Monday, April 23, 2012

Getting Tired of Hospitals - OR - (screaming) Oh, Kelly Clarkson

It is time for another installment of our continuing series involving trips to the emergency room with Adam Elliott. I don't plan when these posts are going to happen any more than I can plan when Lindsey Lohan is going to appear in court next. It just happens.

For my regular followers, you already know that Adam has been in the E.R. several times in the last few months. I have written about each one of these visits and they have been some of my most popular posts. So, recognizing what people like to read about (regardless of how disturbing it may be), I decided to share this one as well. Here are the first three if you need to catch up:
I have used an alias for Adam in the last couple of posts in order to save him from the embarrassment caused by the first time I wrote about him. However, somehow people saw past my subtleties and fake names and figured out who I was talking about anyway. So, I will just use his real name. That should prevent any further confusion.

In my first emergency room post, the reason for being there was an abscess that had burst in the middle of the night, causing lots of blood and a huge understandable freak out from Adam. Since this had already happened to him once, he recognized the signs and knew that he was having the same problem again. This time, however, there were four and they were all in the groin area again.

Since we had to DJ for a dance on Saturday night, he decided to get them fixed to prevent them from bursting while working the dance. That would have been a problem. So, we went to the hospital on Friday night.

Please keep in mind that Adam was in a lot of pain and was not in the mood to speak with medical personnel. 

After parking the car and locating the room they placed him in, I witness him impatiently trying to justify to a nurse why he is back again. Explaining again why he doesn't have a regular doctor and describing again why he had his foot amputated. It gets old telling the same stories again and again.

After laying spread eagle on the bed to show the doctor where the problem was, he was advised to go home and take a hot bath. The doctor then chastised us for waiting so long to come in. Adam tried to get him to understand that after having parts of both feet cut off and spending over two weeks in a coma, he has a severe aversion to coming to the hospital at all. The doctor then explained that at midnight on a Friday, the surgeons required to fix this problem are not available and would not come in for so minor a problem.

Adam raised his groin up in the air and exposing the area, yelled, "You mean this is a minor problem! I can hardly move!"

The doctor looked again and hurriedly exclaimed, "Oh, I didn't see that one! We will take care of that right now." He then rushed out of the room.

I was relieved to hear that they were going to take care of this and started to say so, but noticed that Adam was not doing very well.

Now, if you ever want to have someone with you to keep a serious situation light-hearted and maintain a sense of humor to keep you distracted, I am your man. Regardless of the intensity of the moment, the jokes just keep coming. Once, after replacing a friend's calf muscle (true story) and having seen his shin bone from his knee to the ankle, we kept laughing as we struggled to stop the bleeding. We joked as we carried him to the car and kept doing it as we rushed to the hospital. He was even laughing and making jokes. I've been told humor is my defense mechanism. I can't help it.


However, I could quickly tell that Adam was not responding to attempts at humor and definitely was not going to be laughing even if I handed him comedy gold. I attempted to switch to good friend/comforter mode. I am not nearly as good at this.

His body was starting to shake at the thought of what was about to happen. He had experienced horrible pain when the area was even touched and they were about to cut into it. I tried to calm him and help him see how this was going to be worth it and he understood that, but was very scared. After all of his surgeries, he really doesn't like being cut on anymore.

I am not going to go into details as I have in the past, but I will say that I saw the inside of parts of Adam's body that I never even wanted to see the outside of. I stayed in the room for the whole thing as extra weight to sit on him a friend to help keep him calm while they did what they had to do. I learned that Adam has a lung capacity that I did not know was possible. I have heard him scream in pain before, but he launched into a scream that lasted at least a full minute without taking another breath.

They took care of the worst part of it, but now he has to get scheduled for a full surgery to complete it this week. He will be knocked out for his one. We are also going to try to talk them into removing the staples that are still in his foot from his last surgery.



I had decided to not write about this one, but Adam insisted. When Adam goes to the ER, my stats explode. I try to make it funny while I tell the story, but usually there are a few things that happen that make it funnier. This visit was not funny. I hated seeing my friend in that much pain and not being able to do anything about it. Hopefully, our future hospital visits will have more comedic value and not be as serious.

Technically, I guess I should be hoping not to have future hospital visits.




44 comments:

  1. Wishing your friend a speedy recovery :(.

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  2. Ah....if only everyone in the blogosphere could have an Adam. A well of inspiration and content. Lucky.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Everyone needs one. I should have him cloned and sell them off.

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  3. Just when you finally decided on an alias for him, you end up using his name instead!

    I hope he's doing better now though.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah. I decided to give it up.

      Thank you.

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    2. Rachel, I don't know what I would do without Brett...It has been an amazing three years!!!!

      I'm still in a lot of pain....but I will get threw it.

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    3. That's what the wheelchair is for. I'll just wheel you through the doors.

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  4. All kidding aside, my heart goes out to your friend, for the pain and embarrassment of it all, and to you, because being a caretaker definitely has its downsides! You are a good friend Brett, God bless you.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. I try to be. I don't always know what to do, but I try to be there.

