Sunday, September 6, 2009

Hospital 1, Hospital 2, Hospital 3...Through the Husband's eyes

As my Wife mentioned, the first hospital thought she had meningitis. I argued with the attending Physician about her symptoms. They pressed forward with an MRI and realized she had a bleed in the brain. They immediately realized they were not fully equipped to deal with the situation. They loaded my Wife into an ambulance and transferred her to another hospital about 45 minutes away. I gave her a kiss goodbye and told her I would see her soon.

As the ambulance pulled away, I drove home. I needed to let the dogs out, get my Wife's glasses, get her some pajamas, etc. At this point, I am still holding up well. I took care of everything and raced to the hospital.

When I arrived at the second hospital, her room in ICU was empty. They had her out out for a CT scan and other various testing. I sat in a room with glass walls still not fully knowing the prognosis. I stared at the walls not thinking, I was just kind of numb.

After what seemed forever, they wheeled her back into the room. She looked at me and said, "I just want it to be over...I want to go home". She apologized to me 1000 times. Her words were still kind of garbled. I gave her a big hug. The nurse summoned me and I followed.

As I walked out of the room I was introduced to two Doctors. They sat me down and showed me the results of the scan. In a nut shell, my wife has a clot in her brain restricting blood flow. The next step was to remove the clot. They spoke about evasive surgery tactics, they spoke about blood thinners, blah blah blah. I asked one simple question, "Will she be ok?". One of the Doctors put his hand on my shoulder and said, "This is very serious, she may not make it through the night." I was floored. My legs felt like jelly, I could barely stand. I looked at my Wife laying in the bed, she smiled at me.

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