. (She wanted me to do it THAT day, rather than just make an appointment at the radiology clinic.)

I arrived, and sat... Eventually, someone came out with a bottle of "lemon-aid" to drink... Then, an hour later, she realized I was doing both abdomen and pelvis, so I needed a second bottle... Down that went, and I waited another two hours... *sighs*... My appointment was for 11am... Finally, at 3pm, I went in for my 5 minute scan. They said I could go, but (stupid me) I mentioned that my doc had wanted them to do a "wet read". (That means the radiologist does a quick look - and calls the doc... The detailed look & report are sent later... Maybe days later.)

So, there I am in the waiting room, and I get called, "Your doctor wants to talk to you on the phone."

Let me tell you, in a situation like that, you do NOT want to hear those words. *sighs*

Turns out, I had diverticulitis with micro perforations and she wanted them to do a direct admission. *sighs*

Luckily (from my point of view) they had trouble finding a bed... So, since I lived a mile away, they let me go home, and pick up some stuff!!! Since nobody told me not to... I fixed myself some bacon, while I collected my netbook, some novels and my meds... Good thing I took my meds! (More later.)

In any event, I was back in half an hour... Going through the admission process. Paperwork took 10 minutes. Then, I waited over half an hour for someone to show up with a wheel chair to take me to my room. I could have WALKED it faster than that... But Noooo.

Into my double room I went. Luckily, the other bed was empty... The intake nurse showed up, took my list of meds... Then, asked which way I was going M2F or F2M... (Smart lady...) (Oh, I forgot to say... I checked in using my "male" info... Since (mostly) that's what MOST of my IDs say, and my name on all my ID sounds male. I've not transitioned to full time. *sighs*... ) Why all this? Well, the next morning, they wheeled the other bed out of the room. And, on Thursday, I happened to overhear (my room was right outside the nursing station) a conversation where they were reviewing "available" beds, and I heard my nurse telling the person asking that my room was "blocked"... Apparently the hospital has a Policy to put non-transitioned TSs in effectively private rooms. Made things easier, as I didn't have to worry about sharing with a guy, and, since I still look a lot like a guy (face wise IMO - just look at the photo on my driver's license) a woman didn't have questions. The staff was wonderful. Not a single strange look or anything, when I asked for help - removing & reattaching my IV so I could take off my bra at night, and put it on the next morning. :-)

As to my meds - they couldn't manage to "find" two of my asthma meds to give me... So I took my own.

I was seeing three docs each day. My internist, my gastrointerologist and a surgeon. (I did ask the surgeon if he wasn't busy if he could maybe fix something else... Sadly, he said he was always busy. *sighs*)

(Okay, now you've heard the important bits - if you got this far anyway...)

In any events, I got clear liquids to eat (chicken broth, beef broth, gellatin, etc.). And, yesterday (Friday) I got to eat all liquids (cream of wheat; strained potato chowder strained lentil soup; tea; ice cream, etc.)

In any event, apparently I responded well to the IV antibiotics, and by yesterday, my white blood count had returned to a level that's normal for me (about double what most people have) so the docs were happy, and after I had no problems with the liquids, they decided I could get sprung from the hospital today! Lunch was SOLIDS (okay, cheese, boiled okra & a few corn chips (crisps)... I wasn't THAT hungry. (Maybe I'll lose some weight out of this! That'd be a nice silver lining for this forced day off...)

So, now I'm home (on two different antibiotics) and able to eat REAL FOOD again!

Not my favorite week, but, it did have some nice bits. The total acceptance by the hospital staff was WONDERFUL!

Thanks,if you read this far...