Emergency Trip to the Hospital =(

As I’ve said, I have been sick since I got back from vacation in Livingston with my parents. The symptoms would come and go, so for a while I thought that I was getting better – slowly but surely. It turns out that I was not getting better but almost deathly ill, and after getting home from using the computer on Sunday night I could barely move. Luckily, I now live with Amy, who called our directors to take me to the emergency room right that second. I was pretty out of it, and they took me to the only private hospital open on a Sunday night: which happened to be ridiculously named “The Private Hospital.” I was pretty out of it when I arrived there, and I had to be wheeled in for an exam by the cutest medical student ever. My resting heart rate is usually between 65 and 70: my heart rate Sunday night was up to 130bpm… sooo scary. Needless to say, they had to keep me overnight.

I was going to a private room, but they nurse forgot which one and opened the door to a room full of Amish people. Turns out I was next door in my lucky number Room #4. They took a blood sample – which was BLACK, very poorly inserted an IV in my arm (and by poorly I mean, blood squirted all over my bed and they had to change my sheets after they got it in, and right when I was about to pass out they told me I needed to take X-Rays of my chest. At first I refused to take them because I was so weak I couldn’t stand, but the cute doctor convinced me otherwise. The X-Ray man looked like he has lived in that little room for 40 years and never left- so I was a little scared of him. He also tried to convince me the straps of my tanktop had metal clips (they are plastic…it is from Forever21…seriously). Either way, he won the battle, and I had to put on a pink hospital gown without snaps or ties over my head and my IV bottle had to be woven through the sleeve also. It was almost impossible and I almost refused to get the x-rays altogether. After he took the 1st one, he came in screaming that I didn’t breath in enough and I had to redo it. I FINALLY got it the 2nd time and returned sweating and exhausted to my room. I was planning on leaving the stupid pink gown on to sleep and the nurse told me I wasn’t allowed. She told me they had to return the gown to the x-ray room… apparently they only have one. GO FIGURE. I finally got to sleep, but they nurse kept coming in saying I was bending my arm and my iv wasn’t working then, so they had to chain my arm flat to the bed for the night. Amy & Antonette stayed with me the first night too- and they basically shared a very small, uncomfortable wooden board for the night. They left at 5:30am and Lauren came at 7:30am the second day.

I forgot to mention my doctor: who had to be the most annoying man in the world. There was NEVER a split second of silence, as he filled any pause or space with Mmmhmm, mmmhmmm, mmm, hmmm…repeatedly. I had a big rash on my stomach at the beginning of day 2, so he told me I had to stay another night. My teacher Marta came to visit in the morning, and she made sure to ask the doctor everything, so we knew exactly what was going on. Other teachers and a few kids in my group filtered in and out all day, so it was nice to see people. I was on an IV all day Monday, and they finally stopped it at 10:30pm. Four to six nurses would come in at a time to do a one person job, so I was annoyed because they were ALWAYS there. One nurse came in at 5:00am Tuesday to ask if she could change my sheets. I told her I was still sleeping and she was out of her mind, and she eventually left. More nurses woke me at 6:00am JUST to ask me how I slept. I told them I was still sleeping and they giggled and left. Lauren stayed with me for night number 2, so it was nice to have some company again during the night.
I left the hospital with Amy & Antonette at 11am Friday after a throat infection, a parasite, a UTI, a fever (still not sure how high it was, they use Celsius), tachycardia, and extreme dehydration which they tell me was all caused by food I ate… I still find that hard to believe. I feel better but am confined to 2 more days of pure bed rest with a little walking. I think I’m gonna make it! It was a pretty scary experience, but also very entertaining in the end. Quite the experience…