We had no choice but to rush him to the "franchise clinic" that I mentioned in previous posts, which gave him some meds and excused him from work. After a few days with little relief, he and Punkin (who was still suffering the effects of a month long flu) went for the long trek to our family practice. (I had mentioned this in my previous post). The practitioner he saw was concerned about his symptoms and felt that enough had been enough.
You see, Hubsy has had previous bouts of this sort of thing. He's had multiple colonoscopies, He's spent time in the hospital for ulcerative colitis and diverticulitis. Like his back troubles, it's been an ongoing thing, but for some reason, now it's getting worse. Doc gave him the typical meds, and ordered lots of lab tests.
A week later, at the re-check, his symptoms were not improving. After consulting with the Head Doc of the practice, they immediately admitted him to the hospital. Go Directly to the 3rd floor... Do not pass the ER... do not pay the $300 co-pay. (We'll bill ya later).
Three days and two nights at the luxurious Hotel Hospital included bags and bags of fluids and multitudes of medications. A cute little student vampire with violet hair emptied two thirds of his blood into an entire tray of little glass vials. But I guess that was appropriate for Halloween night.
The diagnosis was Crohn's Disease. At least they're 99% sure it is. The 1% supposes that it could be ulcerative colitis. To-MAY-to ... To-MAH-to. All that's left to do now is endure a couple of endoscopic procedures to know for sure, and to assess the extent of the damage to his gut.
Hmm, what else? Oh yeah... and they fired him from work within a week after leaving the hospital. We now have zero income, and will be losing our health insurance in about two weeks.
We are now in the process of filing for several social service programs. We do not yet know if Hubsy will ever be able to return to the blue collar working world. Right now it's a waiting game.
And like Tom Petty has always taught us "The waaaaait-ing is the hardest part".
A week later, at the re-check, his symptoms were not improving. After consulting with the Head Doc of the practice, they immediately admitted him to the hospital. Go Directly to the 3rd floor... Do not pass the ER... do not pay the $300 co-pay. (We'll bill ya later).
Three days and two nights at the luxurious Hotel Hospital included bags and bags of fluids and multitudes of medications. A cute little student vampire with violet hair emptied two thirds of his blood into an entire tray of little glass vials. But I guess that was appropriate for Halloween night.
The diagnosis was Crohn's Disease. At least they're 99% sure it is. The 1% supposes that it could be ulcerative colitis. To-MAY-to ... To-MAH-to. All that's left to do now is endure a couple of endoscopic procedures to know for sure, and to assess the extent of the damage to his gut.
Hmm, what else? Oh yeah... and they fired him from work within a week after leaving the hospital. We now have zero income, and will be losing our health insurance in about two weeks.
We are now in the process of filing for several social service programs. We do not yet know if Hubsy will ever be able to return to the blue collar working world. Right now it's a waiting game.
And like Tom Petty has always taught us "The waaaaait-ing is the hardest part".
