Sara - Hospital again

Camp started out okay. Breaks were plentiful and I avoided mealtime like the plague, but otherwise, uneventful and fine. Tuesday, the pain started. Bad pain, pre-hospital pain. I panicked, but I felt like I had something to prove, so I stayed on and kept my calm. Wednesday held a few surprises, and eventually it was decided that mum would pick me up the next day and take me to the hospital, on advice from the nurse at the IBD clinic I attend.

So, after a (naturally preachy but otherwise fun) few days at camp, I was picked up and driven to the hospital. At first, I didn't feel too bad, but about halfway to the hospital pain reared its head and by the time we made it to the ER, it was out of control. Later, in an observation bed, I was seized by nausea, and spent several hours dry-retching. Not a pretty mental picture, sorry to say, and not a particularly pleasant feeling. After being seen by the same Gastro registrar from last Wednesday at the clinic, along with several nurses and other doctors, it was agreed that I'd be admitted, with an MRE (from what I understand, it's mostly the same as an MRI) being a necessity.

The MRE is scheduled for tomorrow and I've spent the last few days lying in a bed in the "Adolescent" ward (the definition of adolescence is a bit twisted - my room mate is six years old). This hospital is nicer than the last one. My room mate is here with lung problems (poor thing is stuck sharing a room and bathroom with an IBD patient). The nurses are lovely and the area is nice and I'm comfortable, I suppose.

Today has been my best day yet - last night was the first time I felt able to do anything without needing to throw up or having to double over in pain. This morning they took out my drip and switched my intravenous meds to oral ones, and I've managed to keep down one of my meal replacement drinks - which is quite an achievement, all things considered. I was even allowed out for an hour, so we drove down to the beach and sat on the grass for a while. It ended quite abruptly with a serious bout of pain that sent me back to my room, but it was still nice to get out for a while.

I'm feeling weird.
My cocktail of medications are messing with my head and I'm still completely unstable. I'm better than I was, I suppose, but I still get the feeling that I'm going to be discharged as early as Tuesday (let's face it, with the MRE tomorrow, there's no way I'll be discharged in the afternoon in a place as disorganised as this), which worries me a bit because aside from the new medications, I'm not sure I'm any better. My blood results are worse than ever and the inflammation scores have gone up dramatically considering my last blood test was only ten days before this one, and I'm still often in pain. I'm worried about going home and continuing on with this no-food regime, and feeling the same, albeit a little bit masked by medication. It's a scary thought. Exciting, I suppose, in a way, but still very scary.

Luckily, I have my laptop and my father has been kind enough to give me internet. I have movies and games and magazines and sometimes I just sleep but right now I'm not sure I can do that - the room mate has about six visitors right now. I'm just killing time, and I'm hoping the MRE comes back tomorrow and tells us something we don't already know, and that a path through this is decided upon.

So fingers crossed.