Thursday, November 8, 2012

I learn of Obama's victory in the ER of Einstein Med Center

Here are the Obamas as they return to the White House after his victory - 50 percent to 48 percent. Photo from NY Times.

I would not allow myself to think about rollbacks of important services had Romney gotten in, including healthcare for all, repeal of Roe v Wade and banning gay marriage.

Clearly, the Republicans are living in the past. The gay/lesbian life is not a choice. This is the way they are born.

Americans have begun to accept this, but not our Republican ticket who believe everyone is like them: rich and caucasian.

In his concession speech, Romney said the best partner he ever had, other than wife Ann, is Paul Ryan, who lost his home state of  Wisconsin, while Romney lost his in Michigan.

Reminds me of a question they keep asking me here in Room 8004 of the Tower Bldg at Einstein: Are you nauseous?

Only when I think of Paul Ryan and the damage he would do to women's rights. It took so long for abortion to be legalized in the US. Remember the case of Sherri Finkbine? She was carrying a Thalidomide baby and had to fly to Sweden to get it aborted.

* * *

So, on Tuesday, I finally saw my new family doctor, Richard Eisenstaedt. I'd waited two months as a new patient.

Richard S. Eisenstaedt

Dr E was recommended by my podiatrist Ron Renzi. His offices are at Abington Memorial Hospital, Price Building, where I used to see my former psychiatrist Larry Schwartz.

Naturally I couldn't find my way around the hospital and had to ask for help. The resident in orthopedic surgery (yes, I told him about my back operation) walked me to the Price elevators which were filled with unsightly commercials for the hospital.

I do love decorations but these look grotesque.

Walking down the carpet on the third floor, I remembered a line from one of my Compass mag Odyssey short stories: These halls give me hope.

And that's how I felt.

Eisenstaedt was good, asked me excellent questions and I was happy about my choice of new doctor. The reason I left Foxhall, my alltime fave, is b/c I have such a hard time reaching his practice - North Willow Grove Family Med - by phone.

Look, I wanna make one phone call, not spend the morning dialing and redialing.

Eisenstaedt ordered urine tests for me, which showed "positive" for infection.  Hence my stay at Einstein.

When I was rolled into the Einstein ER I saw a man with diabetic feet. I was in the room opposite him. This is why I said, after my diagnosis of diabetes from my antirejection meds, "This is the worst thing that's ever happened to me."

But not if you take c/o yourself.

Ever seen a pic of a Chinese woman with bound feet? Her feet grow into one thick stump. Who would ever think up something like that? The enormity of cruelties toward women. You can just see Paul Ryan in a former life approving it and Romney hedging his bets.

Plus this man's feet had blisters on it. His A1C was 12.

I discussed all this feet stuff with an Einstein resident Dr Keith Grimes. He's a podiatrist and is rotating in the Infectious Diseases unit.

But what do the feet have to do with infectious diseases, I asked.

Feet get infected, he said.

Aha.

We discussed the man I saw in the ER and Keith said he'd seen far worse.

From diabetes? I asked.

From diabetes, he said.

Dr Grimes thot I'd do well with the disease b/c I take good c/o mythelf.

 I eat no Halloween candy.

 I eat no Mint Bark from Stutz Candy Kitchen. Ah! the aroma of that place is unparalled.



Hello again, Dr Radi Zaki, chief tplant surgeon. So, he and his team are strolling thru the corridors.

What can I do about these frequent UTIs, I ask.

We'll make you an appt., he said, and talk about it then.

You mean there's hope? I say.

Sure, Ruthie, he says.

The problem is that when you get a kidney tplant, they create a new ureter from the kidney which empties into the bladder. Something goes awry in the taken-for-granted operation of peeing.

I had suggested to one of the kidney team members that perhaps a better ureter might be constructed. They didn't think this was possible.

We'll see what Zaki has to say about it.

The care I get at Einstein could not be better. Nurses and aides are FANTASTIC!!!

Ada and Rich drove me here after our New Directions meeting. Sitting in the backseat, I was fiddling with my seatbelt and finally got it on just as we were pulling into big well-lit Einstein driveway at 11 pm.




They helped me carry my parcels inside and then I stoically awaited the long nite ahead. Five hours until I got my room.

I knew what to expect. For reading, I brot a Jack Reacher novel "The Enemy" (I'm now on p 52), brot my laptop and some DVDs to watch. My blogroll features TV shows you can watch online. I brought healthy snack food and packets of tunafish and salmon - the food is TRULY TERRIBLE.

Brot my cellphone and charger and finally figgered out how to answer it - my son was really surprised! - you just open it up and say Hello!

I was wheeled downstairs the Ultrasound Room by a nice black guy named Zeke (short for Ezekiel) who joked that when he and his GF have a baby, they'll name her Zali (my middle name).

I told him that Jews name their kids after deceased ancestors. Zali (pronounced zolly) was my Hungarian great-grandmother's name. 

Zeke and I said goodbye and I'm now in a huge room where I'd get a kidney ultrasound.

Guess what! There was no there.

Finally I called HELLOOO?

Fortunately, a woman who said her name was Shelfi Redy, answered and said she'd be with me soon.

I hopped outa bed and walked around the vast area.



This place is really well-equipped I thot. They had six or seven ultrasound rooms and two huge restrooms.

The ultrasound takes about 20 minutes.



Shelfi compares the results with my last test. Everything looks Great, she said.

Whew! I hadn't lost any function due to my obduracy about coming in.

I was in my room at 4 am, utterly exhausted and hungry. The nurse brot me a snack pack  - tunafish on white bread, graham crackers, and cranberry juice.

EDITORIAL OPINION: White bread should be forbidden in all hospitals.

The most important thing I did today was WASH MY HAIR. The nurse, Princes (pronounced princess) found me some shampoo - and a comb - and I finally look presentable. I was so disoriented when I first came in, my looks didn't matter.

The last time I was here they had a different policy of injecting me with insulin. They only gave me between 2 and 6 units....barely anything.

Now they give me reasonable amounts.

One nurse gave me 18 units, which is more than I've ever had. (My own tops is 12)

She cautioned that I had to eat every bit of my dinner so I wouldn't go low.



This actually looks like the chicken and rice with gravy I had. I also gobbled up the dessert and ate my whole grain pretzels I'd brot with.



I just discovered a quicker way to upload images from the Net. Instead of clicking "Save image as" you click "Copy image."

So that's one good thing that came out of being at Einstein and wasting three whole days of my life.

They always ask you if you're in pain. I am not. But I fantasized asking them for a Percodan, which I took occasionally when I had sciatica, but couldn't enjoy the euphoric effects.

I would like to feel euphoria! I loathed my euphorias when I had bipolar d/o - what? did I really have bipolar? - loathed em b/c you can get way out of control.

But now, it might be fun to feel euphoria thru a pill.

What a b'ful word, feminine.

"Euphoria! Time to come in for dinner!" 

No comments:

Post a Comment