I missed my blog for May 30. Sometimes I have a number of blogs “in the bank,” but not at the moment. My cupboard was bare and I was too incapacitated to refill it. I thought I’d share with you what happened. It has nothing to do with gambling (although there was one AP move during triage), but perhaps you’ll find it interesting anyway. At a minimum, most of you have probably gone through your own version of hospitalization, and/or been close to others who have done so, and this blog might inspire all sorts of comments.
I spent three painful days in a hospital for an obstructed bowel recently. I haven’t been hospitalized since my appendectomy 50 years ago, and things are different.
On the day before I went to the ER, I went to an Urgent Care facility and they prescribed basically a “colonoscopy prep” which means drinking a gallon of liquid with various sorts of powdered laxatives. That’s supposed to Roto-Rooter my problem down the drain. I drank it all. Nothing came out. So, I was back in Urgent Care the next day.
I guess I thought Urgent Care was the same as an Emergency Room. They’re not. The Urgent Care room in which I started the day said I needed a CT scan to diagnose my problem. Yes, they could do that, but if the result came out a certain way, I would need to be hospitalized. This particular Urgent Care facility wasn’t attached to a hospital. And the fact that the colonoscopy prep didn’t work at all meant that my symptoms were serious enough that it was suggested I go to an ER.
I did. I picked Henderson Hospital because it was relatively new and probably didn’t have the long lines some of the other places had. I don’t know how many people were at any other ER room, but this one had 40 or so people in the ER waiting room when I arrived. Surely at least some of them were there to support others and wouldn’t need treatment themselves.
While I was in considerable pain, ERs operate on a triage system, where the patients with the most urgent needs are seen and treated first. For some reason, these ER doctors put constipation complaints much lower on their list than gun shot wounds and ruptured appendices. Go figure.
I moaned and groaned a lot, especially when I was meeting with the triage nurse. Partly because I was in real pain. Partly because I hoped that would place me nearer the top of the list to be treated. This was my AP move and I don’t know if that helped or not. But I don’t think it hurt. I ended up waiting three hours for a CT scan, and another hour for it to be interpreted, but it definitely showed a blockage and I needed to be hospitalized to be treated. After asking a lot of questions, they gave me some intravenous morphine to ease the pain.
I’m not a recreational drug user and I don’t think I’ve ever had an opioid before. I didn’t know at the time, but 2 mg of morphine isn’t very much. It helps the pain for a couple of hours. But it also makes you more constipated — which is sort of a Catch 22 because constipation was the original problem! Still, keeping the patient relatively comfortable seemed to be the game plan. At the time it seemed like the right game plan to me.
About six hours after I first arrived, I was moved to a hospital bed within the ER department. While I had been officially admitted to the hospital, there were no beds at the current time and the only beds were in the ER area. So that’s where I was originally placed.
Perhaps six or so different doctors came in, asked about my condition, prodded my belly, and gave their recommendations. I never knew which doctor was which. Once a doctor told me she thought I should get such and such a treatment, but what she told me didn’t get written on my chart. So as far as the nurses were concerned, the doctor never told me whatever it was. And I hadn’t written down the names and specialties of each doctor, and didn’t always know who had said what, so sometimes things fell through the crack.
Twenty-four hours after I was placed in a bed at ER, I was moved into the regular hospital. I was in a single room with its own TV and bathroom so I didn’t have any roommate issues. Perhaps I won’t be as happy with this when the bill comes. Right now, I don’t know how much my insurance is going to pay and how much will be my responsibility. Presumably the insurance pays for double occupancy hospital rooms and there will be a surcharge for the single room. We’ll see. At the time though, I was happy to have the single room. While I’m blessed to be able to pay whatever is required, I’m still a cheapskate and I won’t like it.
