okay, general status update
Aug. 26th, 2006 11:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdCurrently, i'm alternating waves of feeling semi-kinda-normal and being totally wiped out and dizzy, with bursts of nausia. They consider my swallowing functions almost back to normal and think I'll be on unrestricted died probably on Monday. They tried to slip me some more stool softener drug today, and I think this time that once was not fucking funny, and the second time hadn't any fucking funnier, and the next person who tries it gets the resulting crapfest on their goddamn inbox.
That's sitting down or lying down reasonably normally. Walking any normal distance is an adventure; clearly things are not normal in the laterial hypothalamalic area. I would not trust myself to, say, walk down to the postbox at home, much less to be on a bike or stairs or carrying anything of any mass at all.
I currently look like I've been merely repeatedly punched in the face, and that the punching was fairly specific and targeted, with is a big step forward.
History:
14 days ago. Unspecified bike accident. May have involved a car, may not have. Did involve a skull fracture and lying in the street unconscious for some time. When the EMTs found me and called Anna and Paul, they got me semi-conscious and tried to get a breathing tube into me without reasoning rationally. Longtime viewers of this programme may be aware of the time the dentist tried to put me under without specific and specific notice for wisdom teeth removal and I slugged him. In this case, it actually went worse, and I aspirated in the ambulance. (This is the medical way of saying "threw up in my own lungs." It's a gag reaction triggered while the air tube is locked open and is often fatal.) Notes: Appropriate physiological atypicalities medic-alert bracelets should be acquired. Several have been found.
13 days ago: Tubed for air and food, unconscious. Brought to semi-consciousness several times as required by protocol. Anna's and my durable power of attys VERY IMPORTANT here, as it turns out, even in-state, so yay.
12-7 days ago: Daily attempts to pass breathing tests fail, Anna stops talking about maybe being taken out of sedation soon. Anna has set a lot of her posts on this period public. Everyone gets very nervous. Meanwhile, in my internal world, I've found it important to take an impromptu trip to a Madalaharan1 community just across the Mexican border, for garden-related purposes, doing research before LACon IV, the upcoming World Science Fiction Convention, where I'd meet up with Anna and Paul on-site. Yes, really.
7 days ago: I finally manage to breathe without assistance, they take out the breathing tube and wake me up.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jenna says she knew I was going to be okay when my first words were "stop helping!" I, otoh, picked up where I left off and thought I was again no lie, in a small Madalaharan1 community's emergency room trauma centre following an automobile accident of some sort. Also, I thought Anna and Paul were in Seattle hospitals and were also awaiting surgery for unrelated accidents.
6 days ago: Still thought I was in Mexico. Worried about how I was going to get back into the US. Was trying Japanese-Mexican slang out on hospital workers and being surprised and pleased at my high success rates. I get it into my head that I'm being transferred to Seattle on Wedesnday. Confused by all the asking about the "driver" in the accident;" apparently the police also don't know whether I actually got hit or had explosive bike system failure.
5 days ago: First really coherent day, I posted. I got "transferred" to Harbourview in Seattle. I was already coerent enough to know that something clearly wasn't adding up, because while I inserted some sort of a motor vehicle ride (which doesn't exist - I rode an elevator) I couldn't figure out how it could happen so quickly, and had thoughts of: 1. I have been in Mexico.... right? 2. Maybe it was Canada? 3. "But I don't speak a word of Canadian!"
I'm now very confused. I think on and of that I've been in Mexico for the next two days. I don't really give up on this until my second LJ post. That bit in the first LJ post where I talk about being in Mexico was not a gag, it was by best understanding about what the hell was going on.. Also, calling what I was on "solid food" is just silly.
Now: Two weeks in hospital, of which I'm really aware of less than one; I'm all de-tubed except for a hydration and antibiotic IV; they're talking about letting me go to normal food and 1-4 weeks of serious (in-patient, 3-hr/day) physical therapy, if they can find me a bed somewhere our insurance supports. Wish us luck with that, we'll probably need it.
1: : Madalaharan: Japanese-speaking Mexican communitities. I have the name wrong, but these are real; Japanaese didn't just emigrate to to USA after the Heian period. Much bigger impacts in the US, Peru, Argentina, and Brazil, but there are Mexican communities too.
