OK last old blog.... #6

Friday, January 12, 2007
Gastro SUCKS Current mood: crappy Category: Jobs, Work, Careers
OK, so if you get sick easily, you might not want to read this. It isn't all the details, but it sure it is enough if you have a weak tummy.
I am sick as hell. Yesterday I puked at work-- in the fricking vent room. When I left the hospital I couldn't even get further than the Mitchell lot and then I had to pull over and puke more. I felt so out of it that Aaron had to leave work early and pick me up and take me home. We didn't get that far. We went to the VA hospital so I could use their bathroom (more puking...) and by then when I saw myself in the mirror I KNEW something was wrong. We went to U of M ER. Tacoma was my nurse. =) Thank God! By this point Aaron was holding me up because I was staggering. I could barely talk, it was bad. I was in so much pain from my stomach. It was bad. They triaged me and I got right in to Tacoma. I am SO lucky she was there. But at one point I stood up, and there went all the water I drank from the ER bathroom sink. Bastard clerks wouldn't give me any water, so I took care of it myself. I was so dehydrated- I kept telling the triage nurse I was going to die. Needless to say, I got a 3 liter bolus- and only peed 250cc!!!! Good LORD. I was scared. All I could think about was the kids at work with renal problems, and hoped that my output wouldn't get so bad and my kidneys would get so dry that I would have problems from it. I remember I kept asking Tacoma "How come I am on my second liter and I still don't have to pee?" I had ketones in my urine if that tells you anything... and no I am not diabetic.
When it was all over, Tacoma said that when she saw me she got nervous, because I looked really bad. I barely walking into the ER. I just remember starting to open my eyes all the way for the first time in hours when the first liter was almost all the way in. I know it sounds silly to go to the ER for gastro as an adult, but I seriously couldn't even keep water down. Now I know what it is like to be the patient- it sucks. Sorry to those of you reading this what are not in the medical field... but this is an experience I had to blog about!!!
So the moral of the story is- WASH YOUR FREAKING HANDS. And don't scoff at the contact precautions signs on patient's doors with gastro. If you don't take it seriously it just might bite you on the ass. I don't know how I got it, I was my hands religiously. I am not better yet either. I am taking zofran every 4 hours (an anti-nausea medicine, which I think I should take soon, I just ate my first real food since yesterday afternoon and I am not feeling too hot...) and feel like I am overdoing it if I walk the whole length of the apartment. This sucks!!!