Gall Bladder Madness

If you must end up in the hospital...

Ok... there you go, I started it. I wasn't really sure how to start this one. See, you never want to end up in the hospital, at least noone I know does. I mean, maybe for a job, but not usually as a patient.

It's probably the part about, "you must be ill to stay here" type thing...

Or maybe it's the "we are going to poke you with lots of needles" type thing...

Or, it could be the "we may have to hurt you to make you better" type thing...

Or, it could be the "we are going to run lots of tests on you now, and they may turn something up, or.... not" type thing...

Of course, the hurting part probably goes with the needles part, not necessarily as much as stitches or broken bones, etc....

So... why would I be thinking about hospitals? Well, I got to spend the better part of my weekend in one. Not a fun experience. I mean, I could think of better ways to spend the weekend. Like, doing nothing, sitting on your but watching t.v., that would be non-productive, but still more fun with 5 fun little buggers running around like crazy than sitting in a hospital bed watching t.v. , while an IV drip slowly hydrates your body and provides all the nutrients in liquid form that you could want and a nurse comes in to take your blood pressure and temperature every 4 to 6 hours.

Basically, I had what appeared to be a gall bladder attack, however none of the proteins that would indicate it were showing up in my bloodstream. Then, as my bloodwork came back, they identified that I had very high liver enzymes, (and they were actually climbing while I was in the ER). The internals specialist decide to admit me and they took every picture under the sun they could of my gall bladder, liver, kidney's, etc. I had a ct-scan, x-rays, ultrasound and dye scan (radioactive juice so they could trace the workings of my internal organs.)

In the meantime they were keeping me on pain meds for all of this. Well, at the end, my liver enzymes (while still way too high) were starting to come down and they decided to release me.

Ahh, the joys of real food. My first taste of something good was a fresh whole grain bread loaf from Panera (provided by the kindly neighbors in my room) and a large glass of water provided by my kindly nurse. I am someone who drinks water voraciously, so that first glass after two days without any was awesome.

So, still in pain on Saturday afternoon and going home with orders to be in for lab work on Monday and take Advil for pain management I was off for home...

Oh, and to finish the if you must stay in the hospital part... I have to say, I highly recommend Crittenton Hospital in Rochester Hills, Michigan. The professionalism of the nurses seems like 2nd nature and is softened by their compassion and kindness to their patients. To have a nurse say you were a good patient and she doesn't want to see you leave, makes a person feel like a human being, when a lot of times hospitals make people feel like meat. That doesn't happen at Crittenton. From doctors who are specialists and surgeons, to nurses to lab technicians, nurses assistants and transporters, they make you feel like you are important. I watched them treat elderly people who could barely walk or move, with kindness and gentleness, taking a little extra time to make conversation and jokes and listen to them and make them feel important, when they could have just bustled off to business. But instead, I saw a true attitude of kindness that makes people feel like they are more than the next case, like going into Crittenton isn't just going to a medical oil change place, but stepping into a family who wants to get you better.

This isn't the first time I've seen that there. I've seen it in their treatment of my mother-in-law and my wife, when she was pregnant. (One of the many reasons all five of our children were born there.)