Back In The Saddle Again, Or Hospital If You Will

I'm back in the saddle again, when it comes to my blog. I'm also back in the hospital again. This is becoming an all too regular occurence, calling for an ambulance, coming into the ER, and eventually being taken upstairs for "observation and possible medication." Over the last four weeks I have been in three separate times; once for a bladder infection, once for a follow up complaint which may or may not be c-difficile, and this time for the added fun of vertigo. This does not include the two calls to 911 for help at home.

I went through something like this last fall as well. I wonder if it is related in any way to flu season, or just the geneal time of year. This year the symptoms and complaints have been more challenging. The medications I was given for the original complaint, the bladder infection, seem to have cause a severe stomach issue, most likely c-diff, but maybe not. The antibiotics given to me to combat the bladder infection also seem to have damaged my right inner ear, leaving me incredibly dizzy almost all the time.

This visit, while not what I would call fun, had been better than the previous couple. The hospital staff are taking extra precautions to ensure they don't get sick from me and I don't get sick from the hospital. My HCA's are doing the same. We are all concerned about what is happening to my stomach and body in general.

As is usual with hospitals, the food is less than ideal. I have decided to skip dinner tonight; I simply cant stomach a fake pork roast with fake gravy, a dinner which doesn't even stand up to the quality of Swanson's. On the other hand I am having much better luck with nursing care. They are the kinds of nurses I have come to expect here at Foothills. Certainly there are personality difference, those I prefer and those I do not prefer, but this time I have been mercifully free from the Nurse Ratchett syndrome. Instead of giving me hell for peeing in my diaper because it makes work for them, they have been compassionate, understanding, and helpful in what is, for me, a difficult situation.

I'm hoping to get out in a couple of days. I'm hoping they can figure out what to do with what we are now calling vertigo. I'm hoping they can help me with the pains in my gut. The long and short of this is that I am having "normal person problems" simply compounded by having an ALS body. I'm certainly hoping my body can get better soon.