One week in hospital

What did I do to deserve this!!! Well, this was what went through my mind when my partner called the ambulance to get me to the hospital last week.

Last Thurday, I had a bowel movement. However I noticed specks of red. That was odd but I thought it sort of looked like chili pepper. I concentrated on what I ate the previous day and could not remember if I had anything resembling chilis. I decided I must be coming down with alzheimer's and shrugged it off. Besides I had no other symptoms or pain. This was around 4pm.

8pm arrived and I felt the need to go to the toilet once more. This time I knew it was something watery and I just let myself go. This time though, I noticed that the water in the toilet was bright red and it was a lot of red!!! It shocked me a bit, but still I had no pain or anything else that seemed odd. I decided that maybe I had a microscopic tear in my butt and shrugged it off again.

9pm arrived and I had to go again. This time more liquid and it truly looked like red wine. A deep red color. I stood there and a chill went through my body. I had to ask myself....is this normal? What could it be? Might it be cancer? I started to get worried but waited for my partner to come home. I didn't flush the toilet and just waited until I had an opinion from my partner.

9:30pm came and my partner got to look at it. He was pretty surprised at how much blood was in the toilet. He told me that he thinks it might be serious and to promise him to go to the hospital the next day. I told him that was what i was planning so don't worry.

10pm. I had to go again and once again, more blood. It was like the same amount kept coming out of my butt. Hmmmm.....this is really scary. I flushed the toilet and started go walk away from the bathroom when I was hit with a dizziness and weakness. I had to lie down and just decided it might be a good idea to just go to bed early.

12pm. Toilet again and yes, more blood.

1am. More blood and I am starting to feel nausea.

1:30 am. Need to go to the toilet but can't. I feel dizzy and nausea. I will just wait it out and sleep. I probably need sleep.

3:30am. I feel liquid sloshing around in my stomach and feel quite uncomfortable. I want to throw up. I can't stand. The room is spinning. I can't seem to breathe as comfortably. I wake up my partner sleeping next to me.

He tells me that my face is quite pale and I beg him to help me to the toilet. He tries but once he gets me to sit on the edge of the bed, the room starts to spin and I feel like throwing up. Uh oh,......am I having a panic attack? I figure I may be having one so I take an anti-depressant. But this is feeling really bad. And the blood. There must be more in my stomach. I try and think to myself if I really need to go to the hospital now. What if it's serious? My partner asks me if I need an ambulance and I nod yes.

4:00am the ambulance arrives. They have a wheelchair for me. I get on and tell my partner to get my bag. It's funny because I actually prepared a bag with some necessities just in case of emergency. Heading to the hospital I feel better. I start to get second thoughts and think maybe I really don't need to go to the hospital. However I'm already on my way so I decide I have to go already.

At the hospital they take my blood right away to check my hemoglobin levels. Explaining details to doctors. I start to feel cold so I ask for a blanket and also wome water as I'm feeling quite thirsty. Blood test comes back and doctor tells me I need to stay for some checks as my hemoglobin level is extremely low. He explains that the normal male has a level of 16 but I only had 9.7. Ok, it sounds bad though I don't feel as bad but I figure I need to get myself checked out. I also need to go to the toilet again and the doctor says to show him the contents of my butt. Same bucket of redness. The doctor says that this looks serious and I would probably need to be hospitalized.

I told my partner he can go home as he has to get ready for work. He promises to call later and I wait until 8:30am for the specialist to come in. Once the time comes, I go and walk to another doctor's office. They tell me I need to go to a different desk to make an appointment so I do. They give me a time of 13:00. Wow, that's four hours away. Well, I guess I could just sit somewhere besides I do feel tired. I wait in the chair but I can't keep my head straight. I feel really tired and a bit nauseated again. One of the nurses notice and she tells me to go lie down on one of the beds they have. I agree to and it feels much better. For some reason, I don't notice how tired/cold/dizzy I am until I get to the bed. Then the doctor comes in and tells me he wants to put an IV in me as well as do another blood test. I agree and he asks me to come into another room for the IV. I somehow make it to the room and sit on the chair while he starts to put the needle in me. Once he finishes I start to feel really dizzy and I can't sit anymore. He notices and calls three nurses over to help me get to bed but I don't make it. I lose consciousness just for a bit and I realized they got me to the bed and I have an oxygen mask over my mouth. I feel better but I hear the doctor calling "emergency CT Scan now!!!" to someone. Good good.....that sounds good. I don't like this anyway and I really need to get myself fixed.

Ok, they got me a bed and I just need to rest. I am officially admitted to the hospital and don't really know when I'm going to be able to go home. They come back with the blood results and tell me I am still bleeding internally though not as much. They will give me blood stopping meds via IV. I sleep most of the day and night. I wake up feeling better but weak. Doctor tells me I will not be able to eat anything until Monday. So nothing to eat from Friday until MOnday....right well.....this is what they do at detox spas so I decide this is good for me. Detoxing and maybe losing weight. Saturday and Sunday is mostly resting, getting meds via IV and blood tests.

