Saturday, November 24, 2012

Home

What a week!  Really.

Jason got here Tuesday night to help us out around the house, take care of the animals, tend to a few things while I was at the hospital with Chris. 

Wednesday Chris and I sat in the hospital for almost 5 hours and not a single person walked into his room.  Not a doctor, not a nurse, no one.  I was getting fed up.  I get they didn't really know what was going on, but don't just make us sit there!  So finally I asked to speak with the doctor.  The CNA says, "okay, let me call his nurse"  She calls his nurse and then turns to me and says, "Rebecca's on lunch, when she gets back in 20 minutes she'll go ahead and page the doctor."  I kind of feel bad for what I said next, but I was fed up, if we're just going to be sitting around all day, then we can do that at home.  So I turn to this CNA who, in all honesty, was just doing her job, and say, "What you can't do it? We've been sitting in there for five hours and no one has even come in to check on him. If you want us to just sit around we can do it at home."  I then turned around and went into Chris's room and told him we were leaving.  The CNA got the other RN to call the doctor and he was there within five minutes.  I guess when you tell someone that you're going to just get up and leave it becomes a priority.

The doctor comes in and checks his blood pressure which was still REALLY low.  I told him that if they weren't going to do anything more than they already have, then we were going to go home.  We could sit around just as easily there as we were in the hospital.  He kind of was a bit condescending and basically talked down to me for defying his authority and knowledge as a doctor, because how could I expect him to just "wave his magic wand when it doesn't work that way."  I turned to the doctor and basically said how dare he speak to me that way, and I know it doesn't work that way, but just sitting in a hospital bed doesn't do anything either.  Finally he decided to put Chris on another blood pressure medication, and had him meet with a physical therapist.  The PT basically told us he didn't have anything he could do for us and left.  The doctor came in again after meeting with the PT and told us if we could walk around for 15 minutes without Chris having any of his typical symptoms, then he could go home. 

They were concerned because when Chris was walking he said he felt fine, but it was after he stopped for a minute that he would start to feel dizzy and lightheaded.

I guess they didn't want to prematurely discharge him, and wanted the medication to have time to start working. 

We walked around for a while and Chris seemed to be fine, he still had a slight headache, but they said that may take a while to go away, especially if there has been an issue with blood flow.

He was still a little dizzy after walking around, but there really wasn't an explanation for any of it. 

So basically, the verdict is we are treating his low blood pressure.  Hopefully that's all this is.  I don't know if it's my negativity getting the best of me, or if it's an intuition thing, but I feel like the doctors may have missed something (though I don't know how, considering all the tests and scans they did)

He is currently on two medications that are meant to raise his blood pressure, so we have to monitor it to make sure it doesn't get too high. 

So far it's still fairly low.  It's much higher than when he was in the hospital, but still low for an average adult. 

We joked about when I end up in the hospital (eventually, with having {future} babies and all; no, not an announcement of any kind).  He told me that he wouldn't have to worry about me, because I sure can stand my ground, and he'll have to keep me from strangling the nurses, his words, not mine.  He even said at one point that I can handle my own so well, he may not even need to be there, which of course earned him a dirty look.

My Christopher seems to be feeling better.  He still says his head hurts a little, but he's out and about getting things done and working on all sorts of projects.  He's already gotten more done in the last few days than he has the last two months.  Kind of kidding, but not really.

It's nice to have Christopher back, and I don't just mean from the hospital.  I mean the Christopher I met and married.  He's been in so much pain the last few months that he wasn't himself, but I have to say the last few days have been great to see him back.  He's smiling and laughing and joking and just being the Christopher I remember.

If we're being honest here, I was beginning to hate being married.  Everyone always says how great it is, especially the first year, and my first few months were not fun.  Chris wasn't the same (though we now know why) and he was making me really frustrated.  I was frustrated with the broken promises, the lack of motivation and determination.  I was frustrated that I didn't feel like i could do anything to make him happy.  I was frustrated with the lack of laughter in our home.  I was frustrated with the lack of communication.

Looking back now, all of those frustrations I was having can be explained.  I feel bad that I was so hard on him, but we didn't know anything was really wrong, and I felt like I was drowning in frustration and {almost} misery.  I feel awful for saying that, but if I have one flaw (which we know I have many) it's that I'm honest.  I'm honest with myself and with others, and being honest, I didn't know if our marriage was going to last.  I feel horrible saying that, especially because, like I said in a previous post, I knew I was supposed to marry Chris.  And knowing that I think made it harder.  I didn't understand why our life together got so much more difficult after we were married.

So long story and emotions short, I'm happy to have some answers.  I'm happy to have laughter back.  I'm happy to have my Christopher back.

2 comments:

  1. oh tiff, i dont know who has been spreading those lies to you, but the first year, and id beg to differ and say the first 5 years, are SO HARD! Even sister hinkley said she cried herself to sleep almost every night the first year of her marraige. and she was married to a prophet! but the root of all divorce, is unvoiced unmet expectations, so make sure you're always vocalising your frustrations (nicely) and feelings of disapointment. and be prepared for some hard work, because marriage isn't an event, its a job that has to be worked at every day. oxo

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    1. Thanks for the encouragement Sarah. It was definitely needed. I was telling Chris last night that no one in my family has ever had a sound relationship. I've never seen a healthy relationship up close and personal for any lengthy amount of time, and so I don't know what it's supposed to look like, and that scares me and in and of itself frustrates me, so it's nice to hear that some of the greatest as well as others who truly love each other also struggle.

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