May 2000
On May 10, 2000 I left Tennessee and went to Pennsylvania with my mom after I was released from the hospital. My grandma was now at a rehabilitation center (she had a stroke April 23, 2000) about 40 miles from where my mom lived. We went every other day to go and spend the day with her. During lunch and supper my mom and I would walk the long hallway to the cafeteria. One day while we were walking to the cafeteria I started to feel very weak. I felt like I had no energy at all to even put one foot in front of the other. I could barely stand for a few minutes at a time. I waited the rest of the day to see if it would go away. Sometimes I felt like this before but it was always because i was sleep deprived, or I needed something to eat. Food didn't help it get any better. It just kept getting worse. Finally it was so bad that I had my mom take me to the hospital. At the hospital they checked my blood. My H&H (hematocrit & hemaglobin) was 7 and 22%. I needed 2 units of blood. I called my GI in Tennessee and he told me to go ahead and be admitted to get the blood. I was admitted to the hospital the next day, May 15, 2000, to get the blood. To make sure I didn't have any reactions I was kept over night for observation, then released the following morning. I felt alot better.
May 18, 2000
The day after my release I woke up with a pulse of 160. I called the hospital. They told me to go BACK to the ER. At the ER they weren't sure what to do with me. Concerned about the possibility of another flare up, I was sent by ambulance to Montifoire hospital (UPMC) in Pittsburgh, Pa. I was so thirsty all that day and they told me I wasn't allowed to have anything to eat- even ice chips- because the doctor had some tests planned for me. I didn't like this hospital at all. It was very un sanitary. When I used the restroom I discovered that the handle had blood all over it!! And in the shower there was atleast 5 bars of USED soap. The floor was even worse with black dirt and scum. It was really gross. You could tell that who ever was cleaning that room didn't know what they were doing at all! 3 Different doctors came into my room to ask me questions and better understand what was going on with me. The first doctor wrote down my history, and then did a rectal exam. About a hour later another doctor arrived. He also wrote my history down and he ALSO did a rectal exam. The third doctor came into my room and he to wrote my history down and asked to do a rectal exam. I told him that 2 doctors already did it to me, then he said "They could have missed something, I have to see it for myself to make sure". COME ON!! Pahhhhhhhleeeeeease! 3 rectal exams in one day?? Can anyone out there beat that record ??? The next day came and went, and the GI doctor never showed up. It finally got night time and my mom left and headed for home.
May 20, 2000
The next day my mom arrived early in the morning in anticipation of meeting the new GI doctor. Around 10am I noticed that my IV bag was about empty. Pretty soon it was empty and started beeping. I called at the nurses station and informed them about my IV bag. "I'll be right down" she replied. Eventually the machine stopped beeping. Pretty soon a hour had passed, and no nurse. Then another hour. I called back at the nurses station. "We are on our way" they replied, so I waited. Then another hour subsided. This was ridiculous!! A few moments later one of the doctors that was taking care of me came into the room. I informed him about my IV bag. He went himself and got me a new bag, and put it up for me. He couldn't believe that they left me go for that long without fluids, and especially since I have such bad veins. A couple hours later the GI doctor showed up. I was introduced to the GI doctor who was a woman (but really looked like a man). My mom and I didn't like her very much from the start. She began by asking me how my GI doctor in the past treated my pain. I told her that he gave me pain medicine. She went CRAZY and gave me a huge lecture about taking pain medication and said that none of her patients were ever on any. She scheduled me for a colonoscopy on May 25, 2000. Oh, and the so called "tests" they had me scheduled for was nothing but a 2 minute EKG done right in my room. I was then allowed to have food, and the nurse was suppose to order me a lunch. Lunch came and went, and I got no tray. I called the nurse and told her what happened and she ordered me another tray. Desperate and starving to death, I snuck over to the refridgerator where they keep all the jell-O and took myself a container of it. I hurried back to my room as fast as I could, pushing my IV rack. When I got to my room I went into the bathroom and started eating my jell-O. Someone came into my room so I hid the jell-O in the medicine cabinet till they left. My tray was here finally. It smelled horrible and was some kind of stuffed green peppers with pasta. GROSSSSSSSS!! I was released from the hospital on May 20, 2000.
May 24, 2000
In preparation for my colonoscopy I had to drink the good old gallon of golytly. I started drinking it at 8PM on the night of May 24, 2000. All the times before that I drank golytly it only ever took me about 2 hours before I started going to the bathroom. This time was really different. It was going on midnight and I still hadn't went to the bathroom. I still kept drinking. Pretty soon it was 1AM, then 2AM, then 3AM..and 4AM...I was up all night long, and so was my mom. I got about 15 minutes of sleep in between drinking the golytly. I really needed to go to the bathroom because we had to leave the house at 6AM to be at the hospital at 7AM for registration. My test was at 8AM. Shortly after 5AM I went to the bathroom a little bit. Where did all the golytly go to ??? Well finally it came time to leave the house, and I was still going to the bathroom. Somehow I managed to hold it till we got to the hospital. I explained to the GI doctor that I started drinking it when they told me to, and I just couldn't go to the bathroom. She told me not to worry about it, and got me preped for the colonoscopy. After the colonoscopy she told us that my ileum was so narrowed that even her smallest tube wouldn't fit through. And also that there was the starting of a fistula (they call it a fistulo) in my anal canal. My meds were changed around. I was started on cipro to try and heal the fistulo, and I was sent home. This GI doctor was so against giving out pain medicines yet she put me on 2 different anti-depressants!! I was sheduled for a barium follow through for 3 weeks later.
May 26, 2000
Well today I went to the ER because in the morning I woke up with horrible lower right abdominal pain. During the day the pain just got worse and worse. It radiated into my lower back and then into my right leg. My scyatic nerve got swollen. I was admitted to the hospital so that I could recieve pain treatment. I had already got a demeral shot in the ER, and I got 2 more pain shots through the night. The pain had got ahold of my body, and even 3 tylenol wouldn't get rid of it. There was no other way I was going to get rid of the pain. I was placed it the pediactric section of the hospital. It was my PCP (Primary Care Provider) that admitted me. We didn't have to travel the 60 miles to Pittsburgh. We just went to the hospital in town thats only about 2 miles from where we live. I was released on May 27, 2000. My doctor sent me home with Lortab 5. This hospital stay was nice because there was no one else around. The floor that they placed me on had only 2 other people on it. The staff was in the process of moving everyone to the same floor to save on the exspenses since there wasn't that many patients. They just left me alone because I was going home the next day. I even had one nurse to myself!!
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