Hello from Baehr and Curadh, a podcast from the Land of Awes Information Services.
I love you, Curadh.
I love you, Baehr.
This is episode 123 of the Baehr and Curadh podcast.
We're going to talk about this week's hospital visits.
This is going to be a short podcast.
Baehr was in the hospital again two times this week.
Yes, I was.
I'm not fond of it at all.
No.
Well, why don't you kind of explain what happened?
I've been trying to build up my stamina by getting back to walking 10 miles a week.
And I was getting pretty good at it.
On Sunday, after we had finished the podcast,
and I got it all edited and published,
it was such a nice day; I wanted to go for a walk.
So, I went down to the Keeper of the Plains.
Sorry, everybody.
So, you went down by the river for a walk?
Mm-hmm.
And there's a whole other thing going on.
Ever since my gallbladder burst, and I had it removed,
I've had problems with diarrhea.
It's not like I have an infection, you know, as my body's trying to get rid of it.
It's just like everything moves.
It's not like liquid diarrhea, but it...
It's quick acting.
Yeah, and it'll, like, flush everything out of me.
And then, you know, I won't go for two days because there isn't anything.
Yeah.
And it's ever since, like, my gallbladder burst.
It started out, like, twice a month.
But it keeps getting more and more frequent until now it's, like, twice a week.
Mm-hmm.
And one of those hit me while I was on that walk.
Well, when those diarrhea bouts hit me and I start getting the stomach cramps,
I also feel very lightheaded and very...
Very tired, very weak.
And here I was in a walk, and I knew I had to walk back to the car
and get home or get somewhere to get on the toilet.
And that made me very anxious.
Mm-hmm.
And so, you know, I started headed back towards the car,
and I just couldn't stand anymore.
I knew I was going to fall down.
So, I sat down.
And I believe that's when I called you.
Mm-hmm.
You called me when you were walking still, but I told you to take a seat.
Because I knew that if I was talking to you and you heard me stop talking,
that you could hang up and dial 911 for me.
Well, the second time I sat down, I could not get back up.
I just couldn't.
And there was a couple who was walking in the direction where I was going,
and I asked them to help me, and they ignored me.
They probably thought I was a homeless person, considering where I was,
even though I had earphones in and all this hiking equipment and everything.
And I looked at the guy, and I says,
I just need help getting up.
And he says, oh, okay.
And he comes back and puts his hand out and pulls me up.
And I said, could you...
Could you walk with me until I get back to the Keeper to get my car?
And they said, yes.
So, they walked with me, and I walked, I don't know, maybe 100 yards.
And I knew I was going to pass out.
And I think that's when you told me you need to sit down.
Okay.
So, I laid down in the grass, and I think at that point I threw up.
Mm-hmm.
I think I vomited twice.
And the woman...
The woman gets out her phone, and she tells 911.
She's trying to describe where we're at, which is a little difficult.
Mm-hmm.
It's not like we're at a street intersection.
And it took them a while to get there.
I still had you on the phone.
Mm-hmm.
We heard sirens, and then the sirens stopped.
Mm-hmm.
And I thought maybe they went...
They had someplace else to go.
But then a couple of minutes later, they came.
And I told...
I told them what was wrong, and they transferred the phone over to you, and you told them what
was wrong.
Mm-hmm.
And the...
I don't know if I was conscious or not during some of this.
I don't know how I would know if I wasn't.
Mm-hmm.
They put me on a gurney and took me to the ambulance.
And in the ambulance, I said,
I have these bouts of diarrhea, and I have one now, and I'm going to defecate in my pants
if I don't get to a toilet.
Mm-hmm.
And they said, well, we'll get you there as soon as we can.
And when they got me in the emergency room, I said the same thing.
And they brought me a commode.
I specifically asked for a commode because I knew I didn't want to have to run off to
some room and hope nobody's there and all.
So, I...
The nurse, he helped me sit down on the commode, and I flushed everything out for the first
bout.
And as I went to get up, I passed out.
