Road to recovery

[1600bluekaw]

I am guessing that I am posting this thread in the correct section . I have not been on the forum for the last five days.

I was awaken out of my sleep on Tuesday May 24th around 2:30am with a pain that was so not going to go away alone. I woke up my wife & moved to the couch after taking some tums & kaopectate, you the things we do to self-medicate after we eat great food ??? The pain did not subside :-[ I finally reached a decision to go to the ER, which because of the insurance policies we have to go to one that is in our network. I live 2 blocks from the local hospital, but we had to drive 45 min to the hospital we are mandated to use. Yes, I called my family doc but guess what, at 3am he did not answer the phone. Upon arriving at the ER, still in pain in the stomach area. I checked in & tod the receptionist my condition. It was after this that things started to fall apart. Sweat, chill, hot, sweat, chill all at the same time. Then it happened, vomiting in a pan wow just what I wanted to do at the check in desk. The check nurse then whisked me to a room off the hallway & hooked me up to an EKG machine. She thought it was heart related. Still not in an examination room in the ER, wife & I fell asleep, me still in pain. It is now 5am & nobody has inquired about how I was feeling or that someone would be with us soon. Around 7:30am still in a private room several hallways from the actual ER area I walked out & spoke to some one. My wife is empolyed by this hospital, though not in the care department, she sent a msg to her manager about what was happening. In less than 20 min I was moved to exam room. Over 3 1/2 hrs of waiting in a dark room I was finally going to be examined. After many test, probing, poking, xrays, EKG, MRI & finally an ultra-sound, it was determined that I was going to have surgery. My gall bladder was in bad shape in needed to be removed. One hour in surgery, one hour in recovery. My gall bladder had over 25 stones in it & the walls were very thick. The surgeon did say that some stones were very close to making the stomach area which would have been bad. It would have taken less than one day for gangarene to set in the area.
I was to be realeased on Thursday but there was infection in the wound area & my sugar count was higher than they wanted. I was finally released at 5pm on Friday. Now on the road to recovery. Healing well & preparing for the ride to MV. Just very happy all this happened while at home & not during the National.
The doc said that I will be in great shape to make the trip.
Nice, now I have scars to talk about when drinking with everyone ;)
See ya in 16 days.

[usranger74]

1600bluekaw - Glad to hear the final outcome was good.

Take it easy and don't rush off to MV unless you are 100% sure you are ok.

[glwilson]

My gosh... we are dropping like flies around here!!

Sorry to hear about the "bad-service" at the hospital... I have witnessed similar experiences... but glad this happened while you were near home and enough ahead of the rally.

I hope you'll still be able to go... but don't push it if you cannot. Don't know how long something like that takes to heal and for the soreness to go away.

Get another trailer ready!!!

[Loafer]

Heal fast, and stay healthy. Don't over due anything, it's easy to get a hernia after that operation.

[Top Cat]

Take your time healing and don't rush it.
Sounds like ER at that hospital means, Everyone Relax, we will get to the patient when we feel like it. ::)

[cactusjack]

Take care of yourself. I came to the realization yesterday that my recent illness and hospital stay would make it extremely difficult and risky for me to attempt the Maggie Valley rally.

[landman]

i know exactly what you were feeling as i had the same thing happen a few years ago.if your surgery was laposcopic you will heal fast,mine was
and i went to back to work in three days.

[1600bluekaw]

Thanks for all the support. I am doing very good. I did push the Nomad out out of the garage yesterday morn but had neighbor standing near just in case. I did not ride. I plan on riding on Wednesday as i am in charge & leader of a charity ride on Saturday. It will be about 190 miles round trip. That will be the test before leaving the following wknd. My only work restrictions I have now is 20lbs Nothing on my agenda this week that will exceed that. I have 3 strong son's that live close if I need any help.
GLwilson- I will be ready to ride when your group arrives. Nothing will keep this group down. The Wild Hogs from NCR

[ridemslow]

Get better soon. Those ER's can really suck at times. Hope all goes well for you now.

[Idaho]

ER stories like that are becoming more commonplace and it is disturbing.

Glad that you finally got a diagnosis and the care that you needed. Sounds nasty.

[glwilson]

Don,

Glad to hear you are up and around. Kendra agreed with the earlier post about a reasonably fast recovery as long as there were no complications.

Take it easy on this weekend's ride and have fun!

(Also, send me the map!!!! Remember?!!! )

[Cajunrider]

Good to hear that everything turned out good with the rough start. Take care and don't rush yourself.

[jesse]

Be careful, if your Nomad starts over it will weigh more than 20 lbs!!
Glad to hear you are healing fast.

[lw]

WOw, glad you came through the surgery ok after the initial Charlie Foxtrot at the "plan" hospital. I would have played the "employee card" as soon as I saw the triage nurse. They usually take good care of team members. Don't overdo it while you're on the mend and we'll see you in a couple weeks.

[cnc]

Wow good thing you didn't decide to stay at home and tough out the pain for a while longer. Glade to hear it did work out for you even though the ER experience was not good.