Monday sick day

Yes,  I had a lovely weekend, until Sunday morning. I woke up with horrible abdominal cramps and gas. Nothing happened, so I made a breakfast of oatmeal and coffee.

All Hades broke loose, literally and figuratively. I heard a horrible growl in my stomach. That's when the diarrhea started. Whatever I ate at the fast food joint (lovingly known as Jack in the Crack --chicken) or the swanky seafood house near the fancy hotel district (scallops), did me in. After that, it was body aches, fever and diarrhea after every drink. I stayed hydrated by drinking, then running into the bathroom once an hour. Gotta love foodborne illness, or at least that's what I suspect. Needless to say, I won't be volunteering to make anything for anyone for dinner or dessert for a while, just in case.

Since I felt lousy, I actually did something I am loathe to do: take a nap. It helped, but I eventually had to take Tylenol so my fever did not get above 102. Thankfully, it broke overnight and I've been afebrile all day. The nursing supervisor actually answered my call and my boss my text when I called.

I rested today. I felt bad in the morning, but got progressively better. My stomach is still undecided, but I'm sure when I get hungry enough, my appetite will be normal again.

Heck of a way to spend a Monday. More fun to come...stay tuned.

A long lunch

Maybe this should go under the "expect the unexpected" category.

You go to take your sister to lunch and find out she has some odd swelling on her arm. You finish lunch, then go to the urgent care center on your way back to her house to investigate.

Then you proceed to sit for 45 minutes while you wait for them to get done with the one person ahead of you.
Three x-rays later they determine that she'll need to see an orthopedic specialist next week if it keeps hurting, since the doc sees an anomaly on the x-ray, but no fracture. Since it looked sprained, the doc wrapped it and ordered ice and Tylenol.

At least lunch was good, even if it was a little longer than we anticipated.

More to come...

A sliver of life

AtYourCervix has a post about getting a Tylenol on her unit.

Come on over to Madison and add the following to your list:

Do you really think the docs might have a standing order to make this PRN for everyone like they did at Saintarama? Nooooo! That might imply that the nurses are DIAGNOSING a problem ahead of time. Just like that life-saving bowel med you won't let Mr. X have, either.

Yes, of course you could have liver or kidney issues (yes, lots of our people do), but do you really enjoy being awakened at 0300? If I need it, I really don't feel bad calling for it, if the patient has a fever or has been awake all night asking anyway.

Stop being so darned adversarial and I'll stop ranting. And yes, I do call you for the record...CYA baby!