T Stands For We Had Us A Day

 

It all started with the Young One not feeling well and complaining of stomach cramps on top of the my cold that made its way through the family. She called in sick to work.

Of course, getting sick always happens on a weekend or a holiday. Because New Year's Day fell on a Sunday, Monday was considered the official holiday. That's why you didn't get mail delivery yesterday. 

The Young One has IBS and by mid-morning the Young One was feeling worse. Trying to drink water or eat a little food cause her more pain. We checked on the urgent care offices that accepted her health insurance. The closest office was closed for the holiday. Say, what? A closed office defeats the purpose of not clogging up hospital emergency rooms with non-life threatening illness or injury.  One office had an opening at 6pm and the other didn't have any appointments until the following day.

There's an urgent care office about 5 miles down the road. It wasn't one of the offices listed, but it was open. A note on a whiteboard at reception noted the wait time to be seen was 4 hours. Because of the Young One's complaint about abdominal pain, the receptionist said that if it was decided an ultrasound was needed, we would be sent to the Emergency Room of the small, community hospital associated with the urgent care office.

Since it sounded like the Young One would end up in the ER anyway, we decided to leave and just head to the hospital. The wait time to be admitted to the exam room was about a half an hour.

Lots of people trooped in and out. The triage nurse, the care nurse, and someone from the billing department. Triage and care took the Young One's history and complaints. The first thing was lab work. The care nurse inserted an IV lock so if more bloodwork was needed or an IV was to be given, the Young One wouldn't have to be stuck with the needle a second time.

While the labs were being run, a Physician's Assistant came in to do a work up. It was decided to give the Young One a cocktail of Maalox and Lidocaine to settle her stomach. Because she was also dehydrated, an IV drip was started along with some other pain medication.

The afternoon wore on and the medications made the Young One feel a lot better. In between, I was texting Himself updates and since it looked like I wouldn't be back in time to feed the fur babies, I also told him he would have to take care of the babies.

An hour after the IV drip was empty, an Emergency Room Physician came in to poke and prod. Lab test were all normal. The next test was to see if  she could eat and drink something without pain and to keep the food down. If she passed the food test, she would be discharged.

The nurse fetched the Young One some graham crackers and ginger ale. More waiting and updates to Himself. I didn't think of taking pictures of the ginger ale and graham crackers. So the drink reference is the description  along with the picture of the IV drip.

Another hour or so later, the Young One wasn't having issues with the food. The doctor would call in a prescription for Prilosec to be taken twice daily for a month along with instructions to follow up with primary care and the Young One was sent home.

I told the Young One I love spending time with her, but not for 6 hours in the hospital. I had another hour to wait at home until I could go pick up the prescription at the pharmacy.

Today, we are both dragging. She call in sick to work again, and I see a nap in my immediate future.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.