Where Am I ???

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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.

Here’s the details. Get comfy!!

I went to my on-going, routine Physical Therapy for my right knee....remember by TKR? I didn’t 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 didn’t 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 not coming 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 doctor’s office because of some texts we had received and couldn’t 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 quickly come 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 Catch-22. 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 and competent, 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 weren’t 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. She’s 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. That’s all this week. I’ve been drinking gallons of water while eating bananas, oranges, blueberries and drinking OJ. Hope you have sympathy for me....I love sympathy! Lulu maintains tears in her eyes for me so I know she’s sympathetic....great.

Not wanting to be an invalid, we have kept on the go. We planned to go to Costco with Sam & Sandy. Sandy checked Bar Harbor’s specials of the day....2 steamed lobsters for $18.98 (they went up $2.00)....no matter.....that became our 1st stop before Costco. While Cory and Sandy were placing our order, I feel a familiar aura come over me. I knew I was going to faint. Sam & I were sitting at a metal picnic table. I couldn’t get my head down so placed my arms out on the table so I wouldn’t bang my head....and down I went. Sam wasn’t too sure what I was doing.....he said I looked so relaxed. Quickly I came around and sat up as nothing had happened. Jeepers! Of course, I told Cory & Sandy what had just transpired.....I didn’t have my b/p cuff with me. This episode happened because I had taken all my B/P meds at one time in the morning....now they are spread out. The lobsters were to die for.....or at least, faint, for! And then we were off to Costco to get one of their juicy, plump, big rotisserie chickens. Yummy.

Most every morning, we have coffee time under our canopy with several friends. It’s great being able to be together. I was relating my fainting spell and Costco’s chickens to our group. Our friend, Jim, said he and his wife, Mary Jane, hadn’t been to a Costco and was interested in their BIG chickens. I lent him my card so they could go. Well, they went and Jim shared their adventure with us at our next coffee. OMG! We laughed so hard we could almost hand out urine specimens if asked. Jim said they followed our driving directions plus their GPS and went the Costco store. It wasn’t quite what they expected. They passed restaurant and other business supplies and much more.Huge buckets of food. As they meandered along, they found themselves in a huge cooler with lots of various meats but no chickens. Hanging above the heads were carcasses of sheep, goats and more. Whaaaaaaat? Jim figured he’d need a wheelbarrow for the BIG chicken! Where on earth were you, Jim? Did you go into a slaughterhouse? They asked for the big rotisserie chickens and the clerk told them they weren’t in THIS Costco.....there was another Costco further down the road. Whaaaaat? They turned heel and left to eventually find the main Costco store where we go. Once at this Costco, they found the big, plump, rotisserie chickens only to decide that they are the same size as sold at Sam’s. Who would have thought? I told Jim his experience was truly blog material so here it is! Laughter is the best medicine.....as long as you don’t have diarrhea.

St.Patrick’s Day came. Joe and Jim made it extra special for our coffee group. Jim brought luscious green donuts from Krispy Kreme so we all got our sugar high. Joe joined us as the cutest leprechaun.....Cory loved this lucky, festive, green fellow!

Time to take a journey away from our park once again. Our expeditions have been limited this year with all my surgeries, therapies and now: hospitalization. Oh, brother. I usually think of myself as a healthy person. Sam & Sandy and the two of us headed off to a flea market in Auburndale. It’s not the best....pretty junky....but someplace to go and something to do. Sam has missed many of his haunts that he loves to go to so we thought this might fill a little gap for him. He found a couple treasures. We headed onward to one of our favorite watering holes: Lake Alfred Diner. Typical diner .... it’s where all the locals go. Delicious food, reasonable prices....worth the ride! Traffic was heavy coming back home so we inched our way along for hours before arriving at RV site #317 (ours).

Hopefully my next blog will have less medical minutia in it for you. Let’s pray. Until then, rejoice that Spring has arrived. We took advantage of some of our hot days and took a plunge in the park’s pool.....good therapy for my leg plus fun to be with our pool friends again. Happy Spring! (16 photos)

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Photos

Costco Business Center
Huge quantities of everything

Comments

[Karen McKean]

So sorry to hear of your troubles, hope all problems behind you!!

[Sandy and Cory]

Thank you
So do I! ?

[Sandy and Cory]

Thank you
Doing great now.