This morning I ended up walking into a wall. It was the beginning of an interesting experience.
Tue, Feb 26
Wake up at 6.30. Get ready. Struggle to wake Reia up. Barely succeed. Prepare breakfast and lunch for Reia. Manage to throw her out in time. Go to work. Return home at 8. Have dinner. Watch TV and work. Go to bed at 2 am on Wed.
Wed, Feb 27
Wake up at 6.30. Get ready. Struggle to wake Reia up. Barely succeed. Prepare breakfast and lunch for Reia. Manage to throw her out in time. Go to work. Return home at 8. Have dinner. Watch TV and work. Go to bed at 3 am on Thu.
Thu, Feb 28
Early morning
Wake up at 5.30 to go to the washroom. Find myself horizontal on the floor. Grope around and find the vacuum. Realize I'm outside our bedroom door. Get on my feet and walk towards the bathroom. Find myself horizontal again. Look up and see Frank, my brother and Reia, my daughter. Reia asks, "Are you okay Dad ?". Say I'm fine, get up on my feet and walk to the dining room. Sit down. They want to make sure I'm okay. Ask me my name and various complicated mathematical questions like 2 + 2. Get all right. Presumably am okay. But not a genius since I get 3125 x 1357 wrong. Have a cut lip and sip some water and juice throw a straw. Reia wants me to go to the ER. I resist. We compromise on calling Ivy, my wife and a physician. She appears calm and says, its okay, but go to the doc in the morning. Am alert enough to ask Reia to eat at the cafeteria. And drowsily tell her goodbye at 7.30. Wake up at 9. Laze around and check my mail. Speak to office in India and answer questions.
Morning
At 1030 Frank calls and says he's coming to pick me up and take me to the doc. Wake up and go to the bathroom and go to get ready. Splash water on my face. Find myself horizontal again. By now am an expert at finding myself horizontal. And think I know what to do. Get on the bed and lie down. Walk towards the bedroom and find myself horizontal again, for the 4th time. On the bedroom floor. With the night stand, lamp, and other stuff all fallen. Dana, Frank's wife hears the sound of falling stuff and come in. Helps me get on my feet and then off it onto the bed. By now, I'm scared. What in earth is happening.
At 1045 Frank comes in. Walk to the car, holding him. We go to the Wilton Clinic. Fill out the forms and wait for the doctor to be free. 15 minutes later she wants to hear what happened. She's examining my lip and is cleaning the area with saline. I know I'm about to pass out, and tell her. She pushes my head down, raises my legs and I'm fine. She says the lip cut is deep and needs stitches. Also the four and a half times of passing out isn't good and we need to go to the ER.
Afternoon
Frank drives me to the ER of Norwalk Hospital. They take the vital signs and then get me to change to the hospital gown. I'm hopeful of getting out quickly, maybe an hour at most. Nurses and technicians walk in and out. Each one plays a small role, one of which is to ask me what happened. By now I've told the story more than 10 times and each one ends with, "Wow, really". Finally the doctor comes in. He looks at the lip. Says it needs to be stitched, but will be okay in a few weeks. Its the passing out he's concerned about. Asks about medical history. Perfect. Family history. Perfect. Previous incidents. None.... Nada, Nada, Nada. Orders a few more tests.
Evening
By now they've taken blood samples and a urine sample and are running tests. They've also hooked me up to a heart monitor and are observing it. An ECG (or EKG as they call it here) is taken. They send me for a set of X-Rays - Head, Neck, Shoulder, Chest, ... And then for a CAT scan of the head. I'm on a stretcher the whole time. They want to try and make sure that I don't collapse a 5th time. At least not in their hospital. Results are available quickly. The doctor is back. With good news. And bad news. The good news is that everything is perfect. The bad news is that now they're even more concerned. What the hell happened ? He says he has to admit me. Just for a day. By now they've also put a few stitches on my lip. Shutting me up for a while.
