Just got a call from my room-mate’s sister. He tried to escape again and they had to call security to get him back. Based on the symptoms and what they are seeing with his liver – it’s looking more like a result of drinking and less like random liver disease. She was going to put him on the phone so I could try and calm him down – but then the doctor’s came in and they had to go. Kinda tough to focus on work today.
I went up to the Cleveland Clinic last night – it was easy enough to find, but they somehow managed to hide the parking deck from me for a bit. My room-mate is not doing well – they are now starting to talk about liver failure and transplant or at the very least surgery to remove the damaged parts of the liver.
I talked to one of his sisters yesterday – she and the rest of the siblings are trying to sort out the care he will need after the surgery. I am concerned that they are thinking they can rely on me to do the lion’s share as the primary caregiver.
They didn’t do dialysis yesterday and he got disoriented by the high levels of ammonia in his system. At 3 am this morning, he called me and said he got up, didn’t know where he was, and tried to leave the hospital. They got him settled, but it was pretty scary.
I just talked to his social worker this morning and she confirmed that he’s still disoriented. I’m hoping we’ll know more this afternoon on how they will be able to proceed with him.
I’m tired and feeling more than a little lost. Guess I’d better get back to work.
On Sunday, my room-mate complained of stomach pain – similar to what he’d had last December when he had to have emergency hernia surgery. On Monday morning, I took him to the emergency room. The initial diagnosis was – based on jaundice – was liver failure. So they did some tests and didn’t find a problem with the liver – but instead, they found gallstones. The new theory was that a gallstone had passed into the common bile duct and that it was blocking the flow from the gall bladder and the liver.
Yesterday, they started him on dialysis and put in a catheter. Today, dialysis again and then they transferred him to the Cleveland Clinic.
The doctors are planning on more tests to try and figure it out. His abdomen is distended with fluid, his urine is brown, and he’s weak. And he can’t breath when he lays flat.
I took Monday off of work and I’ve been going to see him as soon as I’m done with work. I’ve been trying to keep his family updated as best as I can – though I’m a little cranky that they haven’t stepped up more.
And I’m exhausted. 8 hours of work, 30 min drive to the hospital, then I’m not home until after 9:00. Tomorrow will be worse – longer drive – but I can’t not go. I’m really worried for him – he wasn’t in the best of health before this and now… well, I’m really worried.
I gotta close this and try and get some rest – tomorrow will be a long day.
I headed out from work on Friday evening to visit my sister’s family and my folks. Things didn’t start well – what should have taken me 5 minutes for one leg of the trip took 25. Some kind of traffic jam for absolutely no reason. Welcome to labor day weekend. I had a few more inexplicable jams on the way, but finally arrived at my sister’s house. We had some pizza and just kinda relaxed. On Saturday, they had a cookout with lots of their friends. It was a good time and I think everyone had fun – though it was hotter than blazes with no air movement.
Sunday was a lazy day, we mostly just hung out and played with my niece – she’s good entertainment. 🙂
On Monday, I headed back north to my co-workers daughter’s 1st birthday party. His in-laws have a pool and we enjoyed it though the weather turned a little cold. Again, fun party and a good time.
Yesterday, it was back to work and crazy busy. I had plans for working on some projects last night, but I was just too tired. So, I just played some minecraft.
The message at the bottom of my receipt from my fuel purchase on Monday read:
THANK YOU
LIVE LONG AND
PROSPER
GOD BLESS
AMERICA
I’m guessing this might just be a small fragment of a run-of-the-mill mental illness, but I’ve had a few moments of what could best be described as “disconnected perception”.
The first was years ago when I was an undergrad on campus and had too little sleep. I had a moment of absolute clarity where I believed that I knew literally everything. Just a moment of all encompassing knowledge – every thought of every being, the position of every atom, every secret of the universe in one moment. And then gone the next.
Years after that, I had a moment of utter peace with the universe. A feeling of being exactly in harmony with everything and perfectly lined up with some cosmic plan. Again, only a moment of peace in the sunshine and it was gone.
Months ago, I remember walking on campus and I had a moment of feeling that if the force of will that propelled me along my tired path dropped just a little bit more, I might lose my anchor on reality. I joked about it as a SMEF – Spontaneous Massive Existence Failure – but the weariness – and emptiness – was profound.
Today, while I was eating my lunch, I looked up at the sky and imagined my place in the vastness of the universe. From the planet to the solar system to the galaxy to the supercluster and beyond until my own existence was rendered insignificant. Instead of feeling comforted about my place, I felt meaningless.
