A Quick Note

by Bryan

18 comments

1 fallenmonk { 04.02.15 at 6:40 pm }

Hope it is not too serious but three days in the hospital is not an encouraging sign. Get better.

2 Bryan { 04.02.15 at 7:33 pm }

I’m hoping to get back to where I was on March 30, and it looks like it is going to take some time because I was trapped in bed by tubes.

3 Mustang Bobby { 04.03.15 at 3:05 am }

Best wishes and hopes for a quick and uneventful recovery.

4 Bryan { 04.03.15 at 8:02 am }

I appreciate the thoughts, MB. At my age the force inactivity is just as bad as the disease. Three days in bed does nothing for muscle tone, and getting back to where you were takes time.

5 Steve { 04.03.15 at 4:39 pm }

Take care and have a speedy recovery!

6 Bryan { 04.03.15 at 5:22 pm }

Thanks, Steve, and thanks for the Ark, it’s a lot of work.

7 ellroon { 04.03.15 at 8:45 pm }

Yikes! Patch quickly and treat yourself carefully. Sending gentle cyber hugs and good thoughts. We need you at the barricades!

8 Bryan { 04.03.15 at 9:10 pm }

The medical problem has been dealt with, Ellroon, it is the muscle tone that you lose when you stop moving for three days. You can’t move your arms because of IVs, and they are now using ‘stockings’ on your legs that inflate and deflate constantly to prevent blood clots. I wouldn’t have a problem with blood clots if they would let me get up and move around.

I thank you for your kind thoughts.

9 Steve Bates { 04.04.15 at 3:40 pm }

To healTH with you, Bryan!

For all the days of my working life in which I wished I could simply stay in bed and sleep the day away, when that finally became the only option, I hated it. I hope you have someone bringing you an endless supply of good books, and that you are in a hospital with Wi-Fi available to patients. I was confined to emailing tiny blog posts from my cell phone, posts limited to the size of text messages, and reading any responses once a week when I was taken to the patient rec room; obviously, you’ve managed better than that.

I don’t know about you, but those damned “stockings” made a buzzing noise that literally awakened me from a sound sleep.

I haven’t stopped by your site in over a week because of the dog-awful cold Stella brought me from her workplace. I hope you’re home and well sooner than that!

Get healthy in a hurry, old friend!

10 Bryan { 04.04.15 at 5:49 pm }

I escaped after 3 days, but you are lucky to get a cellphone signal in the local hospital, much less WiFi. Even if there had been WiFi my range of movement was extremely limited even with the arm that wasn’t being used for IVs. When you add the tubes used to inflate the ‘stockings’, the oxygen, and the nebulizer every 4 hours, I was seriously restricted.

The food wasn’t terrible, and the people were nice. I had some nursing students working on my floor, and I was apparently the only one on the floor that didn’t object. The second student gave me two shots (flu and pneumonia) that I requested, and I almost didn’t feel them. I’m surprised she could do it with two RNs (her professor and the RN assigned to me) watching like hawks. I couldn’t leave until it had been done, so I didn’t care if it felt like “a scratch, a flesh wound of no import” – I wanted out.

The more time I spent in the hospital, the more time the cats would have had to select something else to be a ‘litter box’.

Once they started pumping me full of steroids and antibiotics dealing with the reason I called 911, I bounced back, but the effects of forced inactivity are harder to deal with. I felt much worse, longer with the lingering bad cold I had several months ago. I won’t go into details because they would gross people out, but it was absolutely necessary to go to a hospital and they put me in a private room. I realized what they may have been thinking the problem was after they starting asking questions.

Everything takes longer the older you get.

11 Steve Bates { 04.05.15 at 11:30 am }

Bryan, here’s a book possibly of interest to you, in or out of the hospital: Thunderstruck. the 2006 book by Erik Larson. It’s nonfiction but contains a tale worthy of the excellent novelist that Larson also is. Actually it’s two tales interwoven: that of Hawley Crippen, one of England’s most infamous murderers at the turn of the 20^th century, and Marconi, yeah, the radio guy. So far, it’s been a real page-turner. This book (or its author) was a NYT bestseller, so it should be pretty easy to find (Amazon, if you can’t get it locally). I was lucky: a friend and neighbor who regularly takes walks by Our House thought I’d like it, and dropped off his copy here one morning last week. IMHO, any technology-oriented person would probably enjoy this book.

I see you’ve put up a post saying you’re home, but I’ve already written this post here…

12 Bryan { 04.05.15 at 5:04 pm }

I’ll look at it, Steve, but will probably get the e-book version because Malwart and the ‘Net have wiped out the local bookstores, and the e-books don’t require a ‘Net connection if you download to the device instead of the ‘cloud’.

13 JuanitaM { 04.05.15 at 8:58 pm }

Good grief! Hadn’t checked in for a few days and all hell has broken loose down your way apparently. So sorry to hear about all of this, and I hope you’re well on the way to mending now. I saw where you wrote about having oxygen, so this must have been a respiratory issue which is scary to say the least.

Sending lots of good thoughts your way, and to the feline family as well.

14 Bryan { 04.05.15 at 9:35 pm }

The main problem was pneumonia, but that wasn’t why I called 911 and got a really quick response. The reason is the bit that would gross everyone out.

I’m slowly getting better, and able to do more, but it is going to be a long time to get back to where I was a week ago.

15 JuanitaM { 04.06.15 at 1:42 pm }

Hmmm, did they ask you if you had visited Africa recently?

Seriously, I can only imagine what you must have felt. To be so sick and then get home to such sad news. That’s a lot to get over. Physical health is affected for good or for ill by your mental state, and you’ve had a hell of a year (or more).

I know it’s trite to say, but take it easy and be good to yourself.

16 Bryan { 04.06.15 at 4:41 pm }

As a matter of fact there were questions in the ambulance about foreign travel and everyone wore gloves and masks on the first day. I didn’t blame them or resent their attitude. Not everyone wore masks after that, but they were very careful about the gloves. They also used the hand sanitizer before putting on the gloves and after taking them off.

April has not been a good month.

17 Kryten42 { 04.06.15 at 10:40 pm }

Glad you are OK m8. And I hope everything returns to normal (whatever that is) quickly. 🙂

Take it easy if you can. Though, you are a lot like I am… so not much chance of that! 😉 😀

Be well my friend.

18 Bryan { 04.07.15 at 7:16 pm }

I’m doing my best to slow down, but I really got behind by being out three days at the start of the month. I have to get a grip and not make things worst by doing too much, too soon.