It’s just incredible how quickly things can go from ‘all normal’ to ‘medical emergency’ yknow? Like when my nephew got meningiococcal a few years ago - ‘mild cough’ to 'being airlifted 300km to the children’s hospital ’ within about 8 hours (also a tale with a happy ending)
Definitely good thoughts.
I have a hospital specific go bag [as opposed to my oh shit the house is on fire go bag] that has a wall wart with 10 foot cord for my phone. Last time I was in, I took my tablet but didn’t use it at all, just read on my phone so I opted to ditch the tablet to sage space/weight. It is a normal day pack sized back pack, I have [in individual clear plastic makeup bags, the TSA sort] 24 single packet peanut butter, 24 grape jelly [they always have crackers a the nurse’s station] about 25 salt and 25 pepper packets, 25 powdered lemon juice packets, a sealed bottle of liquid splenda, 24 decaf tea bags of my favorite flavor, a paperback book just in case, a small bottle of shampoo, a bar of soap in a box, toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, spare eyeglasses and a set of jammies. I have a copy of my doctors/meds/medical procedures with locations and dates, and a 1 week supply of my meds [I would have to stop and grab a new vial of lantus on the run] My glucose sensor reader lives either on my desk or in my purse, as does my smartphone with my wallet and spare mask and gloves.
And not just the patients or their family. I’m sure it was doctors who drove the move away from banning phones as they’re using their phones and tablets to access records, look at X-rays, enter orders, etc.
I hope your husband is home soon. Hospitalizations now are much more scary than they were last year.
While you can’t visit him in person, you will probably be allowed to bring needed things to the front desk for delivery to him.
A friend was doing work on his home and tore out the back steps so he could put in a ramp. He forgot the steps were gone when he went out to take measurements and ended up in the hospital with a broken hip. The folks who delivered his black balloons and whatnot seemed very amused at our lack of sympathy, but his red DUMBASS banner was hung on his wall, pics posted on facebook.
I’m betting he could use a drink too.
I have to remember this one. My big brother is a dumbass-albeit a very loveable one. Once stepped out of his RV without extending the steps.
They prolly gave him some nice pills.
Then she should have one of those too. Fair is fair.
Sending you good thoughts.
The final update to the saga.
As it turns out, there were a bunch of things I didn’t know the other night - one of which was, how hard a bunch of doctors were working to ensure that Steve came through the evening being Not Dead, when the reverse was a real possibility. To be fair, he didn’t really appreciate this either … right up to the point where his attention was directed to the head of ENT throwing another guy out of surgery for him, and cancelling the wait for Covid test results.
As it turns out, doctors take breathing pretty seriously.
The core issue turned out to be a cyst on his thyroid (pretty common, generally NBD) which started bleeding (vanishingly uncommon, extremely big deal indeed). Folks, if you ever notice a lump in your neck growing rapidly over the course of a day, head for the hospital. Do not pass Go.
I retrieved him this morning. He’s really pretty chipper. He wrote a legit epic on Facebook, which has had about ten dozen people pop out of the woodwork to congratulate him on not being dead - this is pretty nice for one of the world’s most dedicated introverts. He has mad storytelling skillz, when inspired, and he was feeling pretty inspired.
At the time, people aware of anything at all about the situation were family members, one very close friend, and you guys (I really didn’t want to be dealing with a pile of IRL information management). So thanks for listening.
Also, modern medicine is completely fuckin’ awesome.
True. If only the finances involved were as marvelous.
A husband Not Being Dead is always awesome.
I had a glimpse of that in January, and I still celebrate it every day!
~VOW
It depends on how your government chooses to spend on healthcare. The US is an outlier.
Whew. It’s probably a blessing you didn’t know at the time what a very, very close call this was. I’m so glad your husband lived to tell the tale.
I’m almost embarrassed to say, on a message board full of Americans, that fifty bucks for the GP, and then probably the same again for a follow-up in a few weeks, is probably it. We certainly won’t be getting a bill from the hospital, because that just isn’t a thing here.
The Australian medical system is certainly among the things that I’m extremely thankful for.
That was his heart, right? I remember all your posts about trying to get him to eat better so it wouldn’t happen again (a struggle my mother-in-law also goes through every day)
Oh, absolutely. Ignorance was bliss. And since the competent people were in fact doing all the correct things competently, I still get to retain my childlike trust in the medical system.
Also, any time from now on that the spouse gives me ‘eh, doctors. what do they know?’ which occasionally has been known to happen, the answer ‘How to keep you alive, doofus!!!’ will be forever available to me. Believe me, I will take full advantage.