Saturday, September 17, 2011

In the new hospital

Mart wasn't feeling well last night, so the doc on call had us come in to the ED to make sure everything was okay. We were thinking more along the lines of infection somewhere. Well it wasn't alright. No infection, but his hemoglobin was very low. It dropped from 9 on Monday to 6 on Friday. This is not good. The nephrologist still hasn't come in yet so I have no idea if this kind of drop is bizarre or not. I mean, is this just a toasted kidney issue or could there be a bleeding issue that we are unaware of? The not knowing really rots. He just began the transfusion about 20 minutes ago. It will take 4 hours to complete and then we have to wait an indeterminate period of time before repeating the labs to see how he is doing. So, as far as we know, he will be spending another night here.
The ED was a special kind of hell for me. The room we were in was so cold and had hard plastic chairs. My butt was dead within two hours of being there! We wound up collecting nearly a dozen blankets. I wound up scooting my chair over to Mart's bed, putting a pillow on it and laying my head on it. So sitting up resting my head on his bed. The reason it is a special kind of hell is because that was the only way I could sleep when I had cardiomyopathy. I couldn't breathe well at all, but especially not while laying down. Last night brought back some really unfriendly memories that had been buried for a good long time.
Well, the boy is sleeping in a Benadryll haze and I have to do homework.
The upside is that the new tower is awesome. All the rooms are private, big and beautiful. The chair bed is relatively comfy and I'm allowed to use the bathroom. The nurses are nice and know their stuff.