Remember Me?

Hi, this is Allen. I know it's been a while. Real life has been moving along, we've crossed into a new year and I just haven't had much to say.

I spent most of last week in the hospital, unfortunately. The doctors aren't quite sure why but the most likely explanation was some kind of stomach ailment, possibly a virus. I'll spare you some of the details but by Tuesday morning (01-08-08), I was in a lot of pain and had suffered some really terrible diarrhea, so I decided to call into work and asked my wife to drive me to the emergency room.

After a really long wait, the ER nurse got me started on intravenous (IV) fluids and put a big tube down my nose all the way to my stomach (needless to say, that was not the high point of my day). Then they checked me into a room and gave me pain medication.

I spent most of the next 24 hours sleeping, getting my vital signs taken or blood drawn. I couldn't eat or drink anything, although they did give me things to keep my mouth moistened, which helped. My wife was by my side all day and then she had to go home to take care of the kids. I could barely swallow and couldn't talk much more than a whisper because of that tube down my throat. Thankfully, I convinced them to take that out by Wednesday afternoon, which improved my outlook a whole lot. The tube had actually been causing me as much discomfort and outright pain as my stomach had.

Throughout the experience, I asked my wife to keep our pastor informed so he could pray for us. Also, the church members in charge of the sick committee were often in contact with my wife and offering what help they could. Friends wanted to visit but I was in no condition to see anyone but my wife and hospital personnel (who were used to seeing people in such a bad state). To the staff's credit, I felt very cared for by the nurses, techs and doctors.

Thursday, I went through a series of x-rays and was waiting for the results of that all day. My wife brought both the kids and my laptop to the hospital by evening. It was great to see my boys and my oldest son even drew me a get well card while he was there in the hospital room. My youngest son engaged me in in-depth questioning to let me know his concern and his optimism for me. Both were quite endearing. After they left, the doctor came in and let me know the x-rays looked good and that I could be put on regular food (I'd spent 2 days eating "clear liquid meals") by morning and probably released by the end of the day Friday. That was wonderful news! I couldn't get a wireless internet connection with my laptop but it did allow me to listen to music and watch a Star Trek New Voyages episode that I'd downloaded ("World Enough And Time" with George Takei) before going to sleep.

The next day, I had a wonderful omelet breakfast (ham, red and white onions, green bell peppers and mushrooms with some nice fluffy egg) along with fruit juice and coffee. I also took a shower (only the 2nd one I'd taken in 4 days...ew!) and shaved before my wife arrived. We met with the doctor, who cleared me for going home and going back to work as of Monday. My wife treated me to lunch at our favorite Japanese restaurant, a lovely place called Odaku. It was great to have some fresh miso soup and sushi and charbroiled teriyaki chicken and other vegetable delights. I knew I'd need to take a lot home as leftovers, I had only started eating regular food that morning and needed to take it easy until my stomach got back to its normal proportions.

I'll blog about the rest soon!

Best Wishes,
Allen