Month: May 2017

Hospital Heroes – The Crohn’s Saga Part 38

Today’s post is dedicated to the Hospital Heroes. Being in the hospital is painful, scary, and lonely. It’s the people that work there that make or break the experience. Overall, they genuinely care and knowing that somehow makes the entire experience ok.

So here’s the secret to being a patient – be nice. Seriously, you feel terrible and you want to get better and get out, but that’s no excuse to be impolite. I’ve seen so many people be nasty to nurses and staff. There’s no reason for it. Just be nice and these people who are already in your corner will be be your best advocates. Be grateful to doctors and nurses. Thank the custodial staff. The kindness and warmth you show will be returned to you. You’ll be taken care of and your stay will be that much easier. Trust me on this one. I’m the guy who by the end of my stay has nurses hanging out in his room during their coffee breaks just shooting the breeze. It’s the best.

And yes, I have to tease the interns as hospital heroes. They’re just so adorable. When I was  kid, their presence felt very invasive. Now I look forward to seeing them and answering their questions. When you think about it, you’re training the next generation of doctors. Help out future patients by helping them out. It can actually be fun.

Breakfast – Relationships

You know how it goes. You cook breakfast or dinner for your significant other, but they’re late so you’re just sitting there looking at and smelling the food. I cook a mean breakfast and the temptation was too hard to resist. What I never told her is that the last pancake went to the dog.

I promise, I’m better at relationships than my comics make me out to be. At least I hope so anyway.

Dealing with Disability 2 – The Crohn’s Saga Part 39

I have to admit that “Dealing with Disability 2” is one of my favorites so far. It’s just so absurd to be in the hospital and have to do paperwork to prove that you’re sick. It’s enough to make your mind explode.

Due to my Crohn’s Disease and the fact that I live in the states, I’ve always had to work for larger companies. It’s the only way someone like me could ever get health insurance. I was very lucky that my company offered short-term disability too. Because I had been there for over a year, I was entitled to 6 months of pay at 60% of what I’d been earning. I could never properly explain how grateful I am for this benefit. It saved me from having to go into debt, which is a dark reality for a lot of Americans with chronic disease.

However, with a large company, benefits go hand-in-hand with bureaucracy. As I mentioned before, disability leave tends to be designed around injuries that have well-defined and reliable recovery times, such as a broken leg. Crohn’s Disease is nothing if not unpredictable and so my disability was suspended pretty much every 3 weeks. Each time, I had to spend hours on the phone to get it reinstated. It felt like an unnecessary pain – especially when I was in the hospital. So it goes.

Chopped – All Sorts

Like a lot of people I know, I watch a lot of HGTV and Food Network. One of my favorite shows is Chopped. If you’ve not seen it, basically, 4 chefs are given a basket of random ingredients that they must turn into a meal. Whoever’s is best wins. Now, I’ve watched enough to catch some tips and tricks, but I’ve also noticed that they often encourage chefs to cook from their cultural heritage. So if you are African, Caribbean, South American, or whatever, they like when you incorporate your culture’s traditional spices and flavors. I’ve never seen them say it to an American Midwesterner, so I wanted to imagine what it’d be like if they did. The idea makes me laugh anyway.

Today’s the Dayish – The Crohn’s Saga Part 40

Just when I thought I was finally getting out of the hospital, Crohn’s Disease struck again. As I’ve said before, Crohn’s is nothing if not unpredictable. At this point, I’d been in the hospital for just under two weeks and I was finally starting to feel better. I’d started on the IV form of cyclosporine and, though delayed, it was finally working. You can’t be released from the hospital while on IV meds, so I had to transition from IV cyclosporine to the pill form. This meant backsliding for a few days, which stinks, but is common with that transition. After that, I thought I was finally stable. My stomach felt differently. At least the hospital had cable and movie channel…