Friday, January 9, 2009

Head cases

For those of you that have wondered why I haven't been around, there is a legitimate reason or reasons for it.  First, Tuesday night my mother's husband was admitted to a Pittsburgh hospital  after having a aneurysm burst in his brain. They have hospitals closer to where my mom lives, but they wouldn't have been able to provide the critical care needed for this type of health care issue, so he is actually staying in a hospital about 5 minutes from my apartment. The procedure they used to fix it, which if I was able to focus on the science of it all, might be fascinating in its own right.  They used a process called "coiling", where they insert a catheter in the inner thigh and run it from there through blood vessels all the way to the offending opening in the brain, then fill the aperature with very tiny coil in hopes of preventing any more blood from escaping through the opening.  So far he seems to be doing fine, they actually had him out of bed briefly today and sitting in a chair, but the spinal tap they inserted to drain the excess blood floating around the brain was causing too much pain to sit for a very long perion of time, so back to bed he went.  Still, being able to even sit up after what happened should be seen as a good sign, considering the initial prognostication was that he would be in the ICU for 7 to 10 days, in the hopsital for at least two weeks and not working at all for anywhere form 1 to 3 months just for starters.

The other reason is that I am stuck doing the 11pm-7am shift at the newsstand.  After having a daylight shift Monday and not being on the schedule Tuesday, they used the day off to get me ready to work overnights, at least for the time being.  I have worked two overnights so far and already I have been hit on by one gay guy.  And not the cool kind of gay guy, where you think to yourself, "hey, maybe if I wasn't straight I could almost picture it" but rather the creepy kind of gay guy that comes to the register and puckers his lips at you after asking if you have any "roses".  "Roses" are little glass tubes, maybe an inch long with a cheap little rose inside of them.  The tiny ends are sealed with foil, not unlike a Pringles can top, and junkies buy these things because they make great crack pipes.  So yes, I was hit on my creepy, crackhead gay guy.  Oh joy of joys, that never happened in radio.

Now realize that my 11pm-7am shift is followed up by being at the hospital at 9am for visting hours with my mom, where we normally stay from 9am-12pm then go back for the 2:30pm visiting hours and stay for about an hour before leaving so my mom, who hates city driving, doesn't get caught up in rush hour traffic, then I come home, nap and go back out the door for work.  It's not a fun schedule and i dont reccommend it to anyone, but if you are wondering why I haven't seemed all witty and have just dropped of the radar so to speak, now you know.

12 comments:

  1. ROFLMAO...I am still giggling.
    i agree, I'd rather be hit on by a cool gay guy than a creepy one. Wait, I'm a girl...nevermind.

    I really hope your moms husband gets well. I can't imagine the stress of all that is doing to you. Plus hospitals are just exhausting.

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  2. Sorry to hear about your mom's husband. You are right, it is fascinating how they treat aneurysms. It sounds like he is making good progress though.

    I also had to laugh at your description of being hit on.

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  3. Sorry to hear about your moms b/f mate. At least the recovery is going better than expected. I nearly pissed my pants when I read about the gay dude. It's bad enough that I'm kicking your butt in fantasy hockey and then that has to go and happen lmfao

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  4. I remember when my brother was put into an induced coma for three weeks.... i talked to his motionless body the entire time ....only to discover that the only thing my brother heard was my wife singing amazing grace !!!!! ....but hell that is family and ya got to love it !

    aint no way i would let any gay guy hit on me....sorry

    still dont know what newstand you work for and where it is located.

    i almost sympathize with tick...only i always kick your ass at pool ...a REAL mans game.

    luv ya ...rich

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  5. The newstand is Smithfield News, which is located downtown at the corner of Smithfield and Blvd of the Allies. For the time being that is where I am, though that may change, as they own two other places that I know of (Universal News on 5th Avenue downtown, and Gus Miller's in Oakland) and I know they are opening a third, so I could end up at any of them, and by the sounds of how my initial interview went, I will be bouncing at least bewteen two of them, though for now I am just at Smithfield. The hours are decent, I am getting 40, whether I want 40 or not, which right now I do.

    I didn't get to check up on Mike yesterday, I was recuperating from 3 days of 11pm-7am with hospital visits thrown in and another 11pm-7am last night. Last I checked things were looking good, but I am about to head out the door and see how things are currently, just as soon as I throw a bite to eat into my gullet and was it down with some nicotene.

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  6. An update on an update, just got in from visiting Mike in the hospital, barring any complications he should be out of the ICU on Tuesday and probably out of the hospital entirely a week after that. From there it will be at least 2-4 weeks of just sitting at home doing nothing before he can go back to work.

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  7. Matt, please tell your mom that I am thinking of Mike, her and you. I wish I could do more but right now we are having quite a difficult time with Chris. I hope to get to the hospital this week. Probably after he is out of ICU. We love you.

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  8. I will probably see her tomorrow, weather permitting as she hates driving in bad weather, and will pass along the messages from you and Mel, who has been emailing me. That being said, while I wouldn't go as far as to say he is completely out of the woods, Mike seems to be making progress on a very fast schedule, so by all means, worry more about the homefront, I got this, so to speak. The major surgeries are out of the way and now it is more just timetable type stuff, like when he starts walking again and what not, which all seems to be ahead of schedule. The only thing you are missing out on is the cafeteria offerings of Presby and let me tell you, they can't steam vegetables whatsoever. I know, I tried them, they suck. Most likely he will be there for another week or so, hopefully most of that time will be spent in his own room, which should make for better environs than the ICU unit. After all, I don't think they have armed guards there, unlike at least one of the ICU patients who is under armed guard. Come to think of it, I could have used the armed guard when the gay crackhead hit on me.

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  9. LOL, it is good to hear you still have your sense of humor after all you have been dealing with. Yes, my attention is definitely needed on the homefront but unfortunately I don't know what to do or what I can do. Keep me posted and let me know when he gets his own room and where he is you said Presby.....and Carrie told me Mercy. Love you

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  10. It's definitely Presby. I am taking the day off from visiting, that's two in a row for me. Yesterday I worked from 7am-3pm, which wiped out two of the three sets of visiting hours, leaving just 9pm-11pm and I assumed that Mike would probably be sleeping or wanting to sleep that late and now today I am trying to get my body clock adjusted for the 11pm-7am tonight and if I go I know I will not get a long enough nap in before being forced to go back out to work. That means I will probably head up Wednesday after I get off of work in the morning. I'll call my mom ahead of time to see if they moved Mike or not. I am not sure if she came down today, if she did she didn't call ahead of time, but she didn't call on Sunday either so that doesn't mean a whole lot. If I find out anythging new I will let you know.

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  11. I'm glad to hear he's doing better. I'll keep yall in my thoughts xoxo

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