What a crazy week! Passed out Sunday night, got rushed to the hospital with some serious internal bleeding, and 5 doctors, 17 nurses, 5 surgical consults, and 6 units of blood transfusions later, I'm finally, FINALLY hoping to go home this evening. I think I've given 20 blood samples... I am so DONE with needles.
Life takes some pretty unexpected turns. I'm lucky that I was in the midst of a caring community at my church when this all happened, that a friend who is a doctor was there to help me out, that we have good health insurance, and that all of this craziness was due to nothing more than a delightful assortment of bleeding ulcers (deemed "impressive" by one of my nurses), one of which happened to be near a bunch of blood vessels. I'm so fortunate that this wasn't something more serious, and my heart goes out to those in our extended community who are suffering through far worse situations.
As I type this, it has been 96 hours since I've had anything to eat, which I'm pretty sure is the longest I've ever fasted. I've been deleriously dreaming through my wish list of favorite foods, like coq au vin, really good fries, a juicy burger, chicken braised in sake... but it looks like my reintroduction to food is going to begin with a bowl of cream of wheat and some apple juice from the hospital's cafe. Say what you will about hospital food, but 4 days without eating makes a lot of things sound pretty appetizing.
A big thank you to the many well-wishers both here and in California, and to the folks who helped support us here through this crazy week. It's tremendously meaningful for us to have this kind of community here in Seattle, and we've really felt everyone's love. And a special thanks, of course, to my dear wife, who saw some crazy things, went through an emotional rollercoaster of a week, and stayed by my side during my half-conscious sloppiness. Well... except for when she left yesterday afternoon for a hot stone massage and ate her Cafe Presse lunch and Whole Foods Cafe dinner in front of me. No, seriously, I'm not bitter about that at all...
Keeping my fingers crossed for being released today... and for eating regularly soon!