Night
All this while, I'm on a stretcher. And wheeled in to a room on the 8th floor of the hospital. A room with a view. Can see the water and in the distance New York and Long Island. The room has a TV and its comfortable. But I'd rather be home. I'm now connected to a remote heart monitor which is being monitored from a central cardio unit on the 9th floor. I've been given no restrictions, except am not allowed to move around unescorted. They manage this by having a green wristband which tells everyone that I'm on bed rest.
Fri, March 1
Through the night technicians have been taking blood at 6 hourly intervals. Other than that had a good nights of sleep. Catching up on all my sleep. Morning am wheeled into some more tests. This time its for a sonogram of the cardio vessels. And then for a echo cardiogram. The doctor comes in again with good news and bad news. The good news is that the tests are all perfect. The bad news, we still don't know what the hell happened ? And so, more tests. One more day. By now I've set up my office in the hospital. The food table is the work desk and the visitor chair is the work chair. An elaborate menu means not only am I well fed, I get to choose what to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. During the day, the attending physician wants a 2nd opinion. And so am referred to a neurologist. He comes in and after the story, responds with "Wow, really". Finds nothing wrong. And that's his concern. Recommends an MRI and an MRA.
Sat, March 2
The MRI and MRA that was supposed to be done yesterday was postponed to today at 8, due to several emergencies during the evening. In the morning, there's an internal miscommunication and they're told I'm discharged. Whilst I'm patiently waiting for the tests. Finally at 9 the confusion is cleared and I'm wheeled to the MRI center. The 2 tests take around 45 minutes and I'm wheeled back to the room. An hour later I'm informed that the results once again show nothing and since there's no other test left to be performed, they'll release me in a couple of hours.
At 3 p.m. I'm finally released. At the end of all of the investigations, there is only 1 word in the discharge report. "Fall". It probably should have been "Wall", since that's what I think happened. I walked into the wall in the dark and cut my lip. The trauma of the lip caused all those other falls. Proving once and for all the truth of the age old adage, "There's many a slip between the cup and the lip."
Tue, Feb 26
Wake up at 6.30. Get ready. Struggle to wake Reia up. Barely succeed. Prepare breakfast and lunch for Reia. Manage to throw her out in time. Go to work. Return home at 8. Have dinner. Watch TV and work. Go to bed at 2 am on Wed.
Wed, Feb 27
Wake up at 6.30. Get ready. Struggle to wake Reia up. Barely succeed. Prepare breakfast and lunch for Reia. Manage to throw her out in time. Go to work. Return home at 8. Have dinner. Watch TV and work. Go to bed at 3 am on Thu.
Thu, Feb 28
Early morning
Wake up at 5.30 to go to the washroom. Find myself horizontal on the floor. Grope around and find the vacuum. Realize I'm outside our bedroom door. Get on my feet and walk towards the bathroom. Find myself horizontal again. Look up and see Frank, my brother and Reia, my daughter. Reia asks, "Are you okay Dad ?". Say I'm fine, get up on my feet and walk to the dining room. Sit down. They want to make sure I'm okay. Ask me my name and various complicated mathematical questions like 2 + 2. Get all right. Presumably am okay. But not a genius since I get 3125 x 1357 wrong. Have a cut lip and sip some water and juice throw a straw. Reia wants me to go to the ER. I resist. We compromise on calling Ivy, my wife and a physician. She appears calm and says, its okay, but go to the doc in the morning. Am alert enough to ask Reia to eat at the cafeteria. And drowsily tell her goodbye at 7.30. Wake up at 9. Laze around and check my mail. Speak to office in India and answer questions.
Morning
At 1030 Frank calls and says he's coming to pick me up and take me to the doc. Wake up and go to the bathroom and go to get ready. Splash water on my face. Find myself horizontal again. By now am an expert at finding myself horizontal. And think I know what to do. Get on the bed and lie down. Walk towards the bedroom and find myself horizontal again, for the 4th time. On the bedroom floor. With the night stand, lamp, and other stuff all fallen. Dana, Frank's wife hears the sound of falling stuff and come in. Helps me get on my feet and then off it onto the bed. By now, I'm scared. What in earth is happening.