In the area I was in at Henderson Hospital, many of the nurses and other personnel worked 12-hour days. I don’t know how many days a week they do this, if this was always the norm there, or if this was a post-Covid staffing shortage that has affected many businesses. But for the 40 or so hours I was there, this was convenient because I got to know them and they got to know me and my situation. There was even one nurse aide who would come into my room, sit quietly, and read her cell phone. If I needed something and asked her, she would comply, but basically, she was just killing time. This was her way of goofing off, I suppose, and I wasn’t going to bust her.
To fix a blockage problem, the options fall into three categories: things taken orally, going in from the bottom, or, as a last resort, cutting me open and performing some surgery. My bottom side was on fire with pain, and they would have to tie me down or totally sedate me if they were going to try to solve the problem from that end.
Forty-eight hours after I had originally arrived, they gave me another colonoscopy prep. This one stronger than the one I had taken before. I wasn’t optimistic this was going to work because it didn’t work a few days earlier, but eight very painful hours later, my innards were clean. Soon it was time for me to go home.
Going home didn’t mean I could resume life as before. The colonoscopy prep still had an effect, and, shall we say, there were a few messes to clean up. Bonnie was an RN for 40 years, and was a good sport about all of this. That was one of the reasons I popped the question almost 10 years ago. If I ever needed care, she was competent at it. Although I’ve helped her more medically in the last 10 years than she’s helped me, this time I was the one in need and she was front and center on the job. One of her recommendations was that I wear a diaper until my system got back to normal. This helped neither my pride nor my masculinity, but I complied. Getting old is not for sissies!
It takes a few days to get your system back on a regular schedule after something like this. After that much purging of the system, things don’t just automatically readjust.
I take a lot of care with my diet and am positive that this sort of malady is very unlikely when you eat the way I do, but my bowel became obstructed nonetheless. This makes me less confident that I know what I’m doing diet-wise. But depending on what my doctor tells me, I’m going to continue what I’m doing until I learn otherwise.
As I write this, I’m still in that readjustment process. It’s a guess for me exactly what food, medicines, and exercises will work the best and what should be avoided. I have a follow-up visit with my primary physician scheduled, but that’s about 10 days after my release from the hospital. I’m hoping I can make it that far without further medical treatment.
Bob, I know what you mean about trying to be an AP in everyday life. I do that myself all the time. Along those lines, when you go to an ER, whatever your actual symptoms, tell them you also have chest pains. That’ll get you to the top of the list.
Hope you’re feeling better.
Wow, many wishes for a speedy recovery. Get a copy of the CT result, the doctor’s commentary on it, (does that hospital use mychart?) and search the words you don’t understand. Also search online for bowel blockage, the doctors hate it but that’s “doctor goggle”. Keep hydrated with energy drink or make your own WHO hydration drink. And I don’t think exaggerting symptoms is a good idea, they are pretty good readers of that. Take it easy and get better.
There are emergency care facilities in Las Vegas that are the equivalent of “remote” ER’s with direct affiliations to hospitals. They have all (or nearly all) the testing equipment on site (CT, other radiology, etc. etc.). They are relatively empty and very competent.
Drink more water, Bob.
Make your own ORS: quart of water, tbsp of sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp potassium chloride. And when you’re ready for more solid food, go for menudo or pho with tripe, broth is refreshing and tripe is good for the gut.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery. I hope you are back in a square very soon.
I had my only colonoscopy (+ endoscopy) about 10 years ago. 2 things stand out. First, among the limited list of beverages I was allowed to drink at home during the prep on the day before the procedure, apple juice felt the best. Second, I wound up waking up during the endoscopy! Turns out they didn’t use quite enough anesthetic. The nice doc just told me to breath through my nose and not panic, and fortunately, I lost consciousness again soon, and the rest of the procedure was fine. So if you’re going to have one done, ask for them to give you as much anesthesia as allowed.
Good Fortune to you / You are still on the right side of dirt….As we get older, you don’t know how you are leaving the hospital ER…
Glad you are okay!
