continuing story

I was last being wheeled into my room with bags of IV hanging on a post with hooks above my head. The sight in the first bed was incredible. Rigdon doesn't think I am being politically correct recounting this, however I was so surprised by the sight I have to tell it.

The woman was lying on her back, arms flailed and legs spread, her arms and legs and abdomen were huge, round fat arms and legs, with a hospital gown on that stopped a few inches above her pubis. Coming out between her legs was a catheter and on her thigh was an IV. Her short (3/8 inch) black hair had a distinct part or line on her scalp. Her feet were tiny. I said hello while being wheeled past and recalled seeing large balloons in the Macy's parade on Thanksgiving in New York where I grew up. I actually have been to the real parade; my father put me his shoulders (he was 6 ft 4 inches so my view was perfect) and saw a huge balloon of a lady just like the one on the bed, however the balloon had Mary Janes on her feet. I probably did also, the de rigueur shoes of that era for little girls. As nurses came into the room, they gently suggested to her having a blanket over her legs, the next one suggesting a light sheet. She would have none of it. She was very polite, always saying please and thank you, no thank you, however she used the call button frequently to ask for pain meds. The nurses did not respond to her requests as rapidly as they did for mine which were minimal, I could unplug my IV cart, go on battery, and push the cart into the bathroom. One has to go in backward, because there is no way to turn around with cart in the narrow bathroom. BTW I checked the cart wheels and it has only six, not eight as previously blogged. The nurses and her physician kept asking her when her parents were coming and she said "11 o'clock" every time. When I heard her speak, she spoke in a monotone and her sentences sounded scripted. My guess was she was autistic. Finally the parents came (promptly at eleven), and I heard the discussion with the doctor. The statement that got me flummoxed was the doctor saying, "I still have the bone, we can wash it and put it back in, she will look much better." My nosiness was at its peak when he said that. When they all left, I went to the bathroom again, steal another peek, and I noticed a large part of her skull was caved in. They must have saved part of her cranium, though putting it back in seemed like an impossible task. It was hard to tell if she was awake or not because her eyes were hooded, however every time I walked by I said hi or hello. Finally I got a small hello from her, but that was the only interaction I had with her. After two nights in that room, an orderly came, piled my things on my bed and we went upstairs to the second floor. I thought, "hooray, maybe I will get another single room as I had on the previous three visits." Not to be, I was pushed into a double room with the bed away from the window, next to the sink and met my new roommate, a lovely paralegal, younger than I, who had her colon removed. As I asked her more, it was just the sigmoid part (the end of the colon), not the entire colon. She would have had a colostomy bag if the whole colon were gone. She was attended by a friend form the East coast who thought she was coming to California and San Francisco for fun and sightseeing. She was sweet and sat patiently in the visitor's chair listening to her hospitalized friend talk about her job, her life, etc. It was hard to tune out. She was scheduled to be discharged but was able to convince staff she needed another day.

She talked a lot about all the blood and clots that were exiting her body. She left the next day, and as soon as she started to pack, I asked the nurse if I could move to the window. No problem, the wonderful nurses said and I moved my items from closet A to closet B, the locker for the prized bed by the window and had my bed moved promptly. The next roommate from San Mateo worked nights at the Sheriff's department. She had a gastric bypass (had gotten overweight because her co-workers kept bringing in donuts and other fattening food). While she was in the operating room, she also had two hernias fixed, one hiatal and one abdominal. Three surgeries and only one anesthesia. I thought it was wonderful her doctor was willing to do all three. She had many other health issues which she told in great detail to every nurse, resident and then I was included in the litany. She was very attractive and when her sister visited I guessed her weight at 350 or above. Roommate #3 weighed only 200+, the amazing thing to me is that she hadn't told her sister that she had a gastric bypass. #3 was given all liquids, her big treat was Jello. Behind my curtain, I tried to eat my food quietly and not make any yum yum sounds while eating. Her weight and the consequences were a cautionary tale for me. Though she was only supposed to stay one night, she stayed three and really needed the extra attention from the staff.

I forgot to tell you about my plight. The redness did not improve on the previous drugs that had helped. I asked about a different antibiotic and was switched to Avelox in place of Vancomycin. The other antibiotic (whose name I can't recall) was not changed. Within 18 hours the redness had gone away almost completely. It lessened when I was prone and got very red when I stood up. Dr. Whitt had suggested we call in an infectious disease doctor who didn't appear until Sunday morning. There were a few interns/residents who loved to see me bare my chest, but I don't think they had much authority. Dr. Ho, the chief of ID (infectious diseases) brought her staff. You have no idea how many people have seen my boobettes. Every morning there were two teams (have to remember this is a teaching hospital), plastic surgery and infectious diseases. The teams were usually four or five people, peering at my chest, a few had the nerve to check the heat (with gloves on, I couldn't feel through those thick blue things) and pronounce "better than yesterday", "getting a little redder", " the inflammation has moved to the middle".

On Saturday, July 4, I was put on antibiotics by mouth with the promise I could go home Sunday if things improved. I don't think any thing improved but was happy and ready to go home, unlike the last hospitalization where I really wanted to be in bed. The ID and the Plastics conferred in the conference room and came out with the decision to put me on an antibiotic (Zyvox) other than Avelox and start with Keflex. If this is confusing to you you can imagine what we were going through. Since the hospital pharmacy was closed, we started home, my calling drugstores on our way to find the Zyvox. I knew Keflex (Cephalexin) was widely available. Zyvox is $80 plus a pill (not covered by insurance) and various pharmacies had none or only a few. We ended up getting seven pills at a Long's (soon to be CVS) with their promise of getting more. We have been only getting a few at a time because I was afraid the prescriptions could be switched in a heartbeat by the peripatetic teams and I wanted to see how I would react to it. By Monday, Dr. Gleber (country doc) and Dr. Gurtner (plastics guy) had a very long conversation about me and decided I should go back to Avelox (a drug only partially covered by insurance) and continue the Zyvox. I called Zsuzsanna Biran our local pharmacist pharmacist to give her some much appreciated business and she had four Avelox and could order more. The Zyvox had to be ordered and sold in groups of 20 and I didn't need that many so we continue to go to the Long's in Northgate Center and get a few at a time.

When we arrived home around 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, I walked all around the house taking it all in and then went under my covers and had a good cry because I was so glad to be home. Dr. Gleber came over on her lunchtime Monday, looked at my chest and said she's seen worse and I shouldn't worry about it but keep up all the cleanliness and exposure to viruses to a minimum. I figure with two of the the strongest antibiotics around, no bacteria would live long in my body, but viruses continue to be a concern. There are limitations on taking the drugs: no fermented or air dried meats, aged cheeses, soy sauce, tap beers, red wine, and chocolate. I got this information from the enclosures in the packages. I could have a very little bit of each but I think it is easier to just eliminate all the foods mentioned.