Hospital Visit

When I picked up Clara from work, I found her outside of her building leaning against a concrete barrier in obvious pain. It had started about an hour before - sharp, intense, in her right kidney area. No let up and no change on the drive home. I dropped her off at the Medical Access place and went on to wrangle the girls at the dentist's. Afterwards, I went back for Clara.

She'd been checked into a room but her blood pressure was sky high: 200/150 or so. Whoa! No treatment for you, my friend. A note would get us to the front of the line at the nearest ER so off we skedaddled.

The note was as good as its word. That and the high blood pressure leapfrogged us past the gun and knife victims and into a room pretty quick. Diagnosis: kidney stone. Some morphine and an IV drip should take care of matters and in about 30 minutes, that did the trick and Clara was comfortable. Still, the doctor wanted to be sure so he ordered up a cat scan and off they wheeled her. I had to park it while they were gone.

Good thing I had my cell phone camera. Clara's shoes in the corner pretty much sets the tone for the entire matter. Black and white makes it more bleak:

Good thing there was a TV in the room. And good thing the OU Sooners were playing:

They brought her back. The attending nurse was a little dodgy. The write up called it renal colic which is, well, pain caused by a kidney stone. But with the pain managed and a handful of 'scrips, Clara could go home.

But while she was waiting for me to pick her up, the nausea started. Ah, the morphine. Doesn't play well with her stomach. An evening of retching on the couch was in store. But otherwise, she was okay.

A brave soldier, that Clara. She'll sleep in a little today and see how she feels.