I was woken up at five by a boy a few beds down and across the hall - the same boy that had the laying on of hands yesterday - singing gospel at the top of his lungs. He had a rather sweet voice, but it wasn't even close to dawn yet! Everyone else was also woken up but no one else said anything either. After about twenty minutes he stopped and his mother (who was sleeping with him) tickled him making him scream at the top of his lungs - the nurse came running but stopped when she realized what was going on. After a few minutes both the boy and the mother went back to sleep leaving the entire (I'm pretty sure) hospital wide awake.
I dozed on and off until the doctor came at 8:15. He poked and prodded a bit then told me I could leave but that I should pick up a prescription for antibiotics and make an appointment to come back and see him next Wednesday. Stacy showed up shortly afterwards and we both sat around waiting for the nurse to remove my IV. Then it was sit around and wait for the prescription. Then it was time to pay... neither of us had even the slightest clue what it was going to cost. We'd scraped together all the cash we could, about $600 and were worried that it wouldn't be enough - I was pretty sure they wouldn't take a credit card. I watched as the cashier did the math and was a little relieved to see him write $77.50 down - I was guessing that was for the antibiotics and was expecting them to cost twice that. So I was floored when he lifted the entire bill and explained the breakdown:
| My Hospital Bill: |
| Operation: | $45 |
2 Days in hospital:
(@ $10 / day) | $20 |
| EKG: | $5 |
Antibiotics:
(Metronidazole 500mg and Ciprofloxacin 500mg) | $7.50 |
| Total: | $77.50 |
That was it - that included the doctor, anesthesiologist, all the IV fluid, Demerol, antibiotics, shots, etc.
After I pulled myself together and paid my bill we had to wait for the pharmacist to fill my prescription. This was good as I needed to sit down and rest - even better we could watch CNN while we waited. After filling the prescription we drove around picking up some supplies - gauze and tape, and some food things - I was feeling out of it so I just sat in the car and let Stacy do the shopping. The short drive back to Eileen's was really rough - I was very aware of every bump in the pavement. By the time we got there I had decided that I was definitely not ready to face the unpaved road back to PATS. Luckily Eileen had offered to let us crash at her place.
I hadn't had any pain killers since the night before so I was hoping some Advil would help out also they had taken me off the IV the night before so was hoping that eating would help get me over the light headedness. We sat on the deck and ate some soup, then I just rested for a couple hours. When I got moving again I felt fantastic. As long as I wasn't moving I couldn't even feel my stomach, and when I moved as long as I walked softly and slowly I still felt pretty good. I felt so good that Stacy and I ended up going out with Eileen and a big group of friends for a sushi diner. I only ate three pieces (I think my stomach has shrunk form disuse), but it was fun and I was in very good spirits.
