Web MD (the M stands for Matt)

The M is for Matt In The Middle

I am sitting at a table in the end-lounge in the A Wing at the hospital. My chair is facing Cha Cha's room door. She is three rooms down. I guess I am like a gargoyle overseeing the entire area. Splenda is sitting at her bedside. Unlike the last hospital she was a previous "member" of (Kishwaukee Community Hospital) Rush Copley Hospital's rooms are not set-up for visitors. The room is very small and there is only one chair. There aren't even any folding chairs in the cabinet there to pull-out when people come by. There is not even any hooks for people to hang their coats... Maybe they are of the philosophy that people need rest to get better or maybe, because Aurora is so much bigger than Dekalb, they have to stuff more people in the hospital so they make the rooms smaller. I know you didn't come here to read about my complaints so I will just work my concerns in with what is going-on as I blog.

Cha Cha is very touched that so many people have expressed so much concern for her and her well-being, I am not surprised; she is a great lady. We have heard from: family members, neighbors, her friends, her coworkers from work, my friends, friends from my work... If prayers work, given all of the people that say they are praying for her, Cha Cha will be just fine.

She is sleeping well now because they have finally, with great coaxing and pestering from the a-hole that she brought with her (not the ambulance driver or Splenda), they have upped her meds. I just had to tell the doctors that throughout the night she would hit the "nurse call button," or whatever it is officially called, and no one would come. I had to keep going down to the station or island or fort or whatever it is called where they hide and get someone. Then they would say "I will notify her nurse" and it would still take another ten minutes or so after that. At Kish, when she pressed the button, someone came immediately. There I go with more counterproductive complaining but I am frustrated and I am not afraid to make a stink to save my best friend's life. Perhaps that is a little dramatic or melodramatic but it is how I feel. Actually, this may become my new profession. Hire me to be with you or your loved-one and I will sit at their bedside and pester hospital staff to get your loved-ones the care they deserve. I will sit at their bedside reading Web MD or something on their conditions just so I can be well-versed in what is going on. I can see hiring a whole staff to do this now that I blog about it. People will attend my school similar to nursing school just to keep people happy and alive.

Most of her hair has grown back since this photo

Anyway, the next thing they are going to try with Cha Cha is an Endoscopic Retrograde Choangiopanreatography (ERCP). Long story short, since I have become well-versed in this condition as mentioned in the last paragraph so I can be a professional pest, is they are going to stick a thin lighted tube down her throat. It will travel through her intestines (duodenum specifically). Then they will pass a small plastic tube through the endoscope into the bile duct or pancreatic duct. Dye will then be injected through the tube. They will take x-rays and will see where things are travelling and/or not travelling. This procedure is used to diagnose diseases of the: pancreas, bile ducts, liver and gallbladder. She definitely has a scarred liver, and autoimmune hepatitis and also pancreatitis but maybe more.

We just met with doctor. They are going to hold off on the ERCP because she hasn't had pain meds in about 10 hours and she is feeling pretty good. This is actually the best that I have seen her since they stabbed her liver and started this whole thing almost a week ago. So, if she feels better all day, she may be able to go home tomorrow night or Monday. I am hopeful and mildly optimistic.

My parents will be here in about 10 minutes so I will wrap-up for now. I may blog again tonight as I will not be at work again because my place is here! Whatever happens at work happens at work. I can always find another job but I can never find another Cha Cha. Work has been very supportive in all actuality, I rarely miss work and always do what I am supposed to do and more; that stuff goes a long way in times like this.

Thanks again for all the "love" you have been sending me and Cha Cha. WE are lucky to know so many nice and caring people. I will let you know if I blog again tonight but definitely will tomorrow. TTT today orT...MITM (out) TA!