Taking care of business
Hello folks. I am doing better today after a 4 (or so) hour visit in the ER last night. But first, some back story:
MaryBeth and I have been married more than 18 years. For our 10th wedding anniversary, we decided to take a trip to Hawaii. While we were on Oahu (for the last couple of days of the trip), visiting Seann (my best friend from college) and his family, I started to get a pain in my lower right abdomen. I kept putting it off and off, but after about 2 or so days, I woke up with a fever and being somewhat disoriented.
We went to a ‘Doc in a Box’ (a walk in clinic) and the doctor there forwarded me to the hospital. Turns out that I *HAD* waited to long and a localalized infection (diverticulitis) became a systemic infection. After some preliminary tests, I was admitted to the hospital on Oahu and stayed there 3 nights.
Fast forward to yesterday, the pain in my lower right abdomen, which first started on Thursday as a relatively small ache / pain and continued to grow in intensity over Friday and Saturday, was similar enough to the pain I experienced in Hawaii that I decided NOT to wait until it became systemmic. Not to mention that given the fact that my cell counts were low on Wednesday (my white blood cell count was 2 yesterday — .7 lower than Wednesday– and my ANC was 1250 — down from 1840 on Wednesday).
Thus, at the urging of my wife and others (several from this blog — Thank you), I went to the hospital and they confirmed the presence of the diverticula. They treated me with IV antibiotics, gave me scripts for some oral antibiotics and sent me on my way.
Luckily we were able to keep Kevin distracted: Cat, in a feat of complete selflessness, took Kevin to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua. What a loving Aunt! When they got home from the movie, they kept him occupied, so he did not even know that I was gone. Thank goodness; this weekend was supposed to be low stress for Kevin, so he could forget about all his worries. It would not have done to have him worrying about me being in the hospital.
In the end, alls well that ends well (at least in regards to this saga). Be well.
Merle