At 1045 Frank comes in. Walk to the car, holding him. We go to the Wilton Clinic. Fill out the forms and wait for the doctor to be free. 15 minutes later she wants to hear what happened. She's examining my lip and is cleaning the area with saline. I know I'm about to pass out, and tell her. She pushes my head down, raises my legs and I'm fine. She says the lip cut is deep and needs stitches. Also the four and a half times of passing out isn't good and we need to go to the ER.
Afternoon
Frank drives me to the ER of Norwalk Hospital. They take the vital signs and then get me to change to the hospital gown. I'm hopeful of getting out quickly, maybe an hour at most. Nurses and technicians walk in and out. Each one plays a small role, one of which is to ask me what happened. By now I've told the story more than 10 times and each one ends with, "Wow, really". Finally the doctor comes in. He looks at the lip. Says it needs to be stitched, but will be okay in a few weeks. Its the passing out he's concerned about. Asks about medical history. Perfect. Family history. Perfect. Previous incidents. None.... Nada, Nada, Nada. Orders a few more tests.
Evening
By now they've taken blood samples and a urine sample and are running tests. They've also hooked me up to a heart monitor and are observing it. An ECG (or EKG as they call it here) is taken. They send me for a set of X-Rays - Head, Neck, Shoulder, Chest, ... And then for a CAT scan of the head. I'm on a stretcher the whole time. They want to try and make sure that I don't collapse a 5th time. At least not in their hospital. Results are available quickly. The doctor is back. With good news. And bad news. The good news is that everything is perfect. The bad news is that now they're even more concerned. What the hell happened ? He says he has to admit me. Just for a day. By now they've also put a few stitches on my lip. Shutting me up for a while.
Night
All this while, I'm on a stretcher. And wheeled in to a room on the 8th floor of the hospital. A room with a view. Can see the water and in the distance New York and Long Island. The room has a TV and its comfortable. But I'd rather be home. I'm now connected to a remote heart monitor which is being monitored from a central cardio unit on the 9th floor. I've been given no restrictions, except am not allowed to move around unescorted. They manage this by having a green wristband which tells everyone that I'm on bed rest.
Fri, March 1
Through the night technicians have been taking blood at 6 hourly intervals. Other than that had a good nights of sleep. Catching up on all my sleep. Morning am wheeled into some more tests. This time its for a sonogram of the cardio vessels. And then for a echo cardiogram. The doctor comes in again with good news and bad news. The good news is that the tests are all perfect. The bad news, we still don't know what the hell happened ? And so, more tests. One more day. By now I've set up my office in the hospital. The food table is the work desk and the visitor chair is the work chair. An elaborate menu means not only am I well fed, I get to choose what to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. During the day, the attending physician wants a 2nd opinion. And so am referred to a neurologist. He comes in and after the story, responds with "Wow, really". Finds nothing wrong. And that's his concern. Recommends an MRI and an MRA.
Sat, March 2
The MRI and MRA that was supposed to be done yesterday was postponed to today at 8, due to several emergencies during the evening. In the morning, there's an internal miscommunication and they're told I'm discharged. Whilst I'm patiently waiting for the tests. Finally at 9 the confusion is cleared and I'm wheeled to the MRI center. The 2 tests take around 45 minutes and I'm wheeled back to the room. An hour later I'm informed that the results once again show nothing and since there's no other test left to be performed, they'll release me in a couple of hours.
At 3 p.m. I'm finally released. At the end of all of the investigations, there is only 1 word in the discharge report. "Fall". It probably should have been "Wall", since that's what I think happened. I walked into the wall in the dark and cut my lip. The trauma of the lip caused all those other falls. Proving once and for all the truth of the age old adage, "There's many a slip between the cup and the lip."
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