I learned an ER lesson when my girlfriend’s father had a urinary blockage. He’s a manly man and tough as nails (an old Japanese gymnast guy), so when they went through the waiting room and asked for level of pain, we cringed as he started off saying three and then four. He was in a lot of pain, but his son and daughter had to coach him up to finally say seven.
If he had not been in so much pain, it would have been halfway funny watching him wince and grit his teeth and say “four.”
I had a feeling something was wrong when I didn’t see your weekly blog last week. Being in pain and spending days in a hospital is never pleasant no matter what the situation is.
Feel better
Take care. Wishing you a successful recovery.
And not one royal flush joke? Hope you’re okay. Fiber up.
I believe the more recent approach is mostly ONE hospital bed per room. Since your hospital is newer, it likely has nothing but private (one bed) rooms. You can call your ins. co. and ask if so inclined, though the deed is already done. Nursing home is different, but acute care hospitals mostly have single bed rooms now.
As regards Urgent Care facilities I’m a believer; unlike days of yore it is near impossible to be seen by a doctor when symptoms crop up; weekends, forgetabout it. UCs are usually staffed by competent Advanced Nurse Practitioners with an MD as consultant, reads X-rays remotely, etc., can diagnose bronchitis vs pneumonia, fractures vs sprains, etc. I think between my husband and I we have been to UCs half a dozen times, and always felt they took the right actions, often avoiding the long ER wait for us just to be sent home with something for bronchitis; and a UC visit costs a whole lot less.
Covid certainly put the hurt on ERs big time, as you experienced. Bonnie can attest to the problem of a husband who doesn’t/isn’t able to provide sometimes critical/or helpful information to the doctors taking the H&P, etc. while the spouse or significant other not allow to stay. We all have our Covid/ER/waiting-for-a-hospital-bed stories. But so glad your situation turned out for the better.
And, Bob, please…you aren’t the first to have to use those ‘briefs’ at least for a short time. Why do you think the store shelves are full of them? Wives/caregivers know. Saves a lot of wear and tear on the washing machine!
Here’s a toast to no more of that kind of trouble for you!
Good to hear you are on the road to recovery…our bodies are indeed assassins. Great article in Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s substack on this. Makes one think
Sounds horrible! Thanks for sharing though. I spent several nights in 2 different hospitals in Las Vegas and all of the rooms in both hospitals are singles (no sharing). I believe that to be the standard now (unless you are in a remote / small city).
Wishing you a speedy and full recovery!
Stay away from casino food!
Hope you are feeling better and keep drinking water. When I was in the movie business I ended up with this problem and water always kept me going when I was backed up.
Hi! Bob. Just to share,I was in a Hospital 2 weeks. I had a lady nurse who would make the Nurse “in one flew over the cocos nest” look like Florence Nightingale. See shouted at me ” I’m not going to tell you again, the open part of the gown goes to the back!!” Not a fun vacation.
Miralax is not only the best “laxative” to take for colonoscopy but its also GREAT for every day constipation. Just take one scoop (instead of 8 or 10 for colonoscopy) with a small glass of Gatorade or lemonade. Can’t taste it at all and it will give you a great BM.
Doesn’t sound fun, glad to hear you’re out of the med world though.
People who eat a truly healthy diet with lots of fiber don’t have what happens to you. Unless you have cancer or something serious which sounds like you don’t have so no doubt have a low fiber unhealthy diet. While you may think you’re eating healthy, it sounds anything but. Want to avoid your situation completely, eat a whole foods plant based diet or close to it. Trust me, you won’t be anywhere near where you were ever again. And lots of other metrics of your health will be far better also. As for trusting your doctor on what to eat? Good luck with that! While they may be good at prescribing pills and procedures and addressing symptoms, in medical school, last I researched, MD’s take a 3 credit hour course on nutrition and it’s as basic as it gets.
