So it started out as a normal Monday night–except that I had to work until 5:30-6:00 pm. I had planned to go to the grocery on my way home, but decided to stop for fast food instead. Since I only had about $8, I opted for Tommy’s. For those who don’t know, Tommy’s are just like other cheeseburgers except that they are covered in lots of chili sauce…and they’re cheap. Patrick and I ate and then he went to his room to tube it with friends while I worked on the computer and watched Antiques Road Show. At about 8:30 or so Patrick came out to the family room complaining that he was never eating Tommy burgers again and that he thought he had food poisoning. I was fairly certain he couldn’t have gotten food poisoning that soon and just figured he had indigestion. He chewed a bunch of Tums and finished watching tv with his friends. They all left to go out to a bar, but Patrick stayed home and took a hot bath. I knew he really felt bad at that point. At about 11:15, after laying in bed moaning for about 45 min, Patrick asked to go to the hospital. Now I’ve found that when someone says they need to go to the hospital, chances are they usually really do need to go. Most people don’t generally ask to go to the hospital. So off we went to Huntington Memorial Hospital here in Pasadena.

Patrick was extremely fortunate that this happened on a Monday and on a night when there weren’t any random shootings or murders. We only had to wait 10-15 minutes before he was taken into the ER. After doing some blood work, the results seemed to indicate he might have appendicitis. Just to be sure, though, they decided to do a CT scan which meant Patrick had to drink a big jug of something that would light up his insides. Meanwhile, the pain continued to grow. After 10 mg total of morphine, there was still no relief in sight. So they switched pain meds and hit on a winner…but it seemed Patrick was allergic to this one, resulting in severe facial itching and nausea. After the CT scan the barfing began, and all the stuff he drank wound up in a small plastic container as well as all over the floor and the bedside table.

Patrick had tubing hooked up all over his body–an IV, a BP monitor, heart rate monitor, pulse monitor–and we all got to watch on a screen and listen to all the beeps when something came loose. Finally the results from the CT scan came back–not appendicitis but kidney stones! Not all that surprising in that both Mike and Kevin (and every other member of the Maginn clan) have had problems with kidney stones. So Patrick was admitted to the hospital (after another round of barfing) and taken up to a really nice private room! At that point it was about 8 am on Tuesday.

After meeting with the urologist, I went home around 10 am to rest for a bit. Meanwhile, Patrick spent the day being pumped full of drugs and varying foods from a liquid diet that mostly didn’t stay long in his stomach. I went back to the hospital around 3 pm, staying until about 8. Many of Patrick’s friends came by to visit, but he was unaware of what was going on around him as he was totally doped up and spent most of the day snoozing.

I finally got to bed last night at about 10:30 and completely crashed, having been up for about 36 hours! Today I went to work, went to the hospital to “bail” him out, went back to work when the powers that be weren’t ready to release him, and finally came home at about 4:30 when everyone agreed he could come home. Spent a few hours running errands to pick up his meds and food and lots of cranberry juice.

The doctor feels he can hang out at home to wait for the stones to pass. If they don’t pass by week’s end, then we’ll decide whether to wait a bit longer or take him back for surgical removal of the stones. Hopefully the vicodin will be strong enough to dull the pain that will no doubt come with the moving stones.

I am so ready for this to end, but not nearly as much as Patrick! The year 2005 is really starting off with a bang! Did you know that 2005 is the year of the rooster (or cock)? Is that a sign?