Knowledge, peace, emptiness, and insignificance. I know full well that I’m attaching too much importance to these moments of disconnected perception – but even an illusion can be food for thought.
I got up bright and early and went to the pool on campus. Got in 40 laps and felt pretty good. Stopped off at McDonald’s for lunch and didn’t feel a bit guilty.
I also went to Half Priced books and traded in a pile of hardcover novels. How much did I get back, you ask? $10.00 I keep going there and I keep being surprised and disappointed. Still, I did pick up a few good deals and it only ended up costing me $6.00 after the money back.
Let’s see, what else did I do today?
Oh yeah, almost forgot. I went to a nudist resort.
…
Yep. I did it. I had called ahead and made arrangements to visit today and made the trip with my trusty google map. I got buzzed in at the gate and went up to the front office. The woman behind the counter entered me into their system, gave me a wrist band – and didn’t charge me the visitor’s fee because it was my first time.
I went back to my car to drop off my things. There was a moment, standing there at my trunk when I hesitated. Then I look over to the left and saw a guy casually getting undressed at his car. I mentally shrugged, dropped my pants, and went to go find the pool. The resort was really nice, lots of camping, a clubhouse, volleyball court, and a really nice pool. I laid out in the sun for a bit, swam a little, and did a little reading. After a bit, I decided to check out the hiking trail. I had a map from the front office, but it wasn’t that clear – took me a bit to even find where the trail started. I hiked for a bit, almost fell in the creek, and fought off bugs while trying to keep an eye out for “leaves of three”. (shudder)
I gave up on the trail in short order and headed back the way I came. I got some more sun, swam a bit, and then decided to call it a day – I didn’t stay for the potluck dinner.
And it was… pleasant. Everyone was friendly and polite. And after getting over my few moments of “oh my gosh everyone is naked” – I just enjoyed the day.
It was an interesting cross section of people. From kids to seniors, from fit to obese – everyone was on equal (bare) footing. Pretty nice -and I think I’ll try to go back before the weather turns cold.
The only downside? Sunburn. I’m hurting now – and burned in places I’ve never been burned before. And no, not there. It’s my upper things – not even a cold bath and aloe has helped much. Not looking forward to long pants on Monday. I’m burned elsewhere – sholders mostly – but they don’t hurt like my thighs. Lesson learned.
So, what did you do this weekend?
I really don’t understand rap music. I mean, I really don’t understand what they are saying. The other day a car drove past me while I was walking on campus and I swear the refrain of the…. ummm…. song(?) was:
“Drug money… Peace Corps
Drug money…Peace Corps”
That can’t be right, can it? Although, that would make an for an interesting social commentary.
The drive into work each day has a spot where the road splits. To the left, you will eventually end up at my office. To the right, and you will end up someplace else.
It was raining pretty good this morning as I got into the proper lane. There was a car ahead of me in the right lane with their right turn signal on. Just slightly past the point where it was too late to make any kind of new decisions, the car suddenly slammed on their brakes AND pulled over into the left lane – directly in front of me.
Did I mention that it was raining? I think I did. I don’t believe that I mentioned that the roads were, consequently, somewhat slick. I slammed on my own brakes, laid on the horn, and barely kept my car under control. I didn’t hit the car in front of me, but it was a near thing.
As we went forward on the ramp the car in front of me – we shall now refer to them as “The Idiot” – would alternately speed up and then hit the brakes again. The conclusion of the ramp is a merge into traffic and the “hitting the brakes randomly” is not conducive to that. I finally got past the idiot and made my way safely to work.
Yesterday, I did the “driving Miss Daisy” thing for my FRM’s grandmother. We went to Marc’s, Longhorn to pick up dinner, then to a tobacco shop for her scratch off lottery ticket. They could have called ahead for Longhorn while they were shopping at Marc’s – and picked up the scratch off lottery tickets there as well – but I think I can let a little inefficiency slide while doing a good deed. I know they appreciated it.
Then it was another trip to the increasingly depressing Border’s with their increasingly strident going out of business signs. I picked up a few books and grabbed some Chipotle on my way home.
Latest woodworking project done – finally finished my headboard.
Back in the day, when I first bought my queen-sized bed, I didn’t buy a headboard. I figured I could just make one and I did – but I didn’t have a router. So the edges were rough and stayed rough for a long time. I got a Dremel Trio as a present and then had to go out and buy a router bit. I unfastened the headboard from the frame, took it out to the garage and routed the hell out of it. A few coats of stain later and it was back up to my room and back on the frame. I’m pleased with the way it turned out – the rest of the photos can be found here on my site.