Day 18: “You come to Panama, you go to the hospital!”
My doctor said that. The title, I mean.My doctor from the morning (not Asian female John—I was sad because she had the best English out of all the doctors I’ve talked to so far) had to be paged to come to the hospital, which I am sure he was sad about because he had surgery at 8 AM, to talk to me about doing the CAT scan.
After he finally got there, he said he was going to check me in to the hospital. Also, to make my internal organs show up better on the CAT, I had to drink a solution. Mary, who is awesome because she stayed with me all night, said she had to drink a similar concoction once upon a time, and that it tasted sort of lemon-limey. I was okay with that, until I actually tasted it. I had to drink this delicious (note the sarcasm) lemon-lime milk water every hour from 3 AM to 6 AM, and then again just before the CAT (scheduled for 7:30, but it happened around 9:30 or 10). Also, I couldn’t have anything to eat.
After the first part of the scan, my IV needle got pulled in some strange direction which made me kick my legs all over the place and fail my arms, but at least I kept my chest still so I didn’t have to re-do that part of the scan. Then, the CAT technician came into the room and said, “Okay, next we’re going to get a closer look at your colon so you need to take some more of the illumination fluid.” I stupidly asked him if that meant I was going to drink more of that gross stuff. He shook his head and said, “No, we’re going to put the fluid into your colon.” Yes, you can guess what that means. It was pretty painful, and getting fluids added to my colon didn’t help the stomach pains as you can guess. After THAT awesome ordeal, I chilled out in the hallway for a little while until the nurse came back to bring me up to my room. Mary and Berta were waiting for me there, and I slept a bunch.
When I came to again, the doctor told me that I didn’t have appendicitis, that I had an inflamed colon; most likely from gastroenteritis. He said after I talked to the gastrointestinal doctor I’d most likely be able to go home—and that’s an awesome thing to hear at 2 PM when you haven’t had anything but IV fluids and lemon-lime milk water for a while.
Over 2 hours later, we still hadn’t heard from the gastrointestinal doctor, so Berta went to the desk and asked for them to call him again and see if he would pick up his phone to see if he was on his way to the hospital or what. A nurse came back and told us that he had been in surgery all afternoon and wouldn’t be done until 6 o’clock. They decided to go back to the hotel and bring me some clothes to change into and shampoo so I could shower before I went back (so I wouldn’t have to battle with the roommates for shower privileges). Mary and Berta came back about 10 minutes after the gastrointestinal doctor came back, and I got two pieces of the worst news ever. Not only would I have to stay in the hospital for another day, they were going to do more blood tests and I wouldn’t be able to eat anything. I really think they’re using me as an experiment to test if I can make it 3 days with only IV fluids. :/ I do have plenty of fat to live on, so I might make it more than 3.
Anyway, I showered and at least changed my socks and underwear (no use putting on pants or a shirt since I’ve been in a hospital gown for the past little while now). Joy is going to stay with me overnight (she rules), and Berta is going to come in the morning to get me. I am NOT going to stay in this place another day!!!
I have gotten some IV medication for the pain, and it’s still around but I think it’s lessening as well. I also got a pill for something (hopefully pain, but maybe something for the blood tests. Also, I just realized, it could be a vitamin) and apparently I’m going to get another pill sometime as well. All I have to say is, I’m ready to go back to the hotel and get back to classes! The possibility of going back to the US early is still there; if the doctor determines I need to have a colonoscopy I think I’ll go back to the US to have that done. Anything else I might be okay with staying here to have done. I’ve already been probed and bled so many times that it almost doesn’t matter anymore.
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