Pretty Pink Tutu

Yes, another one of those aditive tests that we all love to take.

You're an Entrepreneur

Your mind is forever locked on the unforeseeable future, wondering how to make it a better place. Every movement needs a visionary, someone to lead the way and be the almighty powerful. And that someone is you. As a born leader, people honor your wisdom and are inspired by your commitment to your cause, company, or family. You're capable of encouraging others to believe in just about anything you represent whether it be corporate restructuring, political reform, or healing crystals. But you're also the independent type—a little elusive. You're best directing from a distance where you can set strategy without getting involved in schmoozing or too much office politics. You're the woman behind the scenes who's holding the strings.

Who's like you:
Martha Stewart

Likely careers:
Entrepreneur, realtor, insurance broker, travel agent, drug kingpin

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Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It’s a kidney stone??

That was my reaction Tuesday afternoon at the emergency room with Gianni. The Doctors were fairly certain he was trying to pass a kidney stone.

I guess I should back up about 18 hours and start this story in the beginning. Monday morning early, I took Gianni to go have Lasik Surgery. The Doctor gave him a prescription of Vicodin for the pain. Monday after I got him home he spent the remainder of the day on the couch recuperating, popping a Vicodin every several hours as needed for the pain.

He was up and down all night with stomach cramps and nausea. At 3:30 he told me he was in bad shape and I told him that I would take him to the Hospital if he needed to go. At 5:00 he was ready to go. I drove him to the nearest Hospital Emergency Room and we proceeded to check him in. By this time he was doubled over with pain and had been trying unsuccessfully for quite a while to throw up.

Our first Nurse showed up about 10 minutes after our arrival. I explained his symptoms and she took his vital and drew blood for testing. At this point Gianni and I both thought he might be having a reaction to the Vicodin. He has had a history of strange reactions to prescription drugs in the past so this was a logical place to start.

The ER Attending came in about 10 minutes later and immediately wanted to do X-rays and a CAT Scan. He wanted to rule out Appendicitis. I asked if the blood test could rule out Appendicitis and was told no. Gianni has no medical insurance so we decided to wait on the CAT Scan until later. I wanted to give him a little more time to see if he was any better after the Vicodin in his system wore off. At this point I was fairly certain he was not suffering from Appendicitis, but then again I’m not a physician am I.

Forty-five minutes later our second Nurse came in and the first words out of her mouth were, “ok, you’re ready to go home now”. “WHAAATTTT!!!!!” Came roaring out of my mouth. They were going to send him home 45 minutes after we decided to wait on the CAT Scan? I knew there had to be some kind of mix up so I asked to talk to the Attending. I was told that plenty of time had passed for the Vicodin to be out of his system and that if he wasn’t feeling any better that we were going to either have to admit him into the Hospital, have the CAT Scan or go home. I was livid!!! I lost it!!! The ER Attending didn’t know what to do with Gianni because he wasn’t bleeding out of his eyeballs or didn’t have a cut that needed to be mended. His answer was to do a ton of tests and admit Gianni for “pain maintenance”.

By this point we had been in the ER for about 2 hours. I decided that if Gianni were ever going to feel any better that were apparently going to have to have the CAT Scan. The CAT Scan came back negative for Appendicitis, as I had told the DR. it would. The DR. then told me that the original X-ray had shown what he thought might be a Kidney Stone. A Kidney Stone? Ah well I guess that explain the sever pain and the low-grade fever. “What’s our next step DR”, I asked? “I want to call his regular DR. and admit him to the Hospital for pain maintenance.” Admit him, for more testing? Admit him until we know for sure it’s a Kidney Stone? I guess our discussion earlier about the lack of insurance meant nothing. I was afraid that I was starting to sound like a cold-hearted bitch to the staff, but they were not going to have to pay for all of the unnecessary hospital bills. It was apparently their job to cause them. But I digress.

In my opinion the only good thing the attending did was call Gianni’s regular DR. The Attending came back about an hour later and told me Gianni’s DR had suggested that get a Urologist in to look at him to decide one way or another whether it was indeed a Kidney Stone and to hold off admitting him until he had been evaluated by the Urologist. That sounded like the best plan I had heard all day.

The Urologist came in and asked for one more X-ray. The result confirmed there was a Kidney Stone and that all we could do for Gianni was get him home and comfortable so he could pass the stone. He said if it had not been passed in one month’s time, that at that point we would need to talk about surgery, but that the stones usually pass on their own.

So 11 hours after we arrived at the ER, we finally got to go back home. Gianni is pretty much bed ridden at the moment. The Urologist told him to take the Vicodin he already had for the pain. He’s been sleeping a lot and I’ve been monitoring his Vicodin consumption. We’ve switched him to Advil during the day if he can stand it and Vicodin at night and when the pain is really bad.

I’ve been trying to pump as much water and cranberry juice down him as he can possibly stand. The more liquids that go in, the faster he’ll be able to get rid of that stone. Right now even laughing seems to be painful. I told him the other day that it looked like he was going to get to experience the joys of birth before I would…he didn’t laugh.

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