That was my question on March 12th. Where am I ?? You can guess if you want. Disneyworld...no, Gatorland...no, Cape Canaveral...nope, Hard Rock Casino...no. Think someplace closer to our RV park.
Anyone who guessed the Celebration Hospital is the winner! Yep....I was in the hospital....certainly not my normal abode. WHY, you ask??? I can hear you.
I went to my routine Physical Therapy for my right knee....remember by TKR? I didnt feel quite up to par (dumpy) but still able to function. I had felt quite fatigued for several weeks. Long story short (surprise): my therapist checked my blood pressure. I have a history of hypertension and take medication for that. Of course, my B/P was super high. She checked it again. Still stroke level. No more PT and I went home. I continued to monitor my B/P at home and was not thrilled with the results. Fortunately, I have a general practitioner down here and he could see me in the late afternoon. He added another B/P medication to my old regimen and ordered lab work. I went the next day for my labs. Took my new medication. It didnt do
much for my B/P....just a little drop. A couple days passed and I went back to PT. It was iffy if I was going to go through the whole routine cause my B/P was down too fast. I started on my bicycle warm up machine. I was pedaling merrily along when all of a sudden.....who should appear? CORY....he was right next to me with a fat person wheelchair! I was shocked! I told him he had to leave immediately! No extra visitors in this area cause of Covid. I thought he was pulling a joke! He said I had to go to the ER and to get in the w/c. Whaaaaat? Whhhhyyyyyy? He said he had gone to the doctors office because of some texts we had received and couldnt figure them out. Luckily he did! My labs showed an electrolyte imbalance (calcium: 14.3 & potassium 3.0). They were trying to reach us to go to the ER so......there I was .....being wheeled by Cory to the ER. Not like Driving Miss Daisy. Rats!
Once, in the ER....I was eventually seen by a very nice doctor. Nice until he said I had to be admitted to the
hospital because of my labs and B/P. Rats. I suggested I could run my IV at home and eat bananas. Nope....no go! So off I went to the 5th floor of Celebration (Advent Health) Hospital. Fortunately, it is located very close to our park so Cory could and go. Once admitted, they flooded me with IV fluids to bring down the calcium level and gave me IV and p.o. potassium to bring it up....kind of a I was even on telemetry. WOW. My blood pressure, of course, stayed high. They did all the appropriate lab tests for my problems. No issues found. They even called in a nephrologist. He and the hospitalist took me off all my calcium and Vit.D pills I was taking (for years). They discontinued my B/P fluid pill. Even though it was not fun being in the hospital, I found the staff very attentive the food was excellent, the doctors top notch. I made my bed into a warm and cozy nest. Cory piled 5 folded blankets on me. It was so warm I could incubate chicken eggs under my covers. I had a terrific view of Disneyworld in the distance.
If we werent in a pandemic, I could have enjoyed a nightly display of fantastic fireworks by Disneyworld but alas, I could only stare into the dark sky and tiny lights. Such is life! After treatments, my electrolytes were good again and my b/p better so I was discharged on 3/14/21.
Whew! That was an unplanned experience! I went to PT at the hospital and never came home for 3 days! Who would have guessed? Naturally, Lulu was a wreck. She wanted to care for me in the hospital but with the Covid restrictions....only Cory could visit. Shes still licking her wounds. She had such good intentions!
Obviously, I have to follow up with more lab work and visits to my 2 doctors. Thats all this week. Ive been drinking gallons of water while eating bananas, oranges, blueberries and drinking OJ. Hope you have sympathy for me....
