Where I’ve been
By the looks of things, I’ve given up blogging. The only posts for a while have been cross-posts of For Immediate Release show notes. In fact, though, I’ve been wanting to get some items up here, but events have conspired against me.
Last week, I was on the road from Sunday through Thursday, with full days that began early and ended late. I made two half-day presentations (to IABC Phoenix and a joint program from the IABC and PRSA chapters in San Antonio), one full-day presentation and workshop (to the staff at Arizona State University), and had two client meetings. Associated dinners kept me out late.
I figured I’d blog when I got back, but a text message I received from my son just before starting work Thursday morning put an end to that. My 17-year-old daughter, Rachel, had been feeling ill since Sunday afternoon and had been sent home from her second day at school (senior year) on Tuesday. The doctor told her she had the flu. By 1:30 a.m. on Thursday, though, she was screaming in pain. An eight-hour stay at the emergency room, where a CT scan revealed a kidney stone, unusual in someone her age and especially since there is no history of kidney stones on either side of our family. She was given some serious pain medication through an IV and sent home with prescriptions for Vicodin and Cipro, which should have dealt with any infection (and given her immunity from anthrax).
I got home from my trip just as the hard-core IV delivered medication wore off. The Vicodin did about as much good as a Tic-Tac, and at about 1 a.m., we were back in the emergency room, this time for five hours. She received more pain medication and was sent home again. Were were told to just wait for the stone to pass.
By midday, she was screaming again. This time the stay was nine hours. We left at midnight, assured that the stone was moving in the right direction and in fact may have already passed. But the medication wore off and we were back again at 7:30 a.m. Friday for another nine hours. This time, the ER physician called in a urologist who ordered two more CT scans, which revealed that the stone wasn’t a stone; it was just a normal calcification. The pain was coming from a kidney infection that the Cipro wasn’t addressing. Rachel was switched to a different antibiotic and admitted for two days of pain killers, nausea medication, and antibiotics. I stayed with her from morning until around 9 p.m. each day (and each entire visit to the ER except the first one, which occurred when I was still in San Antonio—nothing like knowing your child is is agony and has been taken to ER when you’re in another state). Michele stayed the same hours and then remained overnight; hospital rules permitted only one parent to spend the night and Michele asserted gender privilege.
Rachel came home this morning feeling better, although still experiencing some pain, nausea, dizziness and overall weakness. But she’s resting in her own bed and I’m back at my own keyboard. Normal blogging resumes now.
12/31/69 | 20 Comments | Where I’ve been