about
Monday we took Manny, my sister, to the emergency room. She was in excruciating pain, hadn't been able to hold food down, and had a fever.For those of you who may not know, emergency rooms are teaming with sick people. Every kind of sick. From the bleeders, to hock and hackers, to my personal least favorite..... the wheel chaired, bucket carriers. Here's a tip: If you are sitting in the emergency room waiting your turn and some one is wheeled in sporting a bucket on their lap......MOVE! Go as far as you can.
After 2 and half hours of waiting we were finally called back. The emergency room is divided into two categories. Much like baseball. You have your majors and your minors. Manny, because she has kidney disease, was in the majors. Understand ...... this does not mean if her kidney was running around on the worn out carpet threatening sick people with a urine-filled sub-machine gun that she would get in any quicker.
Being the blogger extraordinare I am ..... I just happened to have my camera. The first thing Manny had to do after changing into a backless gown was produce a urine sample. This proved to be an impossible task. What you see here is me listening at the door for any sound of urination, while Manny. hidden inside, calls out....."You're not standing right outside the door, are you?" Eventually my feet began to hurt and I started making water noises, hoping to speed things along. Still ...... nothing. One male nurse suggested she squeeze real hard.
Just before they came in to start a barrage of tests Bob happened to notice the dead clock on the wall. "That's a bad sign," he said to no one in particular. "oh no," Manny groaned. 
The first blood guy came in and as he leaned down to draw what looked like a quart of blood Manny very seriously told him, "I can smell that alcohol.""You mean the stuff I cleaned your arm with?" he asked innocently.
"No, the stuff you drank last night." Sadly, making him laugh wasn't a good plan because the blood catching tube came loose and Manny's blood spilled out all over the bed and floor. Manny hates the sight of blood. Especially hers.
When the second fella came in to take more specific blood samples (don't ask me. blood is blood far as I'm concerned) Manny who's pain had become more intense began telling this poor guy that she had a living will and her sisters were allowed to pull her plug.
"What plug?" I asked playing with the setting on my camera.
"The life support plug! Squirrel has 1st dibs, you're second, and I put Bob in there just in case you and squirrel wimp out."
"why does Squirrel get first dibs?"
"I DON'T KNOW. JUST BECAUSE! DOES IT MATTER?"
"Well, you don't have to get all testy about it. You don't even need Bob on there cause I'll unplug you. I'm a busy woman. I don't have time to sit around watching a sick person."
At this point the young man taking blood looked at Bob for reassurance. Bob nodded and simply said, "The whole family is crazy. You learn to live with it."
After another 3 hours of testing and Manny complaining about the fact that her underwear didn't match, (she was also wearing granny panties which she failed to mention but I noticed when she got up to try and give another urine sample and her gown flew open) a doctor came in with the verdict. Manny was being admitted for acute renal failure.
The past couple of days have been bad ones. Manny continues to be very ill and in pain. Though I must admit they are giving her some crackerjack pain meds. This morning Manny's kidney began to function at a more normal rate. It will be awhile before she's out of the woods but this is very good news. At last we are headed in the right direction.
Yesterday I told her she looks really good even though in truth she looked like a beached blow fish. Hopefully soon she won't be so puffy or we'll have to come up with a new blogger name for her. Puff Manny?
Labels: emergency rooms, granny pants, kidney, puffer fish, underwire bra
King, that drinking cup filled twice wasn't enough to spur Manny's stubborn kidneys to co-operate. Figures her kidneys would be as bull headed as she is.
Milky, did ya notice I didn't forget the L this time? LOL! And hugs right back to you and all of you who sent prayers out for my sister. She's not out of the woods yet but there's no question things are looking much brighter.
Seequin, exactly! One kidney and it stopped. How she withstood the pain as long as she did is beyond me. They've been running one blood test after another trying to run down the source of the infection or whatever it is that caused this. And Manny hates needles. Happily she's so doped up she doesn't know what end is up most of the time.
Big hugs to everyone, even Squirrel who I only know as the Chinese loving, Wallmart (or was that Sams) shopping, must pickup and touch everything Sister. I know she has a lot to go through now and even more once they tell her what "life style" changes she needs to make but I am just so glad she made it through so far.
Heaven forbid she have to worry about you pulling the plug on her. Maybe you can use that as a way to keep the Christmas List from growing to much more. You know, you add another present on your list and I am going to pull the plug!
I am so glad things are going much better.
Barman! that's a fine idea you have there about the Christmas list. I've been trying for years to get her under control with that thing.
