h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

On the 26th of March, Dad entered the emergency room at the local hospital with what appeared to be a bad appendix. Since his white blood cell count was only slightly above 'normal' they decided to keep him overnight for observation and had a surgery tentatively scheduled for 'sometime in the morning'. After spending another sleepless night, I called the hospital for any news and was told that nothing had changed, no more tests had been taken (they were supposed to be keeping him so they could keep close tabs on his blood count), and no doctors had been in to examine him or talk to him. This probably wouldn't happen until later in the day.

Since he was resting comfortably I was able to relax enough to get (almost) a couple hours nap. Immediately upon waking I called again. "I think they've about finished with him downstairs. They're sending him to ICU when he gets out of recovery, but it's only because of his previous surgery." *Fast-forward through remainder of phone call * I rushed back to the hospital, where for about an hour of frantic run-arounds while no one seemed to know where he was, his condition, or where I should be waiting I finally made contact with probably the only person on staff who was interested enough to bother trying to help. I made it to the ICU waiting room about 3 minutes before they wheeled him in.

To say that communication is not high on this backwater butcher shop's priority list is gross understatement. However I will skip that rant for another day. From what I've managed to piece together over the past week spiced with educated guesswork, this is what happened:

The pain had not subsided, so they sent Dad down for a floroscopy procedure. What they found was a healthy appendix, but a gangrenous section of ulcerated colon. They cut him open, removed the bad section, and spliced him back together. Whether or not the appendix survived the splicing is not currently known. How long is the missing section? Also not known. Family members' emotional state? You don't want to know.

'Nonnie

'Nonnie, I know there's nothing I could do from way over here to make things easier, so I'll simply say this: my thoughts are with you.

Best wishes,
bp

Regards and best wishes to you and all your family. Hope it all works out well.

Phil

I'm thinking of you and your family too Nonnie. Best wishes to you all. Peta and the h2g2 Team.

Thank you -all- for shows of concern and for your support!

I'm hoping we can get most of it sorted out soon. He should be back to driving next week (if not today ), and aside from a major bout of depression/discouragement at not being back to doing things as he thinks he should (which will hopefully be mostly relieved with the return of driving) and a couple minor yeast infections (he contracted thrush, but it is being treated) he seems to be doing well. Of course, the lab work hasn't come back yet, and we still have his meds to straighten out (another snafu caused by his doctor's over-bearing partner). His list of physicians is growing. *sigh*

I don't expect things to get back to 'normal' for another couple weeks, when he has his follow-up with the heart surgeon and is released to go back to work (another thing causing the depression). Even then.. well.. 'normal' is a subjective term.

'Nonnie

Sounds harrowing, 'Nonnie -- but good to hear it seems like it's getting better.

I do have som first hand experience with hospitals and their strange lack of ability to tell anybody what's wrong & what's going on. My Dad's in and oút of the system at the moment while they try to find a small hole in him somewhere where his blood apparently oozes out and leaves him with far to little of it to spring around. At the moment he's apparently between departments

Anyway, I spotted you being on line & just wanted to say cheers. It sure seems to me you're doing a great job of family support!

All the best,

SG V

Thanks SGV. Hope your situation has improved as well? Sounds like a nasty situation.

'Nonnie