I didn't know about that.
Okay.
So, the nurse was right there with me, and he said, your blood pressure is extremely
low.
It was 90 over 40.
Oh, wow.
And I said, I think that's...
That happens every time I have one of these bouts.
Mm-hmm.
Well, okay, so I'm in the hospital, and they have me officially down with chronic diarrhea.
And I'm having stomach cramps, like, every 10 minutes, trying to push everything out.
And they're not letting me have anything to stop the cramps.
Mm-hmm.
They think this is, like, a bacterial infection, and I need to get it out, and they need to
get...
I get stool samples every time.
Well, when this happens, I usually take Imodium after the first bowel movement, and then every
second one after that.
Okay.
And after a couple of hours, it stops, and I'm done.
Mm-hmm.
Well, they wouldn't let me do that.
Mm-hmm.
They would give me pain medicine, but they wouldn't do anything to stop the cramps, and
I had those for 18 hours.
Okay.
18 hours of cramps.
Yes.
And about 12 hours in, they said, oh, no, you've got blood in your stools.
And I'm thinking, of course I do.
I've been doing this for 12 hours now.
Mm-hmm.
Didn't...
They didn't want...
Because of that, they wanted to do a CAT scan, which I'm okay with, and some x-rays, and
call in a...
GI...
GI doctor.
Mm-hmm.
And so eventually, they got one, and he'd come in, and he still wouldn't let me have
anything for the cramps.
I believe that that was the next day.
Was it...
I was in a...
In an actual room, and not in the ER anymore.
And so I looked at you, and I said, get my keys.
And you said, why?
I said, because there is a...
Thing on the keychain, and it has Imodium in it, and I want it.
Mm-hmm.
So, you got it out, and I took two of them, and then my cramps started going away.
Never told the doctors in the hospital that.
No, of course not.
I should have thought of that much, much, much earlier.
If I could have got to it before it stopped bleeding, they would have just said, okay,
go home.
Yeah.
So, I had lots of fluids.
I believe the papers say I had seven liters of fluid.
Mm-hmm.
Well, I think your body only holds like nine liters of blood.
Mm-hmm.
So, I was urinating a lot.
Didn't need the bedpans anymore, because I could get up and go to the bathroom.
Bedpans is another experience I've never had before.
I've never had this to look like fun.
Mm-mm.
It's not.
And the...
Where was I?
Talking about...
If you took the ammonium earlier, you would have got out of there earlier.
Yeah.
So, the next day, I'm in a hospital room, and they do lots of tests.
They can't keep up with my insulin, because they're managing my insulin, and I would be
much more aggressive about my insulin than they would be, which is hard to give up that
control.
Yeah.
But you got to do what you got to do sometimes.
Yeah.
And so...
So, when it got to the point where I had solid stools again, and I could eat solid food,
they would release me.
Mm-hmm.
So, I said, get me some solid food, because I want to get out of here.
I want to get out of here.
So, I had to wait for that.
And then that was Tuesday when I was released.
Yeah.
And I believe I...
I believe I worked remotely half the day that day, something like that.
On Wednesday, I was working at home, didn't want to get too far from the toilet, and I
started having chest pains.
It felt like it was under my sternum.
Mm-hmm.
Didn't radiate out or anything like that.
But I took my temperature, and it said 100.9.
Oh.
Yeah.
And it was red.
I don't...
I guess that's a fever, because it's green when I'm okay, and it's red when I have a
temperature.
Mm-hmm.
So, I called you and said, when you get home, I want you to take me to the hospital.
Yeah.
Which was, I don't know, going to be a couple of hours.
And you showed up right away.
Mm-hmm.
And somebody apparently took you home.
Yeah.
Got a ride home from a co-worker.
So, you took me to the hospital again, went through the ER again.
It's much easier when you get to the ER from an ambulance, because they do all the paperwork
and everything, and you just sit in a bed.
Didn't let them do all the work.
But the waiting room experience at an ER is not fun.
No.