Small story for you where the med world is on diet. My mother-in-law lost conscious and ended in the heart ward area of the hospital. Thought she might have had a heart attack or stroke. And her dinner in the hospital? Roast beef and mash potatoes with gravy and rolls with butter. Whole food plants and fruit are your friends. Best to you.
Pretending your seriously sick or in serious pain so you can cut in front or others who may be real sick or dying. is not cool . Not a AP play more of a A hole play . Karma will catch up with you
Dapper Dave, I happen to work in an ER and I don’t believe complaining of chest pain when you don’t have it is not the right thing to do. I get that waiting for hours sucks, I’ve been there with my own family and myself. If every patient complains of chest pain, they still need to be triaged and you will still have to wait if your vitals and EKG are in range.
Bob, I hope you’re feeling better. I’m not in the LV area, but sadly the same process you went through in your hospital stay happens here.
Banana-flavored popsicles are (IMHO) the best clear liquid option for that part of the colonoscopy prep. A friend told me about it, and that’s my choice from now on. Tasty enough, variety.
Next to see you switch from video poker to craps.
Feel better buddy. Sounds like quite a painful and arduous ordeal, to say the least.
I have given up video poker, most likely for good, and haven’t played since a late February junket to my local casino just didn’t feel fun anymore. And I can honestly say, I haven’t miss it one bit.
Will always remember my fun vacation back in January 2020 just before the pandemic and dropping by the South Point for your grand finale (or close to it) VP class, even though no one knew it at the time.
I spent all weekend at a Professional golf tournament enjoying the masterful play in the gallery, which I was able to get free admission to and only paid a whopping 5 bucks to park. Most fun I’ve had in awhile, for basically free, and I was out enjoying the fresh air and getting a ton of exercise to boot. Heck of a lot better than being a zombie in front of a mesmerizing screen, with its bells and whistles, designed to suck you dry like a vacuum cleaner and keep you coming back like a drug addict.
At the casino back in February, I was piling in $100 bills at a Jacks or Better or similar machine. I just had a moment where I said to myself, “Why am I really doing this?” I already have money! Far more than a $4k Royal on $1 denom. It just didn’t make sense anymore. Not to mention since sports betting and online gaming became legalized in my area, the “loyalty”, if you will, to the land based player is essentially nil for a middle of the road player. Not only are the comps lousy (sometimes decent), good luck getting a drink at your machine during prime time, forget about it completely during an off-hour. I think the straw that broke the camel’s back for me were the ultra cheap weekly gift giveaway mailers the casino resorted to. I mean it was dollar store type trash. I really couldn’t believe people would waste their time claiming this pure swill.
Anyway I still do enjoy reading the column from time to time and keeping up with Vegas news.
Unfortunately the town of Las Vegas continues it’s never-ending quest to squeeze more money out of the tourist and gambler, a game I no longer wish to partake in. Good luck and be well to you and all in the future.
Go the natural way Bob if you’re constipated and haven’t gone to the bathroom in several days, drink organic prune juice when you’re going to be awake for several hours. You may not need all the fancy laxative pills or an over the counter enema. About half a coffee cup or full coffee cup of prune juice in the morning will aid in digestion and should have you going to the bathroom on a regular basis, don’t drink prune juice and then go to sleep.
Bob, glad to see that you are recovering and I wish you the best. I now live in Las Vegas (used to live in San Diego) and years ago I used to attend your BJJ classes. I rarely go the casinos nowadays as like you, getting older and smoky casinos do not mix well and since I am now retired even advantage play is not really for me except when a friend comes top Vegas and hires me to be his gopher (go for this, go for that) to wait in food lines, sports book lines, etc and do the math for him on sports betting when requested. My new passion for the past several years, despite being about your age, is BJJ, which is the best stress reliever around, despite the physical effort involved in this sport. I realize that a colonoscopy is a real pain in the ass (literally) as I have had them in the past. Again, I wish u the best and thank you again for all the wonderful video poker advice and teaching over the years.