starshadow_rivaulx (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
starshadow_rivaulx) wrote2014-01-04 09:28 am
starshadow_rivaulx) wrote2014-01-04 09:28 am
(no subject)
Slowly but surely coming out of a sort of hibernation.
Summary of events thus far (this cannot be a short thing, surely you know this about me by now?):
- I had a stroke somewhere around the top of December 2013 and had my first-ever confinement in the hospital. For actually getting to the hospital I am forever indebted to my best friend, and a merciful God who arranged things so that my goddaughter happened to be online to read the tweet I sent describing my condition. Who then promptly told her mother, who got on the phone and got it into my bemused brains that I had to get to the hospital like NOW.
So we got to the hospital, husband in tow, our roles reversed and him being the hand-holder for a change. Desi called in her neurologist, who called in her endocrinologist, and we got Ramon's cardio into the team; because, to put it fine, my signs were off the chart. High blood pressure, diabetes (sugar level at 300, which freaked everyone out but me in my benighted state), plus the stroke that sent me into the ER in the first place. PLUS evidence in the MRI scan of THREE PREVIOUS STROKES. Obviously when I do things? I do them in a big way.
Desi was a tower of strength - her experience as a survivor helped a lot; she must have had her hands full keeping me in a sane and calm mental state through all the endless waiting for test results and a hospital room. In the end, I was in hospital for about a week, I think - watched a lot of TV, learned to bear with the hunger pangs that came with a diabetic diet, with a few exceptions was not impressed with the quality of the nurses on the floor nor the janitorial services. Ramon, as designated watcher, was sent home at regular intervals to feed and water the kitty-babies; slept a LOT, and helped me change while I was attached to my IV bottle.
Frankly, I found it irritating that once I was detached from my IV, I couldn't ramble the full length of the hall like Ramon did when he was convalescing; because the door to my room would not lock. Pfui!
Then Dad called me up on the day before my discharge to say he was firing the cook. OYE CARAMBA WHAT. I wanted to cry so bad, but was afraid of raising my BP and getting an extended stay in hospital. My poor husband! I couldn't risk getting him into a dither either or there would be two of us in the hospalital. He still has a weak heart after all is said and done, and strong bad feelings could set back his progress.
In the end, the doctors figured that I could manage very well out of the hospital. So I learned to take insulin shots. I learned what I was and was not allowed to eat (though like Ramon, I have learned by trial and error how much of "normal food" I can safely eat per meal). Went through the whole discharge procedure and was picked up by my goddaughter. I must say she has evolved into a very capable young woman behind the wheel of a vehicle. She has the driving temperament of her mother. :)
That's the saga of my hospital stay. More to follow....
Summary of events thus far (this cannot be a short thing, surely you know this about me by now?):
- I had a stroke somewhere around the top of December 2013 and had my first-ever confinement in the hospital. For actually getting to the hospital I am forever indebted to my best friend, and a merciful God who arranged things so that my goddaughter happened to be online to read the tweet I sent describing my condition. Who then promptly told her mother, who got on the phone and got it into my bemused brains that I had to get to the hospital like NOW.
So we got to the hospital, husband in tow, our roles reversed and him being the hand-holder for a change. Desi called in her neurologist, who called in her endocrinologist, and we got Ramon's cardio into the team; because, to put it fine, my signs were off the chart. High blood pressure, diabetes (sugar level at 300, which freaked everyone out but me in my benighted state), plus the stroke that sent me into the ER in the first place. PLUS evidence in the MRI scan of THREE PREVIOUS STROKES. Obviously when I do things? I do them in a big way.
Desi was a tower of strength - her experience as a survivor helped a lot; she must have had her hands full keeping me in a sane and calm mental state through all the endless waiting for test results and a hospital room. In the end, I was in hospital for about a week, I think - watched a lot of TV, learned to bear with the hunger pangs that came with a diabetic diet, with a few exceptions was not impressed with the quality of the nurses on the floor nor the janitorial services. Ramon, as designated watcher, was sent home at regular intervals to feed and water the kitty-babies; slept a LOT, and helped me change while I was attached to my IV bottle.
Frankly, I found it irritating that once I was detached from my IV, I couldn't ramble the full length of the hall like Ramon did when he was convalescing; because the door to my room would not lock. Pfui!
Then Dad called me up on the day before my discharge to say he was firing the cook. OYE CARAMBA WHAT. I wanted to cry so bad, but was afraid of raising my BP and getting an extended stay in hospital. My poor husband! I couldn't risk getting him into a dither either or there would be two of us in the hospalital. He still has a weak heart after all is said and done, and strong bad feelings could set back his progress.
In the end, the doctors figured that I could manage very well out of the hospital. So I learned to take insulin shots. I learned what I was and was not allowed to eat (though like Ramon, I have learned by trial and error how much of "normal food" I can safely eat per meal). Went through the whole discharge procedure and was picked up by my goddaughter. I must say she has evolved into a very capable young woman behind the wheel of a vehicle. She has the driving temperament of her mother. :)
That's the saga of my hospital stay. More to follow....
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I've been out of hospital for three weeks now and so far, so good. I survived the holiday season with all its sweet stuff without any major pangs of longing for what I couldn't have; BFF Desi was the best ever, giving me a sugar-free marjolaine cake for my birthday, "Because dammit, if anyone needs a celebration, it's you...don't stress over not giving my Christmas gift, just get better as soon as possible."
So my sugar, funnily enough, is fairly stable - in the hospital the readings were all over the universe. Now it's just a matter of isolating the triggers and getting the levels down. Same for the hypertension. Have got a new BP monitor to play with and an insulin monitoring kit. Am good to go...though what my doctor will say about the way I've had to run around is best not thought of right now. :)
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Keeps you in my prayers that there are no more strokes and that your health continues to improve.
How very scary.
*hugs you.*
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*hugs and passes you tea*