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| Gift from Paul's parents, Tom & Marcia. |
Dr. Choe (podiatry) said surgery was necessary to fix my foot and scheduled that for the following Monday. Dr. Touhy (sports medicine) determined that I had suffered a concussion and wanted to keep a close watch on that. My abdomen constantly ached on the right side, and with just the slightest bit of pressure, I could feel pain shoot up to my ears and down my leg. It was weird. He later figured out with other tests that my liver was pretty banged up from the fall (no, I didn't drink too much on the ship) and wanted to monitor that as well. CT scans were on hold because of the intense amount of radiation. He wanted to see if it'd just get better with time first before exposing me to all that mess. Thanks, Doc.
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| My sick chair ... with a view. |
About 2 hours after I got home from the hospital, Dr. Touhy called and asked me to come back in for more blood work and tests based on results from the earlier tests. Oh-so-painful to move the slightest bit at that point, but I knew I had to do it in order to help them help me. So back to the hospital I went.
On Saturday, my friend, Carla, brought over a wheelchair to borrow which was put to great use over the weekend (Thanks, Carla!). It's now day 9 since I've been off the ship, and I still feel the sway and motion of the boat. This makes being on crutches very dangerous. So for now, I just crawl around the apartment on all fours instead of using the crutches. I'm doing everything I can to protect my semi-good left foot, as its not 100% healed from its fracture last August. Having the wheelchair is really great, though it's a bit uncomfortable and humbling having to depend on others for your basic needs. Mom, Paul and I went to mass and lunch on Sunday then took a walk down Fillmore Street. Mom lets Paul push me uphill and has decided there should be a little button that activates a motor to help you up the hills when you need it. Kinda like the ones on the hybrid electric bikes.
I get sad thinking everyday of where I'd be if I was still on the boat. But Kathryn (Chef Kelly) has done a great job with making me feel better by emailing everyday and keeping all the concerned passengers in the loop as to what's going on. The same group of passengers I boarded with will be ending their 19 day cruise in Barcelona this weekend. They had a prayer service for me on board the day after the accident, and they're taking up a donation for the priest and sisters who helped me in Bermuda. So sweet and thoughtful of them!!
My surgery was cancelled for Monday with Dr. Choe, because Dr. Schuberth, the head of podiatry wanted to take over my case. No problem. An office visit was scheduled with him for Tuesday (yesterday). Okay. Great.
Monday night Mom and I went to a Seder Meal at the church. Wanna know what the worst thing for a person in a wheelchair to read is???..."All Rise. Stand and sing..." While we were there, I got a call saying the office visit with Dr. Schuberth was going to be the surgery appointment instead. I was told not to eat anything after 9am and be at the hospital by 2pm for pre-op and surgery would take place around 5pm. Okay.
Tuesday morning I woke up with a pretty bad headache. I ate, took some more pain meds, but the headache got progressively worse. By 1pm, I was vomiting and every bit of noise, light, and movement would send shocks of pain through my head. Was this because of the concussion? Was it from not eating enough? Was the intense dizziness still because of the ship? Or because the concussion? Was my abdomen hurting more because of the violent vomiting? Or was it the liver again? All of these questions going through my poor mother's mind. It pained me to see her watching me. So sad.
We got to the hospital, and I know I looked like a complete mess. Like a drug addict, maybe?? They wheeled me into surgery admittance with sunglasses on (to block the light), an ice pack on my head (to help with the pain), my fingers in my ears (to cancel as much noise as I could), and a bag in my lap (in case I got sick again). I felt ridiculous saying, "Hi, I'm here for surgery." I could barely even speak without getting nauseous.
They got my vitals and suited me up in the bed for surgery. As soon as the anesthesiologist saw me and talked to Mom about the accident history, he immediately called down to the ER to have me seen for my head and abdomen. He cancelled my surgery. They wheeled me on the gurney to the ER, and it was like a roller coaster ride. But not fun. I lost my stomach twice, but by this hour, there was nothing left in me. The most painful kind of heaves is when you're running on empty. Ugh...But at least I got everyone's attention in the ER!
They hooked me up to an IV and morphine and something else for nausea. That place was so busy and so loud that I just wanted someone to rip my head off right then and there. I was begging them to just give me something to eat to make this headache go away. But they couldn't until they ruled out the other stuff, like my brain bleeding. Oh. Okay. During the first 3 hours of lying there, I could hear other patients coming in and out. They were there for other things like dizziness, irregular heart beats, stomach pain. All of them got morphine, too. I wondered if that was just a San Francisco thing? If they just give out morphine like Chinese restaurants give out fortune cookies? After hearing the third patient getting morphine, I didn't feel special anymore.
I got a CT scan on my head and abdomen. Thank God, all the results came back normal. My mom kept asking them to give me glucose to see if that would help balance my blood sugar. Even though my headache was better, it was definitely still there. After 4 hours, they agreed to try it. And wow! My headache went away completely! Mom's always right! Okay, okay, it's good to listen to the doctors, too, but I told them when I got there that I just need some mashed potatoes and roast beef to get this headache away. But they were not amused. Instead, they let me lay there with needles and IVs and a bed pan, which I never wish to use again. Geeze. That was just awful.
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| Life in the ER. |
Not many people would have been able to sit in silence with me for 7 hours. But Mommy did. She's a saint! I guess she took a few photos of me, too. When we finally got home at 9:30pm, I was still drugged and exhausted. But starving! We chowed down, as Mom hadn't eaten all day either. I love her!
This morning, I got a call from Dr. Schuberth, the podiatry surgeon. He voiced that he was sorry I had to go through all of that yesterday, but that it was the right thing to do in that situation. It would have been so dangerous to operate on me if I was bleeding in my head. And THEN...he said that if it was his foot, or if I was his daughter, he would NOT do the surgery. HUH?? Whoa. Now I'm really confused. He explained everything he saw in the x-ray and is now wanting to take the non-surgical route to recovery. I said I need to think about this a little more, as two other doctors have told me that they would opt for surgery. I'm going to see Dr. Schuberth tomorrow in his office to discuss this a bit further and to get my current cast replaced. The swelling has gone down tremendously, so the cast is a little loose and sliding a little bit. We went ahead and scheduled surgery for Monday, in case I opt to do it. But for now, I'll pray about it and ask for a clear answer from God. I don't want for this to heal improperly and then wind up needing surgery eight weeks from now. But I feel like...since surgery has been postponed twice already...is God trying to tell me something by that?!?!
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