I was mostly off the board this week. I was admitted for a relatively serious medical emergency - gallstone stuck/passing putting strain on my liver and system. Without getting into it, in 2012 I had a serious issue on active duty that was now-obviously misdiagnosed as "gas". Severe 9/10 pain then. It re-occurred Wednesday 10 days ago. I endured it (thinking it was "gas") and 9/10 pain, pain subsided a bit and I worked Thurs & Fri to meet urgent work deadlines. By Saturday I could not endure it and went to the VA ER and was admitted where I underwent tests and procedures for 6 days. I was expecting discharge mid-week but they shifted gears and did more procedures. I'm home now, after almost a week of being gone. I'm all better, but will need a gallbladder removal soon.
My feedback and learning points.
* When you have serious pains, it's good to know your personal pain limits. This was very severe pain. But you should also have pain meds and antibiotics on hand IMO for such an event if you cannot get to a doctor. By the time I was able, I was seriously infected and needed a week of recovery.
* Being in a hospital sucks. It was my first admission in decades to my memory, and I've been both lucky and just too damn tough (or stubborn) to go to the hospital. I have been to the ER for injuries and serious illness, but not admitted before. Constant noise, very inconsiderate "roommates" with constant noise, etc. Food is okay. On the plus side, the staff and nurses and doctors were simply outstanding. Being it's the VA, I don't think I'll get a bill from what was probably a $50,000+ week. So if you don't have insurance this could cripple financially.
* There's nothing like being around others with serious problems to make you thankful for your own. I met amputees, cancer patients, etc. One roommate was a 27 year old OEF veteran with a missing limb and sclerosis of the liver from alcoholism.
* I have never taken a narcotic except for a couple vicodins in the early 1990s after wisdom tooth removal. With the serious concern over opiods and addiction (I've seen it ruin productive lives) I was very very worried about any opiods. After day 5 of pain, I reluctantly agreed to the smallest dose of oxycontin. I took it about 5 times. It worked very well, and I had no addiction to it. I declined a prescription for it, which they would have written had I insisted. Used responsibly, it's a great pain treatment tool.
* You learn who your reliable friends are. Some call or message, some ignore. I had two sets of friends to rotate dog care. One set will no longer be my friend as they royally screwed up. They overfed my dogs, fed them the wrong food, and didn't let them out enough. I came home to several dog messes, ruined expensive rug, and destroyed dog beds (which my dogs would not do unless very upset from neglect). These morons literally ignored common sense, and fed my dogs 1/2 month worth of food during their 3 days' of dog-sitting (They fed two adult dogs 1/2 of a 28 pound bag of dog food + home made food in 3 days - even a kid would know that's too much. There's food feeding charts on the bag for Pete's sake). Causing both my dogs obvious weight gain and upset stomachs (they still are gassy), and the messes. They turned off my home security systems, and failed to follow other simple instructions when I asked them to throw out all the veggies and put all the meats in the freezer. I returned to spoiled smelly ruined foods. The second set of friends totally failed me, and then got angry at me for a very petty reason because I wanted my keys back at a time that was a minor inconvenience to them. (BTW, these are friends I've given probably thousands of dollars of free legal advice to, I've driven them to the airport at ultra early hours four times for them, helped them with various projects, etc. I've rarely asked them to help me out and on balance have given far more than I've received.). In total, this has ended my friendship with the 2nd set of unreliable idiots. This is just a reminder to surround yourself with reliable, trustworthy, competent people.
* I feel good having not had coffee or booze for a week of "detox." Think I lost some weight from feeding restrictions.
My feedback and learning points.
* When you have serious pains, it's good to know your personal pain limits. This was very severe pain. But you should also have pain meds and antibiotics on hand IMO for such an event if you cannot get to a doctor. By the time I was able, I was seriously infected and needed a week of recovery.
* Being in a hospital sucks. It was my first admission in decades to my memory, and I've been both lucky and just too damn tough (or stubborn) to go to the hospital. I have been to the ER for injuries and serious illness, but not admitted before. Constant noise, very inconsiderate "roommates" with constant noise, etc. Food is okay. On the plus side, the staff and nurses and doctors were simply outstanding. Being it's the VA, I don't think I'll get a bill from what was probably a $50,000+ week. So if you don't have insurance this could cripple financially.
* There's nothing like being around others with serious problems to make you thankful for your own. I met amputees, cancer patients, etc. One roommate was a 27 year old OEF veteran with a missing limb and sclerosis of the liver from alcoholism.
* I have never taken a narcotic except for a couple vicodins in the early 1990s after wisdom tooth removal. With the serious concern over opiods and addiction (I've seen it ruin productive lives) I was very very worried about any opiods. After day 5 of pain, I reluctantly agreed to the smallest dose of oxycontin. I took it about 5 times. It worked very well, and I had no addiction to it. I declined a prescription for it, which they would have written had I insisted. Used responsibly, it's a great pain treatment tool.
* You learn who your reliable friends are. Some call or message, some ignore. I had two sets of friends to rotate dog care. One set will no longer be my friend as they royally screwed up. They overfed my dogs, fed them the wrong food, and didn't let them out enough. I came home to several dog messes, ruined expensive rug, and destroyed dog beds (which my dogs would not do unless very upset from neglect). These morons literally ignored common sense, and fed my dogs 1/2 month worth of food during their 3 days' of dog-sitting (They fed two adult dogs 1/2 of a 28 pound bag of dog food + home made food in 3 days - even a kid would know that's too much. There's food feeding charts on the bag for Pete's sake). Causing both my dogs obvious weight gain and upset stomachs (they still are gassy), and the messes. They turned off my home security systems, and failed to follow other simple instructions when I asked them to throw out all the veggies and put all the meats in the freezer. I returned to spoiled smelly ruined foods. The second set of friends totally failed me, and then got angry at me for a very petty reason because I wanted my keys back at a time that was a minor inconvenience to them. (BTW, these are friends I've given probably thousands of dollars of free legal advice to, I've driven them to the airport at ultra early hours four times for them, helped them with various projects, etc. I've rarely asked them to help me out and on balance have given far more than I've received.). In total, this has ended my friendship with the 2nd set of unreliable idiots. This is just a reminder to surround yourself with reliable, trustworthy, competent people.
* I feel good having not had coffee or booze for a week of "detox." Think I lost some weight from feeding restrictions.
