Monday, January 17, 2011

My first doctor visit

Pastor Tom and my Mom came and took me to my doctor's appointment Monday morning. I had to take my wheelchair, which was fine for some reason, I don't remember now. But, anyway, we loaded up in Tom's car and road down to Aultman. He unloaded us at one of the patient entrance doors, and we waited for him to walk in with us.
I went into imaging and signed in for my CT Scan. After a few short minutes, I went to another room undressed and got a hospital gown on, and went into a closed off room where the CT Scan awaited me. No memories, I thought to myself. Oh well.
CT Scan done, I got dressed again, and went out to meet my mom and Tom so that we could head up to the doctor's office. After signing in, we took a seat in the waiting room. Within a few minutes, we were called back by some nurse to a room waiting there for us. She did the routine tests, blood pressure, pulse, the oxygen level, and my temperature.
"The doctor will be with you in just a few minutes," she said as she closed the door.
I was able to get on the patient's table with little help. My mom commented on how my arms were getting stronger. She said "must be all of the therapy you're doing," and gave me a wink. Mom's idea of Occupational Therapy was far different from what the hospital considered OT.
No one said anything for a few minutes in that room. Dr. Weiner stepped in a few minutes later, shook hands with us, then looked at me.
"You damn near killed yourself, you know that Elicia," he started by saying. "In fact, the only thing that saved you was your level of intoxication." He showed me the BAC in my chart, but I don't remember the right number.
"I'm not going to preach to you about what alcohol can do to you, I PRAY you know that by now. What I DO want to hear is how after you get out of the hospital, that you FULLY intend on getting help with your past drinking. AND, that you keep your past, in the PAST."
Despite his "not wanting to preach to me" he was. And I guess rightfully so. I mean, come on, from what I knew, I fell off a 25ft balcony, head on. To top that off, I was VERY drunk. Way to go, Elicia. Way to instill the knowledge into your mom's brain and heart that her only daughter was/is a drunk.
"As far as your CT Scan goes, everything is healing fine." He went on. "The incisions that I made are healing good, the plates and screws are intact. Unless you have any questions, I'll go ahead and release you from my own care." He gave a quick glance, to which I shrugged. No questions here. I looked at my mom and at Tom. No questions there...Ok, lets go back.
"Oh, one other question for you." Dr. Weiner asked me. "Any plans of drinking again?" To which I quickly shook my head, NOOOOO....there was no way in God's earthly name was I going to touch another drop.
"Ok, well, just to keep you up to date on this," he continued "I had to remove a small portion of your brain out to stop the bleeding. I hope you have no intentions, because the area I took out, its the area that controls the distribution of where the alcohol goes. Since there's no place for it to go, you could die from it. So, that's ultimately your call, but just a fair warning. Have a nice day! And, good luck to you!" With that, Dr, Weiner walked out of the room.
Afterwards, Tom offered to take us to eat. I chose the Waffle House, because that's simply what I wanted. I missed their food, for some goofy reason. And, I missed their coffee, haha. For whatever reason, I had my mom sit on my left side. I couldnt hear her. Why couldnt I hear my mom? Oh, it really started to frustrate me!

2 comments:

  1. Perfect! Storytelling that is!! And while I know what is coming, I am anxious to see how it comes out. You have a gift! Don't lose it in "our" silly emotions. Let it flow then perfect it later.

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  2. You have a great way with words .. and telling it how it was ..xox

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