Morphine Hospital Visits

With all the health problems I've been having, I did not need another, much less two.  That's precisely what I got the same day that the ENT told me I needed an MRI.  I was lying in bed at about 5pm when my lower left abdomen started hurting.  Now I have un-diagnosed chronic pain there that my GI is trying to figure out with a colonoscopy. As the evening progressed however, I became extremely nauseous and (I know this is TMI) that I was passing black stools. When I started vomitingf at 11pm I decided I should get evaluated.  I called for an ambulance and successfully got the driver to take me to Lowell General Hospital, Main Campus.  Saints campus is closer but after my great adventure in January dealing with those nitwits, I did NOT want to go there ever again.

The ambulance arrived at the hospital and I was immediately taken to a room where a doctor immediately saw me.  They took blood and did a CT scan.  They checked my stool for blood and it came back positive.  Great, I was bleeding somewhere in my GI tract.  And to top it off I had diverticulitis.  I couldn't keep anything down, not even water, so they admitted me.  My first room was in the basement of the hospital, next to where people go to detox.  I spent several hours there in which I was visited by a Hospitalist and a GI specialist.  They told me they were going to treat me with strong antibiotics and morphine for the next few days.

I was moved up to the 3rd floor and settled in.  My mother brought me flowers, my husband brought me my cell phone charger and my Kindle so I could go online. I spent the3 next few days getting 2mg of morphine every 3 hours.  The funny thing was, I got so used to it that it stopped making me "high".  That can't be good.  After four days I felt better and requested to be discharged.  I was sent home by bus (carrying a large vase of flowers) and found my piggies in good order.

My discharge instructions were to follow up with PCP in two days, follow up with GI doctor in one week, and to get a colonoscopy as soon as the infection was gone to see if I'm still bleeding.  They think that I have an ulcer from all the ibuprofen I took while dealing with my ear pain.

I was treated well and taken seriously.  Something that does not happen at Saints Campus.  Thank you ambulance driver for indulging me.