A Day at the hospital

So if you read my previous post, you must have read about my weekend plans. Life seldom goes as planned. This weekend was just another example.

My dad passed out - three times - fell down and injured himself - in the middle of the night on Friday....and we had to call an ambulance to take him to the hospital. He has epilepsy, which means he has a history of seizures. He also takes cholesterol medication, coz genetically my entire family produces more cholesterol than average...and so is always at a higher risk for a stroke. So with these two risks, he was admitted for a full checkup at the hospital to make sure it was nothing serious.

I was in constant consultation with my cousin who is a cardiologist over the phone, and his tips were very valuable.

We were all anxious throughout Saturday....tests kept running but results were pending. When we finally got most of the results, we were relieved to find out that nothing major was going on. The neurologist also visited late in the evening and diagnosed it to be a minor issue.

But he still had to spend the night in the hospital - coz you see, most seizures for him occur in the middle of the night. So they had to monitor him for 24 hours to make sure this episode would not recur.

Dad was admitted in the same (the only one in town) hospital where I spent 4 days recently when I delivered the baby, so it was all too familiar.

This time around, the emergency doctor and other staff were quite good. But the communication channel between them and the regular hospital staff is kind of broken, so its very important to be your own advocate.

After spending about couple hours in this environment, the sound of all the monitors gets to me. I think babies must feel this way with white noise. It numbs the brain.

The patients in our ward were all seniors. Most of them were frustrated, and wanted to leave as soon as possible. One particular guy was walking around with an IV and each time he met me, he told me he would leave the hospital at noon, whether or not the doctors discharged him.

When I think about or observe the nurses at the hospital, I always wonder how they manage to work 12+ hour shifts. Especially when it's the graveyard shift. They also have family and kids just like all of us - and they would have had to adjust so much to be able to work. It is indeed a noble profession to be in.

The picture at the beginning of the post is of dad undergoing an EEG, where 25 electrodes are placed on his head, and a couple on either sides of shoulder. The technician who did this test has been doing this for 25 years, and is the only one in our town qualified to do so. She has great job security :).

We spent about 36 hours at the hospital, after which we were happily discharged. I hope we have a clean bill of health for the rest of the year, and beyond :).