Happy Birthday to... oh fuck it, we'll do it next year

So as I mentioned in the last post, Sunday is my birthday, and I was looking forward to a nice Saturday evening out, even though I had to travel for business. This week has been a non-stop shit-fest of the worst kind. I'll just give you a run down:

Monday: day was 'ok', but I had to yell at dumb people at work. This is normal, so no worries there. I was planning on taking my mom out to a nice dinner to celebrate her birthday, but she wasn't feeling well so we went to 'lonestar steakhose' because its close by. Lonestar steakhouse a typical American southern chain pseduo-steak house. This is a place that sells steaks like a steak house but they are mass produced and probably frozen. It's tacky, trying to be fancy. Any place that has giant framed belt buckles with cowboy hats on the walls-- is not the kind of place for me. It's like people saying 'olive garden' is their favorite Italian restaurant. I know this is a bit elitist and snobbish, but I really appreciate good chefs, and want to eat real food prepared for me, not steamed in a pre-frozen bag...

Tuesday: my mom called at 6AM crying because she was in tremendous pain. She hadn't used the bathroom properly for days, but that's not really abnormal for her anyways. I went over there and we went to the Emergency Room. A bowel obstruction is nothing to play with-- it can turn serious quickly. The ER was crazy, I witnessed a few people 'coding' a.k.a code blue, meaning they need recussitation. Its scary, because I know that my dad was one of those people when he was airlifted. So the whole ER scene makes me uncomfortable and angry.

One of the nurses showed me her 'code card'- a code pink is an infant abduction, and a code brown is a bomb threat! I asked her: does this happen enough to warrant having specific codes?

They sent my mom home with laxatives...bad move

Wed: her pain went from bad to worse, she couldn't sleep and she said it was worse than childbirth. However, the GI doctor couldn't see her until the NEXT day at 3PM. It was unnacceptable, but he said it was probably just constipation, and that the ER couldn't do anything, but if it got really bad to of course go to the ER. (this was the GI nurse, not the doctor saying this).

Thurs: my mom is now almost unable to walk she is in so much pain, and in retrospect we should've just gone to the ER immediately. But we went to the Drs office at 2PM, and waited for two hours with 30 people that were just there for random, non critical ailments. I was frustrated and pissed that they wouldn't give priority to the crying woman who is screaming in pain. Fucking insane.

GI doctor felt around and noticed that there was pain when he released pressure, and said 'you need to get to the ER immediately. You are having an emergency right now.' I about punched those fucking nurses for making her wait for two hours for this, but we rushed back to the ER. They were concerned that the colon had perforated and become infected. This means that your feces escapes the colon wall and infects your body. This can turn you septic very quickly, and that is very serious. It can happen quickly too, which is even more scary.

Thankfully, it is not perforated, and they admitted her (didn't get a room until about 2am of course) to treat the infection with antibiotics. Today, things started working again, but they haven't gotten rid of the infection completely. She will be in until next Tuesday it looks like... the whole time I'm just thinking- there is no fucking way that I am going to lose two parents before I'm 30.

So I need to reschedule my birthday from Sunday to some other time. Hurray and happy birthday to me.

I've decided I'm not getting older than 25, and I suggest everyone else do the same. So this birthday is NOT my 26th birthday. I am in fact turning...25!

I hope everyone else is having a better time than I.

Much Love,
Steve