Hi,
back from the dead, a 2nd visit to the er, equally as fun as the first.
I got the bill for the first visit of 4 days:
$53,000 total.
Holy crap! you must have had all sorts of exotic surgeries, right?"
Nope. Just a cat scan and some Tylenol.
Here's the breakdown
CAT - $11,000
drugs - $12,000 (tylenol, saline, anti-nausea drip)
lab work for 4 blood draws: $16,000
Four nights in a room - $5,000
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
My recent fun with viral infections
Two weeks ago Friday, we were at the roller derby watching teams of girls fight and skate in circles. I started feeling kinda crappy and really knew something was wrong when I lost interest in drinking my 2nd beer. Late that night my temp was way over 100, and it was not from getting hot over the roller girls, I can assure you of that.
I sweated it out at home for a few days, figuring it was "just a virus". that's a phrase I shall never use loosely again. By Wednesday it was getting no better, with headaches, and sweating all over the furniture and just smelling bad in general. I went to my doctor and she said I had a virus, take 2 aspirin and call me in the morning. The next day i'm in an ambulance on the way to the ER. Now let explain how the 911 call thing works. No matter what you call for, you are going to get a really ugly ambulance (the lime green box), and two firetrucks full of young, fit, handsome paramedics that are all wearing cool black technical clothing like Jack Bauer wears in 24. We had a house full of these guys and it was fun for a brief period.
They bust me into the back doors of ER just like in the tv show ER. Amazing. The doctors had blood tests run in 10 minutes and immediately assigned me: a hospital staff doctor, an infectious disease specialist, an oncologist, and a gaggle of nurses. I don't know anything about blood tests, but mine must have come back real high in the "let's hit his max out of pocket" category.
This virus was a real ship destroyer that got sent into me and it took few prisoners. And those that managed to survive all got scurvy and died anyway.
I had an acute viral infection that resulted in 10 days of fever of 101-102ish, and complete exhaustion. Both the spleen and liver took direct hits from the destroyer and the liver is still doing repairs. But get this: on top of all this, at the same time I happen to have had a mild colon blockage ("helios" or something like that) that caused me immense displeasure through the duration of my hospital visit. The only reason they found it was because it showed up in the CAT scan they ran to check my organs. So I had this big bloated belly, no appetite, and constant mild nausea, and we all thought it was just because I was "real sick".
I lost 5 tee shirts during my visit at the hospital. A few times each night the fever sweats would get real bad and I'd wake up and have to change clothes. I'd throw the wet shirt on the floor and we did not notice until the last day that they had been collecting them with the towels for the hospital laundry. The fortunate part is that I am really cheap and buy tee shirts at CVS, 5 for 10 dollars.
The fever is all gone, but i essentially now have temporary hepatitis. The doctor thinks it will be a few weeks to fully recover. The complete and total bullshit part of this is that I have been now 2 weeks without a beer, and will be at least another week until I can enjoy a delicious malted beverage again.
I sweated it out at home for a few days, figuring it was "just a virus". that's a phrase I shall never use loosely again. By Wednesday it was getting no better, with headaches, and sweating all over the furniture and just smelling bad in general. I went to my doctor and she said I had a virus, take 2 aspirin and call me in the morning. The next day i'm in an ambulance on the way to the ER. Now let explain how the 911 call thing works. No matter what you call for, you are going to get a really ugly ambulance (the lime green box), and two firetrucks full of young, fit, handsome paramedics that are all wearing cool black technical clothing like Jack Bauer wears in 24. We had a house full of these guys and it was fun for a brief period.
They bust me into the back doors of ER just like in the tv show ER. Amazing. The doctors had blood tests run in 10 minutes and immediately assigned me: a hospital staff doctor, an infectious disease specialist, an oncologist, and a gaggle of nurses. I don't know anything about blood tests, but mine must have come back real high in the "let's hit his max out of pocket" category.
This virus was a real ship destroyer that got sent into me and it took few prisoners. And those that managed to survive all got scurvy and died anyway.
I had an acute viral infection that resulted in 10 days of fever of 101-102ish, and complete exhaustion. Both the spleen and liver took direct hits from the destroyer and the liver is still doing repairs. But get this: on top of all this, at the same time I happen to have had a mild colon blockage ("helios" or something like that) that caused me immense displeasure through the duration of my hospital visit. The only reason they found it was because it showed up in the CAT scan they ran to check my organs. So I had this big bloated belly, no appetite, and constant mild nausea, and we all thought it was just because I was "real sick".
I lost 5 tee shirts during my visit at the hospital. A few times each night the fever sweats would get real bad and I'd wake up and have to change clothes. I'd throw the wet shirt on the floor and we did not notice until the last day that they had been collecting them with the towels for the hospital laundry. The fortunate part is that I am really cheap and buy tee shirts at CVS, 5 for 10 dollars.
The fever is all gone, but i essentially now have temporary hepatitis. The doctor thinks it will be a few weeks to fully recover. The complete and total bullshit part of this is that I have been now 2 weeks without a beer, and will be at least another week until I can enjoy a delicious malted beverage again.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
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