That's sitting down or lying down reasonably normally. Walking any normal distance is an adventure; clearly things are not normal in the laterial hypothalamalic area. I would not trust myself to, say, walk down to the postbox at home, much less to be on a bike or stairs or carrying anything of any mass at all.
I currently look like I've been merely repeatedly punched in the face, and that the punching was fairly specific and targeted, with is a big step forward.
History:
14 days ago. Unspecified bike accident. May have involved a car, may not have. Did involve a skull fracture and lying in the street unconscious for some time. When the EMTs found me and called Anna and Paul, they got me semi-conscious and tried to get a breathing tube into me without reasoning rationally. Longtime viewers of this programme may be aware of the time the dentist tried to put me under without specific and specific notice for wisdom teeth removal and I slugged him. In this case, it actually went worse, and I aspirated in the ambulance. (This is the medical way of saying "threw up in my own lungs." It's a gag reaction triggered while the air tube is locked open and is often fatal.) Notes: Appropriate physiological atypicalities medic-alert bracelets should be acquired. Several have been found.
13 days ago: Tubed for air and food, unconscious. Brought to semi-consciousness several times as required by protocol. Anna's and my durable power of attys VERY IMPORTANT here, as it turns out, even in-state, so yay.
12-7 days ago: Daily attempts to pass breathing tests fail, Anna stops talking about maybe being taken out of sedation soon. Anna has set a lot of her posts on this period public. Everyone gets very nervous. Meanwhile, in my internal world, I've found it important to take an impromptu trip to a Madalaharan
7 days ago: I finally manage to breathe without assistance, they take out the breathing tube and wake me up.
jenna says she knew I was going to be okay when my first words were "stop helping!" I, otoh, picked up where I left off and thought I was again no lie, in a small Madalaharan6 days ago: Still thought I was in Mexico. Worried about how I was going to get back into the US. Was trying Japanese-Mexican slang out on hospital workers and being surprised and pleased at my high success rates. I get it into my head that I'm being transferred to Seattle on Wedesnday. Confused by all the asking about the "driver" in the accident;" apparently the police also don't know whether I actually got hit or had explosive bike system failure.
5 days ago: First really coherent day, I posted. I got "transferred" to Harbourview in Seattle. I was already coerent enough to know that something clearly wasn't adding up, because while I inserted some sort of a motor vehicle ride (which doesn't exist - I rode an elevator) I couldn't figure out how it could happen so quickly, and had thoughts of: 1. I have been in Mexico.... right? 2. Maybe it was Canada? 3. "But I don't speak a word of Canadian!"
I'm now very confused. I think on and of that I've been in Mexico for the next two days. I don't really give up on this until my second LJ post. That bit in the first LJ post where I talk about being in Mexico was not a gag, it was by best understanding about what the hell was going on.. Also, calling what I was on "solid food" is just silly.
Now: Two weeks in hospital, of which I'm really aware of less than one; I'm all de-tubed except for a hydration and antibiotic IV; they're talking about letting me go to normal food and 1-4 weeks of serious (in-patient, 3-hr/day) physical therapy, if they can find me a bed somewhere our insurance supports. Wish us luck with that, we'll probably need it.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-08-27 06:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-27 07:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-27 08:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-27 08:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-27 02:27 pm (UTC)^_^
no subject
Date: 2006-08-27 03:05 pm (UTC)Hahaha.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-27 03:35 pm (UTC)Please take care of yourself, and let others take care of you, too. I want you to make a full recovery as soon as possible.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-27 03:50 pm (UTC)Gambatte bien.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-27 04:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-27 05:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-27 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-27 07:51 pm (UTC)(4: he was in Chelan/Wenatchee)
no subject
Date: 2006-08-27 08:42 pm (UTC)Be well, soon as you can. And good luck getting the PT bed (can I say 'PT bed' or does that make a kind of oxymoronic phrase when combined? hrm) too.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-28 04:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-28 05:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-28 01:52 pm (UTC)Good luck with the PT, and and here's hoping that whatever's still scrambled sorts itself out.