I left my home at 6:15ish a.m. on Monday. I was in the ER within walking distance of my home by around 6:30, blood drawn around 7 a.m. and admitted shortly thereafter. I was transferred to another hospital, arriving at 3 pm, and I haven’t left my 9th floor room every since.
It is 9:30 am on Thursday.
I had a cat bite. One tooth. Punctured my finger. 3 pound kitten.
The almost instantaneous cellulitis was scary.
The fact that it got infected is not unexpected—most people don’t realize that 50% of cat bites get infected versus 5 to 10% of dog bites.
This whole adventure taught me a lot about animals, emergency medicine and hospitals.
My favorite nurse Michelle just announced I am being discharged as soon as she can fill out the paperwork. They cultured my blood— that was those bottles I posted the other day—and nothing grew!
So now that these have come back clean, I can head home. My neighbor, Jan, little dog Sobaka’s mom, is on her way.
I have set up my follow up appointment with my primary care physician, who will be very glad to see my blood pressure has reached normal levels.
I can’t even remember what I wanted to write in this because I’m so excited to go home.
- I drink a lot of water and also urinate a lot. If the average person urinates 2000 ml a day, I probably hit almost 3000 ml.
- I heard a “rapid response team” code 3 times while in the hospital, once each night around 8 pm. Last night, it was in a room a few doors from mine. Seeing the red cart fly by and people streaming from every direction, including the corridor I could see from my window. It was sobering.
- I always feel like I’ve ordered half the hospital menu and when the food comes, I’m always shocked at how little food is on the tray.
- My blood pressure was consistently about 117/75.
- Being in the hospital for 3.5 days allowed me to follow the routines and “get to know” the staff and the other patients. In this time of Coronavirus, I couldn’t leave my room without mask and what not and really where would I go?
- I saw the nurses deal with several difficult situations.
- I watched the patients walking the corridors for exercise, in their gowns and with their IV poles.
- I loved watching shift change, and when the residents and interns gathered for rounds.
Angel Ackerman 