Have you ever been to the hospital? Visiting other's sure, but hospitilized yourself? Hopefully not! Up until now I'd have been able to answer that with a negative, but as of last Saturday I cannot!

There's so many different reasons why people are hospitalized, many of them not good ones. Mine is not a good one I suppose (really babies* are the only good reason), but I don't feel like it was the worst situation either. Ironically enough I write this from home in the past tense...though technically I'm still admitted and I'm simply on a 'pass' to be at home for the night.

This is just my little (bigger than I thought) note to share about my experience over the last couple of days. Definitely not how I thought I'd spend my weekend!

I had an on and off fever all of last week which just wouldn't go away for good so I went to the ER on Saturday afternoon. They asked their regular questions, did their physical examinations, took blood work, sent me for x-ray's, ultrasounds, hooked me up to heart monitors, and even did the oldie say 'ahhh'! Nothing was conclusive in the first evening so they admitted me to the Rapid Access Unit (a 4-48hr unit) that night in hopes they could find a reason for my condition and send me home within 48hrs.

Well I may have been admitted, but at least I have my own room! I even have cable tv, a bed that moves up and down, meal service, slippers with smiley faces on them, and today I discovered the yule log channel :) I don't have any of that at my own house haha! Needless to say I may be in the hospital, but my condition is not as bad as some. I can make the best of this! I should be able to go home tomorrow right!?

Everyday 'tomorrow' seems to come and go. I'm at about day 4 here and by now I've seen more doctors than ants at a picnic! Because my fever (which is now past) was a mystery numerous other doctors speciallizing in all sorts of things were brought in to consult my file. At this point they are still watching certain 'things' so hence why I'm still admitted, but at least I feel healthy enough for them to let me be at home for the nights now! It's so nice to be able to snuggle with my little Sherlock again. And Deniss too :)

Not everything is rainbows and unicorns of course and there are the downsides to all of this, like answering the same questions so many times for all the newbies that look at my case, 'no I do not drink alcohol (despite what Deniss says!), I am not pregnant, and while I'm at it would you like me to take a deep breath for you!' haha And don't forget the sqeeky IV pole that goes wherever I go! I say this all in jest because I know that things could be worse and these staff are only doing their jobs. What is the worst (in my case) is all the blood work. I can't even count how many times I've been poked and proded (an so early in the morning too), these people might be nice, but they might also be vampires down there in the labs! 1 vile, 2 vile, 3 vile! Ah Ah Ah! (in the voice of the Count)

The most positive thing that I've encountered while all of this is happening is love. Of course I feel loved by all regularly! But when something like this goes down the love really does go up, at least in my little circle it does and I am very blessed that way! I've had a few visitors and I've seen my family every day :) They bring me lots of treats like yummy chocolate and polka dotted pjs. My husband draws me his signature elephant on the white board and everyone in my family has taken time from their personal jobs to spend time with me! This is all significant because I don't evem want to imagine how the people without family must feel when they are in the hospital for days without visitors or even phone calls. Even to have a friend pick up the phone and call right me away when I told her where I was speaks volumes! I might be in a pickle, but I am so blessed! My praying mother is also such a source of engouragement. I believe God is the ultimate healer, and to have her remind me of that constantly is wonderful, so thank you Mom :)

The hospital really is a facinating place, but not in the TV Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, or ER kind of way! Or if there is any drama we just don't see it! Lying in my temporary traige room (which I had my own of, not just a curtain in the hall) I could see the nurses station in my section of the ER, and though not much happened there, the time still seemed to pass fairly quickly watching people move about. What was strange was when they all huddled around and I could see one or two keep looking back at me..."I know you're talking about me out there! Come say it to my face!" (I would never actually say that out loud) haha! In my room now I don't see much, just the feet that walk by when the curtain is closed. I can almost identify some of the Drs. and my nurses by their shoes or pants when they come to the door. I don't have a window in my room, but when you walk around the building ( I'm on the 6th level) there is a beautiful view of the mountains! The sun shines brightly in the floor to ceiling windows and though it's a hospital (or maybe because it's a hospital) it feels quite serene. Being that Christmas is right around the corner the decorations are starting to go up. I'm sure that each of the units are responsible for decorating their own stations, so it's nice to see here and there the trees, wreaths, and whatnot popping up!

Let me just say, inspite of all of this, I've leared a lot about our health care system. It really is a good one! Yes there may be wait times, but they could be longer. Maybe we have to pay higher taxes, but hey, I can have all these tests thrown at me and not have to worry about the cost! Most significantly, all of the hospital staff that I've encountered have been super! Nurses, doctors, technicians, aids, food and housekeeping staff, even the volunteers. Not one has been a put off for me, and like I said above I've had more staff than I can count look after me. That can make a big difference in the hospital experience I believe.These people are here to care for us when we are not having our best day, as one nurse put it, and so I say kudos and thank you for doing that! I know several nurses and my sister works as a CT tech in the hospital as well, let me just encourage all of you in the medical field that YOU are the experience! There will always sick people in need of care and God's healing, so when you see them on their worst day(s) remember that a kind smile and a soft word, sometimes even a joke :) can make all the difference!

Well I may not be totally out of the woods yet, but I pray I'm close. Even if they send me home tomorrow dubbed 'mystery girl' I won't be bitter about it at all.  I'll know that I chose to go and get my health cared for and health care is what I got! And even though I feel fine on the outside I know that by them continuing to run tests and keep me there they are looking out for my best interest! Aaaand sometimes having a little bit of mandatory time off work to destress and just sleep isn't so bad a thing either :)

This may not have been the way I planned on spending my weekend, or following week, but hopefully I'm better for it!

*Did you know that whenever a baby is born in the hostpital they play this happy little tune for about 5 seconds around the main areas of the hostpital!? It's kind of neat :)

*Hospital meal tip!* One of the first days we were making my menu selections for the next day. For the drink options it said 'milk 1% blah blah blah. I said to Deniss, "why can't there be chocolate milk?" So he wrote 'chocolate' beside the circled milk and wouldn't you guess that the next day I got chocolate milk!!! That made my day :) So I've done it a few more times now, it's the best! I wonder if I asked for x10 Ketchup if they'd give it to me?

I learned how to edit pictures on my phone so I've been having fun with that while I sit in my room...can you tell!?