Hospital Chic

So what does one do while spending 9 days in the hospital? Not much, but I did manage to take some pics so you could share my journey! Sounds fun right??

Here is the view from my bed. Because of my anxiety I always ask for a "window seat" so you can see the sunset.

Yes I am 43 years old & I still take stuffed animals with me. I spend 90% of my time in the hospital alone (Chris isn't allowed to take off work ~ don't ask) so they keep me company. I also have my polka dot bag that I always keep packed for the hospital. It came from my friend Jen & all of those things help me to feel not so lonely.



I keep lots of reading material in my bag.



Here's my hosptial dinner. This is pork in some lovely, gelatinous orange gravy, with stuffing & mashed potatoes. This give you a good idea of why I stick to mostly jello, pudding, ice cream, etc.



Hospital outfit...space cow nightgown, striped boxers & newly purchased rubber ducky slippers from the hospital gift shop. I will not wear hospital gowns unless I'm having a procedure. When I'm stuck in the hospital for long periods of time I have to be as comfortable as possible. (Side note: I figure in the last 12 months I've spent almost 1/3 of my life in the hospital!)



Space cow detail.



Rubber duckies. Everyone was jealous of my super cool slippers!



Flowers from my bloggie turned IRL friend Diane.



Last but not least, my husband Chris. He works a million hours per day, comes to check on me & keeps the boys going at home. I don't know what I did to get so lucky, but I'm really thankful that I did!



There you have my latest hospital visit. Sorry I couldn't share my pain killers with you, but they cut those off when I come home!

* Today is your last chance to hop over to Read, Review, Repeat for a chance to win one of 5 copies of Madeleine Wickham's latest hardcover book, A Desirable Residence.

I'm Still Here!

Hey guys! After 9 days in the hospital I came home last Saturday. This was possibly my longest stay yet. I did find a new Dr. who is treating my bi-polar and my gastroparesis together, more of holistic approach.

We have had a rough time lately, though. A few days after I came home my boys grandfather, not my dad but my ex-husbands dad, had an abdominal aortic aneurysm. It ruptured, but they caught it in time. Unfortunately, the surgery set off lots of clots in his legs & they had to amputate both legs. Obviously this has been a really rough time for my boys and I'm thankful that I have been home this week to support them. He seems to be doing well now, but is still in ICU and has a long road ahead of him.

I am slowly catching up & hope to be around to visit you all soon. Thank you for all of your prayers, well wishes & even cards. My blogging friends are really amazing people and I appreciate you all.


* If you haven't entered my giveaway on Read, Review, Repeat to win a copy of Madeleine Wickham's latest hardcover book, A Desirable Residence, please hop over there now. Madeleine Wickham also writes as Sophie Kinsella and does the hugely popular Shopaholic series.

Hello Again!

Hello friends,

It's Mimi here, not Chris this time. I have been in & out of the hosptial a couple of times, but now I have a new diagnosis. Gastroparesis. I made that a link so you guys can check it out, but it mainly means that I have a lazy stomach that does not process the food when I eat it. The stomach muscles don't contract nearly as much as they should, so food just sits there for too long and causes pain. This is usually associated with diabetes, which I don't have, but probably will in the future.

The good news is that I've lost 25 lbs. in 3 weeks, the bad news is I'm never hungry and eating makes me want to barf. I don't know how many times in my life I wished "just make me stop being hungry!" Well this time it took and I'm finding out that I need to be careful what I wish for!

I had botox done on my pylorus (the muscle that moves food from your stomach to your intestines) this morning and that's supposed to help. There's only a 50% success rate with the botox though and it could take up to 2 weeks for me to notice if there's a difference.

Tomorrow is my mom's mastectomy, so I may not be posting a whole lot again in the next few days, while I help to take care of her.

I'll keep you updated as much as I can.

I want you all to know how much your comments, prayers, and love have meant to me and my mom. It really is more than I can say. Hopefully I'll be by to see you all soon!

Hospital Stories ~ Part 2

My post about making my husband give me his under wear in the emergency room was only part one of that night's adventure. I promised the ending, so here it is.

After realizing that I had rushed out of the house without my underwear and forcing my husband to give me his boxer briefs, I got to meet the Doctor who would be taking care of me in the E.R. I guess these are mainly interns or residents or some such thing.

Imagine my delight when mine came in looking like a dark haired Doogie Howser. Now at 42 years old I have a son who is 17 years old, but believe me when I tell you this Doc looked young enough to be my son.

I was sitting proud in my hospital gown and hubbies undies when he walked in. He seemed nervous just putting the stethoscope on the front of my chest, and then mortified when he had to lift up my gown to push on my belly. He then proclaimed, in a wavering voice, that he would have to take a look at my "lady parts". LADY PARTS! Was this man a real doctor or some gurney pusher slapped into scrubs? Do they not teach proper language in medical school? I thought next he was gonna ask to look at my hoo-ha!

With hesitation he got some type of lighted probe and proceeded to spend 3.5 seconds inspecting my lady parts. I can't even verify that he found the correct spot, and am somewhat concerned for any future girlfriends he might have.

He then told me he was going to send me for an ultra sound of my, you guessed it, lady parts. I just wanted to yell, "vagina, vagina", but I knew I had pushed my husband to his limits as it was.

This ultra sound was somewhat like someone shoving a Mr. Microphone into my lady parts and wrenching it around for about 45 minutes. Dr. Doogie may not have been thorough, but Ms. Ultrasound saw places that my children never even saw when they were living in there.

Once I had completely violated, I was sent back to Dr. Doogie where he pronounced nothing was wrong with me and sent me home. Since I was admitted to the hospital 2 days later for 4 nights, we now know that the problem didn't lie in my lady parts, but I swear the next time they send me a Dr. who's voice isn't done changing, I'm taking my husbands underwear, my lady parts and getting the heck out of there, once I get my drugs that is!

Home Again!

Well I was released from the hospital on Wednesday and had to return on Friday. Chris & I splurged and went out to Red Lobster for dinner on Friday and got a big platter of fried fishy goodness. Well I knew that alcohol irritates pancreatitis (I can never drink again), but I didn't know that grease, or more specifically greasy & fried food also irritate pancreatitis. So back to the hospital I went. No real fun stories this time, just lots of sucking!

I was bored last night, halloween, so I took pictures to share with my friends. This first one is hideous, but I promised myself I would post it no matter how bad it turned out & it turned out BAD. My hair isn't greasy, it's wet from a shower.



The view from my bed, the TV and my little board telling who my nurses, etc are for the day. The TV is supposed to work as a computer, but the system was down while I was there, so no crazed dilaudid induced posts for you!



"Boo" the stuffed kitty that Chris brought me, because he knew I was sad.



The mess of stuff on my bed to try to keep me occupied, since I couldn't use the hospital computer thingie & I didn't have a book to read.



My I.V. painfully taped to my arm.



My bed. That's the one thing I love about the hospital, besides the fun drugs. I love those beds that you can make go in a zillion different comfortable positions.



That's about it, now you can feel like you visited me in the hospital. I'm sure you all wanted to, lol. Not a very exciting post, but it is what my life has been like this week and the blog is about my life, right?

It's good to be home & I'm going to spend this evening catching up on all of my friends blogs & seeing what you guys have been up to!