June 13, 2009

I am home again after four days at Stanford with various mega strong antibiotic drips in my arm. Since I have had a double mastectomy, blood pressure readings are supposed to be done on the leg. One day my readings were very high and the nurse on duty got obsessed about it taking readings every 45 minutes. She called the doctor on call and he told her to put this med and then that med in my drip to bring the pressure down. When my admitting doctor came to see me at 6 p.m., I told him the nurse was obsessed about my blood pressure and could he please do something about it? He allowed her to do one reading on my left arm (the arm didn't explode as some said it would) and the upper number of my blood pressure was 40 points lower than from my leg readings. I suggested she continue to take the readings from my leg and just subtract 40 from the upper reading. She said, "That is not the way I practice medicine." I was glad she was off for a few days and I didn't have to deal with her any more about my blood pressure.

How & why I was admitted for the third time in less than a month:

Rigdon, Georgina and I went to my three appointments at Stanford last Tuesday. The first two doctors and the residents all noted the heat and redness around my surgery on the right side and each said, let's see what Dr. Gurtner has to say. Dr. Gurtner said what the others wouldn't, I had an infection and a drip of antibiotics was in order for 24 to 48 hours which dragged out to over 72 hours. The redness was improving somewhat but a rash developed around the incision and my face has a few patches of rash now also. I have no idea what is causing it, neither do the docs so they gave me cortisone cream. It was decided to send me home after four days of being tethered to a drip system (to walk around I had to push my device with the miscellaneous bags hanging on it making sure not to trip on the eight wheeled base) and take oral antibiotics at home. I had a wonderful rest in the hospital, my own room again, no TV, lots of naps, and few visitors. I was quite happy to fill out my meal requests including cream of wheat, salad, fruit plates, scrambled eggs and even a snickerdoodle cookie. No snacks so I was hungry when the meals were delivered. Except for all the hospital personnel coming and going (seemed like my trash was emptied hourly) I was comfortable, no more fever, and relaxed.

I have enjoyed all my family being around and I also like my solitude, so this hospital stay was my four days of solitude. Rigdon was dealing with Bubba's problems (he is fine, had eaten something bad for his system) and couldn't come to Palo Alto. I was admitted lean and mean because I didn't expect to be readmitted; the hospital gave me a toothbrush, a pair of socks and of course the hospital gown, fabric designed by Karen Newberger, very soft cotton jersey, still confounding to tie but soft and comfy.

David picked me up yesterday and on our way home from Palo Alto, he stopped at his favorite sushi restaurant in San Francisco, we ate sashimi and sushi in the car (I still can't go places) and then came home. Sienna and her friend Dede were dropped off here yesterday and today after doing the zip line (longer, higher, scarier and definitely better than the previous one) they made a movie called, "Who is the egg thief?" Dede wearing a black hooded (huge) sweatshirt at one point in the movie. David did the filming and I can't wait to see it edited. They just left for a birthday party in S.F., and it is my nap time. They won't return for two weeks because of the visitation schedule that took many hours and oodles of money to the attorneys to negotiate.

If someone asks about me and they are interested you may give them my blog address. I plan to start to have visitors, one a day for a short time. Madeline Blake came by today complete with the x-rays of her broken toe which occurred in Amelia while visiting Judith. Mads is walking now, but certainly not a lot. Her foot is still swollen. She said that Italian doctors don't use pain medications, hard to believe. I would be very careful about falling in Italy with that information.