Wife Goes Through The Looking Glass (Part One) - A de-I Family Health Adventure

Wife and I are back at the Tower after a 56 hour whirlwind experience in that alternative reality known as the U.S. hospital system. Shortly after our return to the United States from Europe Fall 2024, Wife noticed she was having extreme fatigue. Then she started having pain in her left arm. And it began to swell. Thursday morning she noticed odd black and blue marks on her arm. She already had an appointment to see our doctor. I was off for some client meetings. At 3pm just as one of the client meetings was starting, my phone rings. It is Wife. 

Wife NEVER calls me during business meetings. She would leave a text if there was something she needed so I would contact her after the meeting. This was not normal. I answered. She was short and to the point.

"de-I, I have a blood clot. Doctor says you need to come home ASAP and take me to the Emergency Room."

Right. I made my apologies to my client and headed home. Once there, I got Wife and off we went to the Urgent Care/Emergency Room facility indicated by Doctor. As we were driving, I knew we were about to Go Through the Looking Glass again. For those who might not have been following me back in 2008, I wrote quite a long, long post about my experiences with the hospital system from my kidney donation. So I had a pretty good idea of what we were in for. I will say it wasn't quite as bad as that one. Presbyterian Hospital and Healthcare System in Albuquerque is a far better organization than Hartford Hospital in Hartford Connecticut was back in 2008.

(I am sure once Wife gets her energy back will write her own post about the experience.)

Let's go Through the Looking Glass

The Urgent Care/Emergency Room facility is a huge standalone not part of a hospital. Despite its size, it has a tiny waiting room. I was actually familiar with the facility as I had been there in March of last year. So I had some idea of what to expect. 

Enter the facility. Go to registration. In our case, our doctor had already sent in the preliminary diagnosis with the tests being requested.

Look around the tiny waiting room with coughing people and the screaming child.

Find the only place to sit which faces the large windows that have the setting sun glaring right in your face.

Watch one of the people at the reception desk go lower shades so 'She' doesn't have the sun in her eyes. The patients? Not her problem.

After a long wait, Wife is called in for 'Triage' to get a handle on what the issue is. Back into the waiting room with the coughing and screaming child.

Another long wait.

Wife is called in for two of the three tests she needs. 

Back into the waiting room with the coughing people and screaming child.

Another long wait.

Wife is called back for the last of the tests, a CT scan. They tell her she should now be given a room in the facility but the rooms are all full. So go back to the waiting room with the coughing people and the screaming child.

We are two hours into our visit. 

Finally, Wife is given a room. We are really lucky. During our night at the facility, we will see many people who are in their hospital beds in the hallway. 

About three hours into our stay, a doctor comes in and tells Wife her clot goes all the way from her elbow through her chest and is approaching her heart.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😳

We are both in full on fear mode.

We are told she will be put on an anticoagulant medicine that is delivered by drip. This means she will need to be in the hospital for a few days until they are convinced the clot is under control and starting to dissolve. They will transfer Wife to the main hospital via an ambulance as they have to maintain the drip going. 

One problem. There are no beds available at the hospital. We will have to wait in the UC/ER facility until a room is available. The technician who has been hooking Wife up to her drip, tells me in no uncertain terms, I need to stay with Wife until they get her to the hospital because, "Who knows what will happen! You need to be available." I am not looking forward to spending the night in the ice cold meat locker in a small, hard chair. 

Fortunately for me they have these recliner type chairs for just such a situation. They bring one in, It almost goes completely flat. It's like a poor quality business class airline seat. As I'm used to those, I manage to get some sleep, Wife, of course, is going through much worse. They are continuing to poke and draw blood, doing EKG's meaning she's got those patches all over her chest. 

So we honker down for the night. I actually get some sleep. But I'm up at around 4:30am. I am thinking, "My experience was hospital discharges are usually done in the morning after the attending physicians see their patients and give the okay. So it might be late morning or midday before they move Wife. I'm still wearing my business clothes. I go to the nurse attending us and ask if it would be okay for me to go home and get a shower and return as it most likely will be many hours before Wife can get a room. She tells me they now do admissions and discharges on a continuous basis. Wife could get a room at any time. But she doesn't know why I've even waited all night. Her attitude is completely different from the guy you set Wife up on the drip. 

We decide I should go home, shower and get something to eat. I do this as quickly as possible. Before I leave, I check with the facility. She is now at the hospital. I pack up some things like my computer, chargers, Kindle, and head to the hospital

End Part One