Anything ~ October 19, 2009

Stepping in through the sliding glass doors, the smell of rubbing alcohol and sickness worked its way into my nose. Making a trip to the emergency room at 1 o clock in the morning is not my favorite thing to do, but sometimes is unavoidable when living with Ulcerative Colitis. My mother, though exhausted, is wide awake with worry written all over in her sleep deprived eyes. As we sign in and hand the impatient nurse my medical cards, she quickly jumps to work when she realizes I have lost an incredible amount of blood. Thinking I was just an over reactant child, she explained to us that she didn’t realize that I was really in need of a doctor. She placed us in a room in the middle of the hall way and informs us that she is going to stay with us until the doctor can make it to the room. Shortly my doctor comes rushing in. I could tell that we woke him up with the phone call on the way to the hospital by the rumpled clothes that seemed to have been hastily thrown on his body. As I explain to him what has been going on for the last couple of days, he quickly calls a nurse in and tells her to book a endoscopy for me within the next couple hours. Since I can’t remember the last thing I ate, they want to make sure I can be put under safely, and that means more waiting. I become very week and can barely lift my arms and my doctor asks if I have been losing a lot of blood. As soon as I answered, I was whisked off to the surgery room for my upper and lower GI. I feel a slight prick and then inhale the gases that were being pulled through my mask. Waking up after what seems like only two minutes, I try to see past my blurry vision and see what was hooked up to my arm. As my vision get clearer, I see my dad’ s head right next to my arm that had 2 iv’s in it, one giving me fluids the other transfusing blood into me.

That's all for now!

~Ali