Monday arrive and I will get a camera stuck up my butt. The experience itself was not so bad except for the drinking the 2 liters of liquid part. I tell you, the liquid tastes like watery sperm!!! Seriously!!! Like lemony with an ajax after-taste. I could not drink all of it and in the end they had to give me an enema.
They found a scab in my stomach lining at the far end of the large intestine. They found the cause. Yay!!!They still have yet to find the cause of the injury though they tell me. They think it may be some kind of parasite but cannot find anything in my daily stools. I get dinner but it's mostly liquid. Still, it's good to finally have something.

Tuesday arrives and after blood tests, my hemoglobin is now 10. Yay! They said I'm improving.

Wednesday now and another blood test. A bit lower today. 9.1. The doctor says it's a bit worrying as it is now lower than when I was first admitted. They decide they need to check my upper intestines tomorrow and also maybe a blood transfusion.

Thursday morning I go for the test. They did find a bacteria in my upper area but that's easily treated they say. It's something you usually get from your mother while an infant. But they say they need to give me a blood transfusion. My body is not making hemoglobin. My red blood cells are being depleted. They tell me they've ordered the blood yesterday just in case as I am a blood type O RH negative, which is very rare in Japan. The blood arrived looking like watery ketchup and I finally agree.

Friday morning I don't feel a different in the way I feel. All I know is that I can finally go home. In the end I was told to go on medication for 10 days to kill the amoeba just in case it is amoeba. It will cause me to feel sick but was told to just try my best to tolerate the nausea. If I feel numbness in my legs or fingers, go immediately to hospital.

So today is Sunday, two days after being released from the hospital. I feel the same...just very tired and I still am dizzy now and then. It must be due to the fact that I was in a horizontal state for a week with no food. I'm eating more and have gained 2 pounds in a day! I guess that is a good sign.

I am hoping I will not encounter too much nausea during my treatment.

A very good week!

First off, it hasn't rained as much as was predicted by the weather people. No rain whatsoever this weekend either and that makes me happy. I got quite a bit done this week workwise and did some rare socializing as well.

A really good friend of mine ended up breaking up with his boyfriend of a year and so we made plans to meet up for dinner and drinks on Thursday night. I was a bit worried as I knew he was trying really hard to make things work. So we were a group of 5 on a Thursday night drinking on the balcony of a bar in Tokyo overlooking the city. It was nice. We all got to talk about our love lives and we all had a great time pouring our hearts out. Dinner was German food, a bit too oily for my taste, but hey who came for food right? We were there just to enjoy each other's company. Nice night it was.

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I went to see Angels and Demons. Actually enjoyed it much more than Da Vinci Code. Easier to follow and way more coherent. I did read both books but I didn't remember the details of Angels and Demons in the book as that was 3 years ago. Dinner was at this organic vegetable bar. Amuse Bouche was simply organic cucumbers with sea salt and olive oil. We had a salad of field greens and also a platter of a variety of organic vegetables with anchovy dip. For protein we opted for some grilled fish balls with shiso leaf and pasta with organic tomato sauce. Everything was good except for the pasta, which my boyfriend makes better.

Today we go to Costco and IKEA to do some shopping. Mangoes are in season and we need to get some of those. I also need to buy some stuff for my office. We will pick up his designer suit at the department store. My boyfriend got promoted at work and so he bought a really expensive suit, which actually makes him look rich...if that makes sense. :)

A good week it really was.

finally no rain today!!!

While not exactly sunny, at least there is no rain today. It's been raining almost non-stop for the past 5 days. The first couple of days it's ok, but after that it just puts me in slow mode. I think it sort of affects my dog too as he seems to be more lethargic during times of rain. So today when I woke up and entered my living room(aka my dog's room or Justin's room), he started jumping on me and making some strange un-dog-like sounds. Just to let you know, my dog doesn't bark. He only makes these very quiet whiny sounds when he wants something. He screams loudly when a number of fire trucks pass by, but only when there is more than one.

I've been working hard these past few weeks and it's all good. I did have this really bad headache thing last week though. My face that was affected by bell's palsy has also been hurting really bad lately and it's pretty frustrating. Today everything seems fine so far. Two days ago, I felt nauseas and sick while walking to get lunch with my partner. I didn't tell him how bad I felt but he noticed and asked me if I felt sick. I eventually did tell him after the event was over. I just couldn't talk when it was happenning....yeah that's how bad it was. I have no idea why that happens to me. Anyway I got a doctor's appointment this week so I'll try and find out then.

I have so many pictures I want to post on my blog but just don't seem to have enough time. I know one can always make time if one wants to. I know I want to. I think I'm just lazy.

I'm going to take advantage of this cloudy but non-rainy day and take my dog for his walk.