Things And Stuff

 Hello there. I know you’ve been sitting on pins and needles wondering what today’s post is going to be about today.  Here it is. 

Drum roll please............

Things and Stuff

The photo above is a little trick one of my nurses, her name was Madigan, showed me. She was my favorite nurse ever. She was my nurse on many of my hospital stays. I am a lip balm user. When in the hospital I was always loosing it. She came in, poked a hole in the tissue box, just big enough so the balm would fit in snuggly, and stuck it in. I use this trick to this day.

When you have your Time Share at the hospital, especially a Trauma One hospital, you learn all the codes. They do a tone so you know to listen for what’s happening. You all know Code Blue is the worst, every department has to get there stat. Doctors, nurses, lab techs, security, and whatever departments that need to be there. I loved listening to the codes. Code Trauma One meant the helicopter is on its way and they would give the minutes that it was going to arrive. Code Trauma Two, could be helicopter or paramedics with a severe case.  Still bad but not close to death. Code Stroke could be called for the Emergency Room or a hospital floor. Rapid Response was someone could have fallen on the floor and something like that. The codes would be followed with a building number, floor number, room number. So were Codes Blue and Strokes. 

One funny experience happened to me. I was in the room waiting to go have one of my TIPS procedures done. Heard the tones. My ears perked up. Then came “Code Blue, Building 5, Main Floor, (about that time I’m like, oh my gosh, that’s where I am), and then Room blah blah. What the??? That’s me!! Am I dead? About a zillion people showed up. Turns out there was a part on the computer by my bed. The nurse had pushed it without knowing. Phew, I thought I was a goner. 

You know these boards they have in your room. They put the date, your name, your nurses name, your aides name, and the custodians name, (I kid). I just couldn’t have it sit there.  I’d go over and write things on it. At the bottom they have little faces to rate your pain level. Well, since I’m adult enough to know how to rate my pain, but young at heart enough to go write things on it. They wouldn’t let me go home till I pooped. As you can tell I let them know what my poop situation was. 

Then there are the times I had visitors. I’m going to mention a few of the special times. These all happened before my transplant. 

I have a sister-in-law that I’ll call M. She came to visit me one day. I wasn’t feeling good.  I was sitting over by the window. All of the sudden I knew I was going to throw up. She hurried and grabbed a barf bag and rubbed my back while I threw up. What you need to know, and why this is such a special memory for me, is because she has a really bad gag reflex. If she sees someone throwing up, she will too. She would not allow herself to do it that day. You rock M. 

My kids and grandkids would visit me too. One day my son J. and his wife brought their kids to see me. They were 4 and 2 at that time. I happened to be in a room on the side of the floor that we could watch the helicopter take off and land. They would wait and wait for that to happen. And being a Trauma Hospital, it happened quite a bit. They must have gotten their love for watching that from me, because I could see it even while laying in the bed. One cool thing about being on the 10th floor. 

Another day my sister A. came walking in the room with this pillow. Don’t ask why it says And Ever,  but I think it’s because she will love me now and forever.  I have loved this pillow from that day on. The cool thing was that every night my husband would stack about 8 pillows around me before he left.  First of all because those beds are not the most comfortable things in the world. Also, the bed I was in was not level. The right side was lower for some reason. By stacking the pillows, it stopped me from falling out of the bed. I wish I had been smarter then and demanded a different bed. Oh they would hear the mean side of Dazee if it was happening today.

One day the PA came in and could see I was depressed. (You would be too if you had been in the hospital for two weeks). She told us to go outside for a walk. What the???  That’s allowed?? We wrapped me up in blankets covering my head and down to my toes. Went outside. Sat over by a fountain, when I looked towards the parking lot and saw my daughter M’s kids. We didn’t know they were coming. What a surprise. We sat outside and talked. Loved it. 

On November 11, 2018 we got a call from the transplant team telling me that I was the backup for a liver that was available. When you are a backup you need to go to the hospital so they can do testing and stuff. The doctor came in and said they were still waiting to hear if the primary patient was going to accept or deny the liver. There was another problem.  Apparently the donor was a 6’ 4”man. The team was trying to determine if his liver would even fit in my 5’ 4” body. No need to worry, the primary recipient decided to accept the liver so I was sent home. 

Alert....Alert. 

Cliffhanger.

 Next week we will be to the point of my life that you have all been waiting for. At least you don’t have to wait for a new season. Bwaa haa haa.