Hospital toils

Song of the day: “Rapper’s delight” by the Sugar Hill Gang. Strange song to have in my head, in particular since the rhythm makes me want to start doing “the robot” at the oddest moments. I tell ya this, it is downright weird when you’re at the hospital, and being weird there, is definitely not a smart thing. *sigh*

But okay, let’s get you up to date. Yesterday was a mess of a day. Nothing went at all as planned. First off, tenant insisted that she wanted to go to market, so after some discussion, I decided that I might as well take her and take the opportunity to look around for stuff that is in bad repair that I can fix up…as well as a bathing suit for tenant and Sally alike.

So we went, I dropped tenant off at mom’s stand and went over the market twice. Had load of fun chatting with the stand owners, haggling (bought two beautiful Chinese boxes that were in horrible repair, but only cost me five bucks. Yay) and hauling it all (I sinned and bought three books despite my no-book-buying-budget, hah) back to the stand where tenant was having fun chatting with mom. Packet up tenant and purchases and went on home.

Once there, it turned out I’d missed more than nine calls (seriously, it’s not smart that I kept it in my purse where I can’t hear it) from cousin Ed who’d found Sally in a bad state. I knew she fell the other day, and cut her hand (she wouldn’t let me look at it) but this wasn’t good. First we took her to the emergency room in town, where they referred us to the big city hospital because the cut (I was startled when I saw it. Was a cut halfway into the base of her finger) was too deep, and she’d waited too long to have it sutured. (Six hour limit. I could have told her that, but I figured she knew. Stupid of me, I know.) So we went to Marbella Hospital. Big place. Lotsa people, and thus lotsa waiting. Still, relatively speaking she got treated fast, despite us spending more than six hours there.

First off there was the talk with the triage doctor who listed her symptoms. Then we waited for our turn at the doctor’s. After the doctor, who listed her problems again and checked her motor functions, we waited again. This time a blood test. Then we waited again…and went back because something went wrong with the first blood and they needed another. Then we waited for her to have an MRI. Then We waited for an X-Ray of her chest, after which we had to wait to speak to the doctor again.

Said doctor called us into the office and informed us very gravely that Sally was suffering from severe lesions in the brain, meaning that she had to be hospitalized for observation. She took it remarkably well, showing some relief about the fact that at least now she knew what was wrong, and why “something” wasn’t right in her head. *sigh*
Gawd, I wish we’d insisted on taking her to hospital a week ago, or more. But she can be incredibly stubborn that way.

Cousin Ed helped her get dressed into a hospital gown, and while she was transferred to the observation hall, we were told to wait for a phone call in the waiting room for family and friends. That took a solid hour and a half, and then, when the call finally came and only (one person allowed) I was let through to see her. Once I arrived in the observation hall with loads of people suffering in uncomfortable beds, it turned out Sally wasn’t there because they’d wheeled her elsewhere again to treat her hand.
So again, another forty to fifty minute wait, at which time I went back to the observation room to see if she was done. She wasn’t there yet, and while the nurse working there went to see for me, she was wheeled inside. She was actually startled to see me, asking vaguely if I was back already. She had no idea of the time and was startled to hear that we were “still” there. Where else would we be, I wonder. You don’t leave a friend to her own resources at a time like that, do you? Jeez. Same goes for the fact that she didn’t want us to visit every day (because it would be too much trouble for a mess like her, double jeez). When I asked her if she wouldn’t come to visit if I were in hospital and she promptly answered that of course she would. That was of course the end of the discussion. Hah.

Had a “chat” with the nurse, or young doctor, on duty, and between his bad English and my bad English he managed to explain the basics of her chart, and give me the phone number of the main desk, the number of the room she would be transferred to in the morning (including the floor) and basically be nice about the fact that he had no idea what the real problem was. There are, at the moment treating it as a general constitution problem. But anyway, when I asked to talk to her doctor, he said the doctor was out, and that if I wanted to talk to a professional I would have to wait some more. *sigh*

I ended up promising Sally we’d be back the next day, so we could tackle the doctor together. Cousin Ed did call this morning to check how she was doing, and despite some confusion during the night she had a relatively good night, and was almost cheerful when she told us they are looking for the problem and doing all sorts of tests.

It was almost one in the morning when we finally left for home, and nearing two when we arrived. I was not doing well by then. I was cramping all over the place and my heels were killing me. I know, don’t laugh, but silly me didn’t eat, walked and stood a lot. First because of the market (I breakfasted and lunched on four small apples) and then because of all the hospital stuff, with half a French bread with cream cheese. Not the smartest move for someone with my deficiency problems. Luckily, big brother made spaghetti, meaning I didn’t go to bed hungry. *sigh* I tell ya this, I was wired tight as a drum.

Not a good night either. Woke up twice with my calf cramping so bad I had to get up and do stretches for several minutes. In the end I had to lie down flat on my stomach for the stupid feet dangling off the bed. Managed to fall asleep then. *sigh*

What followed, was me going through the slow, very slow motions of early morning chores (got up an hour later than usual, because I didn’t get to bed until 3 in the morning) such as laundry and feeding the dogs. Then it was getting online looking to see if we could find anything on what little I managed to understand from the explanations at the hospital. All sorts of nasty possibilities popped up, so I decided to leave it until the doctor actually explains it to us. *sigh*

As for the dogs...seriously, mine were completely bonkers last night, considering I had been gone for more than twelve hours. It was not a pretty sight when Knight II tried to jump me, Chaos ignored me, and Labhana and Gada gazed at me as if I had done them some great injustice. Poor darlings...worse, I forgot to give Knight II his second bowl of food in the evening. *gasp* I should be flogged.

Well, that’s it for today, I’m hoping to do at least a page for the book, and if not that…well…there will be other days, I guess.