Rude awakenings...

[pfloyd]

Pink's Life

There are times in your life when one gets one of the rudest awakenings he could ever face in his fleeting existance in this universe.
Rude awakening this was, but in a grand scheme of things, we're not talking about something ultimate here. Not even penultimate.

Here's the story:
Sometime before 330 Thursday morning, I woke out of a decent sleep, half-thinking it was the usual wakeup during the night to use the loo.
What I got instead was abdominal pain. Not just a minor cramp or anything like that.
I'm talking 6, maybe 7 on the pain scale. Perhaps even 8 at times.
By 400, I was in the ER at Medical Center.
I was stuck with a Heploc catheter, had blood drawn, and then an IV put in place to keep me hydrated. Two doctors came in, asked me the same questions, poked around my belly, and then went off.
An orderly, or at least a man dressed in scrubs, came in later on, telling me I was going to have a CAT scan of my abdo, and I had to drink this nasty barium constrast liquid. I say it was nasty because not only was it unpleasant to drink, it was berry flavoured. I am not a fan of anything berry flavoured.
They gave me a small dose of morhpine to handle the pain. Did it work? It worked about as well as Lucy Ricardo on the candy line. I think it may have helped me doze out for a few minutes here and there though.
So then I have the CAT scan. It's an interesting experience, really. You get put in this big toroid (or donut-shaped), told when to hold your breath and let it out, and in less than ten minutes, I was being wheeled back to my room.
What it boiled down to was this: in the past seven to eight years in which I've had ulcerative colitis/IBD, I've never had a flare-up of pain. Not one.
This was a flare-up.
Now I know that I haven't been religious with my meds. In this case, I've found religion. Those things will be taken as prescribed, on time, for as long as I need to take them.
I'm going to do the bland/light diet through the weekend, see how things go. I should be back to a normal diet next week.
I have follow-up appointments all day Monday with my PCP and GI specialist.
As I said, a rude awakening. It wasn't as serious as it could have been, and for that I am happy. I didn't have to go in for surgery for anything. Nothing invasive. I was out of there sometime between 1000 and 1100, and after a quick stop at the market to get broth, bullion (yes, those little cubes that you put in hot water to make soup -- from Three Kings), ginger ale, and saltines, we went home and caught a bit of a nap.
And today, I'm feeling much better, as if nothing happened.
But I'm still going to go easy for a few days. Thinking of this as a purge, cleansing out the body. No caffeine for at least a week. No dairy through at least the weekend. Just eat light, though I'm suddenly hungry for pancakes. Perhaps a salad tomorrow night, pick up some chicken to broil in the oven or something. Maybe even get more veggies in my diet, even if it's more salads with dinner. No chocolate through the weekend. Hmmm, broiled chicken with plain pasta or something like that, with a salad...
This sort of opens up some other doors when it comes the the menu. I'm not going to stay bland or light for long though.
*whew*

On the baby front -- no news. No contractions, no labor, nothing going on. We're getting antsy here.
C's got yet another OB appointment today, and this is the due date. I'm waiting for the phone on my hip to start vibrating with news that she's being admitted or something. If it's past noon or so and no hipshakes on my end, all is well.
Though there are some backup plans with inducing the labor ourselves. C found out about some bakery whose goods have been rumored to induce labor. Chinese food has been suggested. A ride on a bumpy road. Any other ideas?

My partner in crime here at work went home sick. Just as well, I'll be out on Monday too, with follow-up appointments. Hopefully it won't be too busy.

My Mom-in-Law is offering to get us a digital movie camera for C's birthday. C doesn't know what to tell her about models and such. She's researching a few, but the terms confuse her. Looks like it's the Geek in the Family to the rescue tonight!

So tonight's plans are:
- Make some noodle soup and a turkey sandwich (no cheese) for dinner for me.
- Help C decide on a digital camera
- Maybe work some more on my Celtic D&D game, at least getting classes and races figured out.
- Look at getting info for my Real American HERO game.
- Peek into the front room and wonder how the hell I'm going to get through that. I'd like to get something done in there this weekend, since it'll be rainy.

(I know it's getting long without a cut. I haven't updated in a couple of days.)

It's going to rain this weekend. Rather mightily on Saturday, but I think we'll still make a quick run up to Target. I need to get shampoo and body wash anyway, as I'm nearly out. We also want to look at a sling to carry the kid in, too. Fortunately, we have a gift card.
It won't be so bad on Sunday, I hear. So I'll get a quick run up to the market again in the morning.

Perhaps more later if the boredom continues...