We arrived back yesterday, in the dark, to snowy, frigid, minus thirty degree Prince George. It was a trip I could have done without.
We stayed in the Sandman Inn Suites, recommended by one of the ICU nurses, on Davie that turned out to be very nice and reasonable and mere steps to St Pauls hospital. We were on the twentieth floor with fabulous east, south, north views. There was a bedroom a kitchen a living room, free WIFI and a washer dryer combo, very useful. I even made scrambled eggs for lunch one day on the stove. Davie St. is such a cool place, tons of restaurants we went to for dinner and a lovely convenient organic grocery shop where we bought breakfast and lunch, yummy food to take back to our cute little suite. We spent the rest of our time at the hospital.
I know more about Saint Pauls hospital than I ever wanted too. Things like, the elevators are really slow and it’s a teaching hospital so every time someone came to talk to my son we played a game, guessing if they were a student, a teacher or a real professional.
I’m very impressed with the nurses in ICU. Both nurses my son had were very competent they made me feel better especially on Friday night when we got there, petrified out of our minds, wondering what to expect.
On Tuesday they let him go home. He had a long list of referrals to see various allergists and drugs. The lifesaver is the epipen. He's had epipens before but because he’s male and 22 he never carried it with him. The epipen is a single shot of epinephrine you inject into your thigh to counteract anaphylaxis. It only gives you ten minutes so you have to get to the hospital.
I’m desperate to think of ways he can carry an epipen with him always. It is really too big to fit into the pocket of his jeans. Right now, in the winter, he can carry it in his coat pocket but in the summer?
We got to see his house. It took me back to my own student days with shared food, stuff everywhere and people coming in at all hours of the day and night. We spent the whole day there yesterday watching a movie, talking to his roommates, admiring the $60 frog, the free garter snake and making lunch.
It was a really close call. Being his mother I fear I’m nagging him too much about what he must do to try and avoid something like this happening again. Probably what he needs is to get back into his life to get his mind off the whole horrible experience
3 comments:
I meant to say "He may not be THE type." Whoops!
He may not be your type, but if your son gets a man bag/man purse/murse or whatever (there are lots of decent ones out there, none of them too girly!), he might find it very handy. I've carried one for years, being diabetic, so I always have my wallet, keys, cell phone, blood glucose meter, insulin injector, Leatherman multi-tool, and emergency bottle of Coke (works better for me than any tablets etc. for hypoglycemia). Now I can carry my cancer meds too. Mine is from Hedgren (I think they're Swedish).
The big advantage is that it's all in there, so I can grab it and sling it over my shoulder on the way out the door. I often put my iPod and headphones in it too, and in a pinch I can carry a Moleskine notebook, pen, and even my entire Nikon SLR with a lens on it. That makes it pretty heavy, but it's do-able, and the bag isn't even very big -- about half the size of a laptop bag. I've even worn it while riding my bike.
He could easily carry an epipen in there along with his other stuff, and he'll probably be motivated to do it now. The one disadvantage is that it tends to promote "male wallet syndrome," i.e. a wallet that's so thick full of cards and receipts and stuff you could never put it in a pocket.
What a relief to hear that he's okay...I bet you feel all wrung out.
Post a Comment