The emergency room

[fabrisse]

Warning: somewhat graphic description in the second sentence.

Tonight's my sister's turn. Vomiting, diarrhea, blood. There had been a car accident, so she's just being seen after a 4+ hour wait. Mom wanted to come, but -- since she can't drive until she's been seen by her doctor next week, and will probably be banned until she's had the next angioplasty, AND, due to COVID, only one person can be with a patient at a time -- I convinced her to stay home.

Sis is in atrial fibrillation at the moment. First time for everything.

BTW, have I mentioned that I ran out of antidepressants and couldn't get them filled for over a week?

I'm so glad I'm here to help, but things are getting stressful.

ETA: Sis will be spending two nights in the hospital on IV antibiotics for colitis.

Comments

[kathmandu]

Oh, gee, that is an awful string of medical crises. Best wishes to all of you.

[fabrisse]

In a year with plenty of worldwide suck, it feels like 2020 said, "Oh, yeah, Fabi. I forgot to make her year worse."

Thank you for your good wishes. It means a lot.

[mllesatine]

Oh shit. Hope she and your mom get better soon.

[fabrisse]

Thank you. All good wishes are welcome.

I've driven more in the past week than I have in the previous five years.

[mecurtin]

What a cavalcade of suck this year has been. We're here for you if you need to just SCREAM

[fabrisse]

Right now, I'm too tired to scream, but I may take you up on it later. It's been a year.

[siderea]

Holy shit, I am so sorry. Need anything?

FYI colitis isn't a disease itself, it is a symptom like "fever". Do they know what caused it? (Sometimes they just give the IV antibiotics on spec, figuring that if it wasn't caused by a bacterial infection, all the native bacteria in one's colon will just make whatever it is worse.)

[fabrisse]

When Sis had her ulna shortened last week, the surgeon also debrided quite a bit of soft tissue, more than he'd expected to. He mentioned that it had some infection in it. I don't know that the two are linked; as you taught me, correlation doesn't mean causation. I'm still betting that they probably are linked.

The atrial fibrillation terrified me. Sis is the one person in the family with no heart issues, or so we thought.

[siderea]

When Sis had her ulna shortened last week

...okay, you had mentioned she'd had wrist surgery, but hadn't mentioned what it was. Why did her ulna need shortening?

The atrial fibrillation terrified me. Sis is the one person in the family with no heart issues, or so we thought.

Yeah, that's pretty alarming. But hopefully manageable?

[fabrisse]

Essentially, her ulna is too long. (I assume it's like the bone spurs in my feet where for some reason the bone just keeps growing, but i could be completely wrong.)

At some point, it shifted and began to impinge on the nerve in her wrist. Recently, like just before Thanksgiving, it got much worse. The doctor scheduled her for 23 December so that she could have her first follow-up appointment before she began teaching again on 11 January. If he hadn't been able to do it last week, she would have had to wait until June.

[neotoma]

My sympathies. I hope she's able to recover quickly.

[fabrisse]

Thank you. There's still no potential release date.

[sef1029]

What a dreadful year 2020 has been. I know a change of calendar page doesn't solve much, but I hope the gradual return of the light is literal for you.

Thank you again for your lovely gift story. I had suspected it was yours but couldn't believe you were able to write in the midst of so many challenges. Thank you!

[fabrisse]

Thank you. It's good to hope for a new year.

[fabrisse]

I'm glad you liked it. Writing took more out of me than usual (not a complaint, btw), but it was a great way to get out of my own problems. Thank you for the gift of a place to go in the midst of chaos.

Happy New Year.