Not what I wanted to do today

[mdlbear]

Just asI did last Friday, I stayed home this morning so Colleen could go to a doctor's appointment at 11:30. There wasn't any question about it; the last couple of days she's been in too much pain to drive, between back, legs, and now what appears to be a badly infected finger.

It seems that the antibiotics she's been taking for the last two weeks don't seem to have gotten rid of the infection in her leg (though it's certainly looking better than it was before), and it may have spread.

Net result is that she's in the hospital for a day or three, mainlining antibiotics. She was in pretty good spirits when I left at 5:00, and reasonably comfortable. By that time they'd x-rayed her hand, taken an EKG, and started a drip of something in the penicillin family.

Getting there was a bit of a hassle: the doctor called the Kaiser hospital in Santa Clara to schedule her in, then sent us down to the lab for blood work, and from there to home to get packed and wait for a call. We very sensibly stopped at Colleen's favorite deli for sandwitches along the way. About 1:30 Santa Clara called to say that they weren't likely to have a bed available until after midnight. They in turn called down to Santa Theresa, determined that they had a bed, and told us to go in via Emergency.

Of course, by the time we got there (around 2:15), nobody had heard anything at all about Colleen. It wasn't until 4:30 or so that she finally got a bed in Emergency. The gods alone know when she'll get a regular bed. I made sure that she'd be able to get something to eat, and she sent me home to take the Y.D. out to dinner. Plus a list of books to bring tomorrow.

A 2 hour wait for a non-emergency patient to get a bed in emergency isn't too bad, considering, but I'm grumpy about the miscommunication.

At least we're getting this taken care of before going up to Seattle next weekend. If we'd let it go into next week Colleen would almost certainly have had to cancel. This way, it's almost certain she'll be out a couple of days before her flight on Friday. And if we'd waited until we got back, well, let's just not go there.

The house feels very damned lonely with just me and the Y.D. (upstairs on her computer).

(9:38) She's been fed and is in a room now; I'll see her in the morning. Room 352 333 West, Kaiser San Jose (formerly called Santa Theresa). The main number appears to be 408 972 3000. Visiting hours are 11am to 8pm.

Comments

[harmonyheifer.livejournal.com]

The sepsis was exacerbating her arthritis. Once they get the infections treated she should experience a lot less pain and stiffness. Viral or bacterial infections always trigger that kind of exaggerated immune response in people with certain types of arthritis, which makes sense because arthritis itself is nothing more than an exaggerated immune response to begin with.

I am very relieved that the doctors caught the sepsis when they did, and I am very glad to hear that IV antibiotics are part of her treatment plan. Knowing Colleen, she is probably handling all this with her usual mixture of slightly annoyed but also amused acceptance mixed with great concern for the welfare of everyone else.

And having spent many years as a single parent, I know how silent a house can be a night, and that solitary feeling that for good or ill, the parenting buck stops with you for that moment in time. It has got to be one of the loneliest sensations in the universe.

Give Colleen my love, and let her know I will be lighting a candle for her, along with a petition to the Goddess for a smooth recovery. I am sending both of you virtual hugs too, just for good measure. This kind of thing is hard, so do whatever you can to make it easier on each other, and on yourselves. One huge blessing is Colleen's ability to lose herself in a good book. That one habit makes being a patient a lot more tolerable.

[mdlbear]

Many thanks!!

I hope you're right about the arthritis; it sounds right, anyway, and the timing matches.