Sign, I'm resting today. Running a really minor low grade fever. No doubt something picked up from that blasted emergency room. Next time I'm takin a face mask.
She'll wanna kill me but with all those tubes in her...she's gonna have a devil of a time catching me. LOL!
dans dad had an angioplasty and his 3rd stint put in.. He is ok.. the way they all talked tohim in the hospital was weird though.. Like they were telling him he was going to die.. I asked dan why his family did that and he said.. Its his 3rd heart attack. He knows what he needs to do. We just have to scare him to do it.
My aunt is ok. She went back home to kalamazoo.. I'm a little worried cause I stopped taking my migrane meds.. I dont want to have another migrane but soon I am going to lose my insurance so I wont be able to afford it... She was pretty tore up.. and she just had regular migranes.. Mine are like having a stroke..
Fuck.
Tell manny to keep her ass in view of any hot young docs. even if she dont feel well I be that would cheer anyone up!
LOVE YA
Crabby I'm never going away as a travel whore again if when I come back all this stuff is going on with Manny!
Glad to hear she's improving big hug for her if its not too painful and don't forget tell her it's from me and as for you Crabby don't wear yourself out, manny needs you, we all need you and I need you!!
Take care kid!
BT, I'm glad you're laughing. That's what Manny wanted. She asked me to keep it light-hearted and not bum people out. LOL! It's not over yet though. They're still trying to pinpoint the source of the infection. Course IMO, if that catheter is filling with urine....whatever they're giving her is working.
Roxi, I understand what Dan's family is trying to do. It's so hard for us to change our lifestyles even when it's needed. Sometimes fear is the best motivator. You need to get your meds! I have one of the worst migraines today that I've had in a long time. If I hadn't had the migraine meds, I'd be flat on my back begging for unconsciousness. I always get them after stressful situations so I kind of expected a bad one would be coming. I'm familiar with the kind you have and they're the worst possible so you get those pills and keep one on you all the time.
Lime, would you believe she's already trying to use this to get better birthday presents? Hugs right back to you. I missed all of you guys these last few days. You've all become like family for Manny and me.
ebezp, I will give her a big fat hug...soon as she bathes. LOL! I'm doing the rest thing today cause I am whupped. but you know how that is. You always think if you're not there something will go wrong. LOL!
Anyway, you get a big hug from me just cause I missed you.
crabby thank you so much for coming to my blog and letting me know about manny, I haven't been blogging very much and trying to hit a few blogs a day so I missed all of this.
Poor manny, please give her a big hug and lick her face for me.:)
You amazingly walked a fine line between humor and a serious situation with this post. I laughed and felt for manny at the same time.
She is blessed to have you and her family with her.
My thoughts and prayers are with manny.
HUGS HUGS HUGS
tc
I am sorry she is not feeling well. Glad to know she had you to take action and get her to the ER. I hate going to hospitals. I was in for an outpatient test last week. YUCK! At least she is able to wear panties (granny or not) with her open back gown. I wasn't allowed that luxury! :(
Hope she is back home and things return to normal soon!
~xo
Lee Ann
Zen, are you serious? Or up to something? You're so blasted ornery I never know for sure. I swear we could be related. LOL!
Cat, Everybody likes Bob. He's like chocolate cake or something.
Nick, I've really pushed her buttons today. Since I can't go around her while I have a low grade fever, I've been trying to talk her into getting one of the nurses to take a cell phone pic of her urine bag for me for tomorrow's post. She'll most likely annhialate me when she fully recovers.
Thank you for adding her to your prayer list. We've been so fortunate to have so many dear friends remembering her in their prayers. And I fully believe it matters.
Slick, thank you! I really appreciate it and I know she does too.
TC, no! You didn't miss it at all. This is the first day I've been able to write anything publicly. I was too darn scared before. There's no way I wouldn't let you know. Manny's crazy about you. Thank you for the kind words on this post. I have to tell you, I'm so proud of her. Even in her worst moments she tried her best to put other people at ease and make them laugh. I love her for that among about a million other things.
Lee Ann, I probably shouldn't tell this but she can't wear the unders right now either. In fact, when I got there the other day they'd been wadded up and tossed over on the visitors bench. LOL! She didn't even know they were over there. She's in and out of it so much she hardly knows what's going on from one minute to the next. Thank you for the kind words!
At 9/19/2007 9:22 PM, 
GAB
Check your shoes before you leave.
I feel so much better with knowing that Manny only needed a small drinking cup in the first picture not a whole entire large bucket ....... or was that the cup she used to, ya know? Hopefully one of the nurses reminded her it wasn't orange juice!