first hospital trip in a while

I just got home from the hospital after a four day stay. You guessed it, abdominal pain. But, in a whole new and unfamiliar way. On Monday night I started having sudden onset of searing pain just above and to the side of my ileostomy site. I watched it for a few hours as it got worse and worse. Finally, when chills set in four hours later, I decided it was time to go to the student health center (required before ER in order to appease the health plan gods). They heard my medical history and said, "We need to send you to the ER. We have to assume there is something seriously wrong."

So, I went to the ER at the huge Yale hospital and stayed there till 6am when they finally admitted me. It wasn't an altogether unpleasant ER stay, despite some nervousness about running into fellow PA or med students. One of the residents reviewed radiology problems with me for a good two hours, which was pretty cool. It was nice to be treated as a future colleague, and not just a patient. It's even different than being a Paramedic and getting sick. Suddenly, all the physicians and PA's want to teach me about everything that comes up in treatment - which is sometimes exhausting and sometimes a relief from thinking about how much pain I'm in!

If there is one thing that can really turn a hospital stay around, it is amazing friends. I have truly been bowled over by the kindness of my friends, housemates, and classmates this past week. I don't even know where to start, but I know I couldn't be a luckier guy.

A real post about thoughts on leaving the hospital, fragility, and outlook on life will be coming soon.

For now, I'm tired, and enjoying cutting my bracelets off! Then I'm going to bed. My own bed!