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  5. He seemed okay at church this morning. I'm glad he has a friend like you........uh, well most of the time.

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    Replies
    1. The main pressure was relieved. The bigger part of it will be in a few days. We just have to make it quick enough to not interfere with the shows we have scheduled for the weekend.

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  6. Speedy recovery mate, no one should have to see the insides of their friend in location you wouldn't want to see the outside.

    and to Adam to, all the best.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. If this week goes as planned, we should be done with hospitals for a while.

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  7. Brett, you not only prove yourself to be a gentleman but also a good friend.

    Adam always comes across as a funny, witty and genuine guy, despite everything that he's been/is still going through.
    As we say in good ole Blighty, 'Adam, youre a top bloke.'

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    Replies
    1. I'm going to start calling him that. Thank you. Top bloke.

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    2. lily-thanks a bunch that was the first time I have laughed that hard since Friday. Again thanks a bunch!!!

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  8. This is for Adam.... Honey I hope all goes well, and doctors SUCk and you have more direct experience than me. (I am a well versed Brett type sidekick to the horror)

    My friend had emergency surgery Saturday night and she is all better and home now, so I have faith that yours will be just as successful.

    To Brett, you are a good friend and it is very hard to see our friend sin pain, but you are willing to be there through the good and the bad and that is commendable! *Patting you on the back**

    Hugs to you both, and when you are all better we will find the humor in the whole thing. There has to be some, somewhere!

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    Replies
    1. We usually find ways to laugh about it. The last few times we were there it was easy to laugh. This time, not so much.

      It should be over soon.

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  9. you are a true blessing to my brother and i'm so glad he has you to depend on! bless you preach! and brudder - feel better! love you!

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  10. Brett, I too thank you for the times you have taken me to the e.r. You are a good friend!! Adam I totally get you as far as dr.s go and having to repeat the same stuff over and over.....I thought thats what our charts were for. I hope you have a very quick recovery....with lots of dilaudid...lol.

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    Replies
    1. You're welcome. I guess I need more friends that aren't sick all the time.

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  11. Excuse me, but I have experienced the good friend/comforter mode twice (at least) already. You are very good at it.

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    1. And that's from a distance. You should see what I can do in person.

      Just kidding. Thank you.

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    2. Hmm ...maybe I meant "swimming ".

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  12. Is it bad that I laughed ?

    I'm off to see if Adam said anything about it.

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    Replies
    1. It might be, but we try to keep it light-hearted. I know I do my share of laughing.

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  13. It appears that he certainly has had a tough go of things lately. It's a positive thing that he can stay in good spirits and be ok with having you share these experiances here.

    It certainly doesn't seem to be hurting his getting pictures taken with the ladies! Good for him. :)

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    Replies
    1. The girls were from before this latest bout, but he is in some sort of pain most of the time. He has gotten somewhat used to it.

      Plus, when there is the possibility of girls, he doesn't stay down for long.

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  14. Sorry to hear that Adam had to make another trip to the ER and was in so much pain. Did they not give him any local aesthetic before chopping in?

    A friend of mine had to have her dislocated shoulder popped back into place without any aesthetic... I was in the room as one massive doctor held her down with his whole body - and the ER doctor pulled back on her arm with all his strength.... it was a very ouch situation.

    Hope Adam is feeling better now!

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    Replies
    1. I reset a dislocated shoulder once. He had been thrown off a horse and we were in the middle of nowhere. One person held him down while I jerked his arm. Lots of screaming, but it worked.

      They did give a local. That was the worst part. The area was so inflamed and swollen it was very painful. He feels somewhat better now. We just need the rest fixed.

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  15. All of that misery and yet when I see Adam he is always upbeat and acts like there isn't a thing wrong in the world. He's quite an inspiration, an overcomer. He doesn't curl up in a ball and suck his thumb. He pushes through it in anticipation of his next job or his next adventure with you, Brett, except those which occur at the hospital.

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    Replies
    1. He does good to stay positive. If this week goes as planned, he should be in much better shape for a long time.

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  16. I really need to stop reading your posts on Adam while I am eating. Unfortunately, I can't help but eat while reading posts. I for feel bad for your friend. Years ago, I burned my feet pretty badly. I had to go in to see my doctor every few days so that he could lance the blisters, and remove skin.

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    Replies
    1. Burns are the worst.

      Hopefully, there will not be any more of these posts.

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    2. Wow...eating and reading!!! I do that too. I had ganggreen on my feet that is why they had to be amputated...Gang green has to heal from the inside out so, every Wednesday they doctor had to cut back parts of the dead tissue without any meds to take the edge off so I feel you pain..

      PS Enjoyed your last post!!!! Keep them coming!!

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  17. I won't be uncrossing my legs this week now :-)

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    Replies
    1. Adam said something similar, but his surgery just got scheduled for tomorrow. And since they will be knocking him out, he won't have much of a choice.

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  18. Wow. I don't know Adam, but the man sounds like a trooper.

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