Update- End of November
I was originally going to write another blog entry tied to the last one, about being in the hospital for anemia, but my thoughts are still scrambled and I was never ever to put it together. After waking up and spitting blood into Gerards sink, he and Brian rushed me to the ER of Norton Downtown. After they spent an exceedingly long time making sure I wasn't a drug addict, they rushed me onto a slab and started giving me the first of six units of blood and another two units of plasma. I'd almost run dry. After five days of care, it was determined that it was no longer life threatening, I was let go. No insurance, no looking into long term solutions. I felt like the floor doctor was annoyed and was in favor of just getting me out of there. On the other hand the gastro-intenstinal team seem to be genuinely concerned for me, and called to check-up. So there's that.
That was a little over a month ago. I almost died. I'm still coming to grips with it.
I was diagnosed with an esphoganic (spl?) ulcer, which was the source of the bleeding. I don't know how much the tremendous amount of stress I'm under contributed to this, but I'm sure it hasn't helped. I was ordered to stay off caffeine, tea, and redbull...that just nosedived an already low energy level. I have so many things to do, and now they took away any tools I have to do it with. I'm so tired.
That was a month ago. I've had some kind of caffeine on 4 days between then and now because I couldn't get through the day. I've otherwise stuck to the orders given on my release. I was feeling great when I first got out of the hospital, but now am feeling anemic again. I'm supposed to have frequent lab work to get my cumadin levels and anemia checked, but without insurance that's next to impossible. My nephrologist said I could come see her whenever I need to, but her phlebotamist is owned by a different company. I've already got two bills from Labcorp I am unable to pay. I sent back letter explaining my situation and that I have a hearing for disability benefits again in Feburary, because that's all I can do right now.
After feeling that weird little sensation in my guts again, I started trying to call around for a primary care doctor who would take labs and work for scale. Busy signals. No answers to most of the phone numbers I'd been given. My nephrologists office seemed confused by the question, and didn't know what to tell me either. I asked nursing friends, they also didn't know. I broke down and pestered Rachel again. She called around for me and eventually got me set up with a place that will allow me to have repeated visits, starting through KPC and then for scale. The bad news is they can't give me an appointment as a new patient until Dec 12th. So I'm just going to have to try to conserve energy until the appointment. I've got Brian and some other folks on standby in case it gets worse and I need an ER visit before then. I've been through an anemia drop before, so I know what everything feels like now.
I hope the place I'm going to on the 12th can offer some maintenance care so I can stop this cycle. I can't form thought connections very well right now.