no more certain than I think I might have been before: uncertainty, con't.

[peacocks]

My ex fell 15 feet from a balcony at a party at his house last night because he stood on the railing to demonstrate something, I don't know what.  All his best friends were there and we followed the ambulance to the hospital.  He has a fractured skull, internal hemorrhage and a broken collar bone.  We were there til around 4 am but weren't allowed to see him.  His parents weren't even allowed to try to talk to him.  His dad texted me this morning that the fracture is from ear to ear but that everything works and they didn't have to do brain surgery so the swelling must have gone down and there should be no permanent brain damage.  The doctor said they were going to wake him up this afternoon.  This is all excellent news!  But until he wakes up and I talk to him and know that he remembers things I will remain uncertain.  I'm really really really hoping that this all is just a huge joke he will never live down. 

Has anyone had experience with this?  The only other friend I have had that has had brain damage just had a bad concussion and she couldn't remember the previous 6 months for a few days and then she started to go back to normal and is totally fine now.

[auto-da-fey]

jesus. no experience to speak of, but wishing the best, peacocks.

[jess]

I'm so sorry peacocks. I don't have personal experience with people close to me having experienced head injuries, but I know a bit about traumatic brain injury from taking a class on neuropsych (which is all about tbi) and from my friends who do that sort of work. At this point it would be really hard to say anything. A lot of times, people have temporary symptoms, so if he's not himself right away (which it may be good to prepare yourself for the possibility of), don't assume that it will stay that way. Most people who have at least a moderate level of injury (it's hard to tell where your ex falls on that spectrum, but he might be in that group) are going to have some memory dysfunction, attention difficulties, and other problems at least in the first six months as the brain recovers—it's the stuff that persists beyond that and especially beyond a year that is more concerning, and if the doctors are saying there shouldn't be permanent damage, then I'm guessing they aren't expecting to see that. In my experience with medical stuff in general, doctors tend to be pretty cautious about predicting outcomes, especially good ones, so if they are doing that, that's probably a really good sign.

[peacocks]

Yes that is so awesome to hear.  I knew a few of you were in the medical field and might know some things.  Thank you so much!!

[clare]

Wow, peacocks, sorry to hear that. I hope your friend comes out of it OK.

[peacocks]

He's been responsive to his family.  He can lift his fingers and open his eyes when they tell him to, and he waved at his sister. His dad said we can visit him tomorrow.  Hopefully when the sedative wears off he'll be more awake and maybe be able to talk a little.  Huge relief.  All the doctors are talking about how lucky he is (his fracture is from ear to ear).

[elpollodiablo]

Sick as a damn ol' dog, and it kept me up all night sneezing and wheezing, achey and chilly. Finally sent the email to cancel my class at 2:30am; 90 minutes later, the university canceled classes due to ice. Blurgh.

[auto-da-fey]

I have to get up in 5 hours to go to work, and fuck am I hoping to find an email canceling the day on account of the ice storm.

[auto-da-fey]

sigh.

maybe in the next three minutes before I have to leave . . .

[elpollodiablo]

The only time I really second-guess my decision to seek a graduate degree is when I sit down in a lit seminar and the professor, who's likely held the same calcified opinion about the text under discussion for several decades, starts acting leading questions in an attempt to lead students to the "right" conclusions about it. It's less a free exchange of ideas and more like revisiting high school.

[fishjim]

This seems to be the "fuck you world, today sucked" thread, so I'll opt in.

Had my first pediatrics clinical at Oakland Children's Hospital today, and I'm pretty sure hell is a children's hospital. I'm grateful, as a father, for the nurses tough enough to take this on. I'm not one of them.

I'll stick around for the 5 weeks I owe the program, then move on.

Geriatrics may be a better fit, I'm thinking.

[reebty]

I probably should mention this at some point, and now that this thread's been bumped, I will: I am not going to be an uncle, at least not nine months from that last post. This is why I shouldn't post things on the internet that I was told not to tell people in real life yet.

[Nick Ink]

 

[clare]

That's a bummer reebty. Sorry to hear it. :-(

[kadiekatRN]

So about a month ago, I took my two beautiful kitties to the vet.  They were given their rabies vaccine, had some bloodwork, etc.  My vet informed me that my cat Georgia had gotten a 3-year Rabies shot that they don't use on cats b/c of the risk for a sarcoma (malignant mass).  She said the risk was small, but to look/feel for lumps.

Well today, about 3 weeks later, I felt a mass at the site.  I read up on it, and vaccine-associated sarcomas are aggressive tumors that require radical resections and sometimes chemo and radiation.  It is seldom cured.

I'm feeling awful right now, even though there is also a chance that it is just transient inflammation.  Poor Gigi has already had a traumatic experience being bitten badly by a dog requiring surgery, and we are not in the same spot financially as we were when that happened.

Just so anxious...what if my vet gave my cat cancer?

[Em]

I really hope it's nothing; that is such a heartbreaking scenario. I'm sorry.

[jebreject]

Geej! That's heartbreaking. You guys and Geej and Autumn are in our thoughts.

[kadiekatRN]

Well, Gigi went to the vet, and a needle aspiration showed fatty cells, white blood cells, and non-abnormal epithelials.  It is most like just like a cyst or an abscess.  10 days amoxicillin twice daily, warm compresses as needed.

This is good news.  Poor Georgia, though, puked, pooped, and peed on herself on the way to the vet, and was foaming at the mouth on the way home--even when it was just drool, the carrier was soaked, and she had a drool gob that made her look like a St. Bernard.

My poor kitty cat.  I hope this is the end of the drama.

[milesofsparks]

the vet is so stressful, even when it's good news.  I hope Gigi heals up and calms down!

[jess]

So glad she's ok! Hopefully she won't have to go back for a long time.

[clare]

That sounds like no fun. (Did you post about it when it happened? I seem to recall you saying that the vet had done that) Did the vet charge you this time? I hope not, given that it was their mistake to start with... I hope you both feel better soon.

[kadiekatRN]

$92 for the exam, biopsy, and antibiotics.

[clare]

bastards. I'm glad your cat is OK though.

[hannah]

my schedule for the next month:

March 7: go to the doctor to confirm that I am reasonably healthy, get doctor to sign form saying as much so that I can travel to Russia this summer
March 10-13: travel to New Orleans to present a paper at an academic conference
March 16: 20-page research paper due
March 19: get married
March 20-27: travel to Berlin for honeymoon
March 28: spring quarter begins
April 1: present another paper at another academic conference

feeling a little overwhelmed. right now it's by the prospect of turning a 25-page paper into a measly eight or nine pages (and a powerpoint presentation); tomorrow it'll be by something else, I'm sure.

[peacocks]

my schedule for the next month:

March 7: go to the doctor to confirm that I am reasonably healthy, get doctor to sign form saying as much so that I can travel to Russia this summer
March 10-13: travel to New Orleans to present a paper at an academic conference
March 16: 20-page research paper due
March 19: get married
March 20-27: travel to Berlin for honeymoon
March 28: spring quarter begins
April 1: present another paper at another academic conference

feeling a little overwhelmed. right now it's by the prospect of turning a 25-page paper into a measly eight or nine pages (and a powerpoint presentation); tomorrow it'll be by something else, I'm sure.

Wow. All I can say is YOU CAN DO IT! And you will have a blast. March 2011 will be the best month, looking back.