LEAVING THE HOSPITAL

We have been released from the hospital. The idea is that she is stable enough to go home, but with directions to return if there are any reoccurring problems.

The diagnosis is undetermined or left up to she caught a virus... The unanswered question is what came first. The idea is either she was vomiting which caused the severe dehydration that caused her bowels to harden then causing it to poison her body, or the blocked bowels were poisoning her body causing her to vomit thus causing the severe dehydration. So the question is what initially caused the vomiting, or what caused the bowels not to pass. The decided it was severe constipation or irregular bowels, and we are required to follow up with the GI doctor. They assume she has a disease, where her body has an intolerance to wheat/gluten. In this case it appears to be an extreme intolerance.

The scariest part is I went to the doctor on Friday. I then went back to the doctor on Monday because she was vomiting. By Tuesday morning she was still vomiting and appearing lethargic and tired. I called the doctor on his cell phone at 6am. He said we could wait until they opened at 9am and bring her by, or wait until Wednesday for a follow up appointment if she did not get better. I was annoyed. Wait 3 hours while she got worse, so we went to the ER. Thank goodness I listened to myself and went to the ER. Even though it cost me more money, and may have cost a fortune staying there for 3 days, but the end result is that she could have died.

She was so dehydrated they couldn't get an IV started. They had to try 3 times before they could draw blood. They said normal levels are between 24-19 and sometimes you can drop down to 18. However, Madison was at a 10. They admitted her and began fluids immediately. They said she would need to be stable and eating before they released us. She was not eating, but I blame that on the food rather than she did not want to eat.

So we follow up with the doctor on Monday, the GI doctor on Thursday, and the heart doctor in 2 weeks.

When we checked out they said you have payed your copay and we will bill you for any remaining balances. LOVELY! I wonder how much this experience is going to cost me.