During March, I had a couple of episodes of lousy feeling that took me to the Quick Care for some help and prescriptions. After the second visit to Quick Care I was feeling pretty good and was ready to get on with spring. Then on the morning of March 31st I woke up (well tried to) and felt like crap. Patty was scheduled to go to Beaver that day to set a new Hallmark display at a store there. I assured her I would be OK and told her to go. I went back to bed and then got up around 2:30 or 3:00 in the afternoon. Patty called from Cedar City later that afternoon and realized that I was just a little out of it. It was then she had Amanda come over to see first hand how I was doing with instructions that she was going to take me to the doctor's office once again. When she came, I tried to hold it together so I didn't have to go to the doctor, but I failed and through my fog realized the only way to satisfy the women in my life was to let Amanda take me to the ER, we went to the Centennial Hills Hospital ER. They were very nice, thorough and within a few minutes I was in a gown lying on my back with and IV in me and being tested for who knows what. The doctor's initial diagnosis was a type of Pneumonia and to top it off, he classified it as viral contagious variety, thus began my 5 days of isolation stay in the hospital.
At this point there should be a blog just devoted to Patty getting back to Vegas that night, because she was in The Cedar/Parowan area, she was able to get a car (Thanks Minnie) to get her back to me (cue snow storm stories) before they actually admitted me the evening of the 31st. Amanda and Matt were great to stay with me until she got back to send them home to get rest.
To all of you that have had multiple stays in hospitals during the past - I am so sorry, I hadn't stayed overnight in the hospital since I had my bone spur removed from my left knee during the fall of 1976 at Dixie Hospital.
Centennial Hills would come alive at 10-11 each night, yes I said each night and they would poke, prod, stick, scan and you name it for the next couple of hours. After two nights of that, I kicked them out and told to leave me alone and let me get some sleep. Which they did on the 3rd and 4th nights I was there. Here is a bit of news that shocked me. TV medical shows lie to you. They take a test, go to commercial and then come back and miraculously cure you or tell you the bad news. This is a LIE, it takes at least 48 - 72 hours for any results to get back, and for some strange reason, they keep taking samples to test during the entire time. I had samples taken from places I didn't know existed.
During this entire time my family was great (as always) Patty spent nearly all the days with me and would have spent the nights if I hadn't kicked her out. Amanda and Matt brought me everything I needed. Amanda called Ryan and their friend Jacob to come to the hospital to give me a blessing. As I listened to words of the blessing, I listened for comfort, which was certainly there, and for further blessings and promises. The word he kept using was patience - I had no idea (probably still don't) what that word is going to mean during the next year. I was promised to recover and I believe that I will.
One exciting thing that happened during this stay was the Baja California Earthquake, we were sitting around the room and felt the shaking going on from the 7th floor, we've been in them before, but being up in a building really let us feel the movement. I think that was Sunday 4/4, the same day we started getting some answers as to what they thought was going on. The final diagnosis coming out of there was Strep Pneumonia that had side effects of Anemia and raised Protein levels in my blood. They were also treating me for respiratory issues, although because it was bacterial, my lungs and heart were always very clear. My internist Dr. "O" got approvals from Dr. Shaw the infectious disease doctor and another doctor that I can't remember to kick me loose the next day on Monday 4/5. They sent me home for two days and then released me (at my request) to go back to work on Thursday 4/8. I already had my every six month appointment set with my Dr. in St. George for Friday 4/16 so they gave me some information to give to him.
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