update note from Arta to family and friends - from the hospital

Here is an update from Arta: 

Arta on the 3rd floor at the RJH PCC 

I am in the hospital.  I came to the emergency ward on Wednesday evening Rebecca.  They decided to admit me so they could have a doctor look at me.  

The hospital was very busy, but by 4 am, they had found an open bed on the new cardiac ward.  The room is very comfortable.  There are a team of doctors working with me: Dr. Hammet is the attending, Dr. Pierson is the GI, and Dr. Anderson is the palliative.  For some reason I needed to know where Dr. Anderson was from and she told me Newfoundland.  I knew there was something just a little different in her accent. 

getting ready for the nose prong!

I have written on the white in my room “nasogastric” – this is to remind me of the name for the tube that goes down my nose and into my stomach to empty out the contents of my stomach.  I know it is 50 cm long because I watched the nurse in emergency measure it before they put it in. I felt it going in and then coming back out because it hadn’t gone to right place. Then they had to put it down again. I think I told Catherine I will never let anyone do that to me again. She told me that in medical school it was a technique they had to practice on each other because it was hard to find anyone to let you practice on. They say it may cause discomfort.  That is a huge understatement.

 

I have one very interesting thing to tell you.  I still have a hard time picturing and understanding where the stomach is of how the  lies underneath it but did mention to one of the Dr’s it would be an interesting thing to have a 3D app that could show you this and the doctor told me there is one.  It is called Atlas 2021.  I thought it wouldn’t cost much but then remembered anything related to medicine books is expensive.  She told me it take so much memory on her phone you can hardly have any other apps.  She opened it and showed me and it was amazing.  Looking at all the squiggly intestines, I began to think that Hebe could make an interesting sewing project out of this. All the lines and lines of intestine would be good practice and sewing curves.  

 

view from Arta's room on 8th floor

Now I am going to be moved to palliative care unit which is on the 8^th floor.

 

Written on my chart it also says “nothing by mouth.” This is so they can empty out my stomach to try the stent.  Having an empty stomach is not worry to me because I have hardly been eating anything anyway.

 

Cherry trees in bloom near Rebecca's house

I took a picture of the courtyard outside the window of the hospital. It is beautiful -- the Japanese cherry blossoms are in bloom.