health – Nigel Babu

The Modern Lab Reports

Yesterday morning, I went to the local lab to get a few follow-up blood tests..

Yesterday morning, I went to the local lab to get a few follow-up blood tests done. I was very amused at the system this particular chain of labs had. They had small franchisee collection centers. I paid the collection center and they sent my samples onwards to a central processing lab. When collecting my samples, they took my phone number, my name, and the referring doctor’s name in addition to the name of the tests I wanted.

In the evening, I got an SMS with my report ID and a password. I just had to visit their website and I could download a PDF report of my lab report. Truly, we’re living in the future!

Hello Again, Hospital

I seem to be having a not-so-good time health-wise. First, I decided to celebrate getting…

I seem to be having a not-so-good time health-wise. First, I decided to celebrate getting paid by ordering a pizza last month. My body doesn’t seem to like unhealthy food, because I was throwing up the next morning. I tried to drink water and have an anti-vomit tablet, but that didn’t help. When I got to the point where I couldn’t keep down water, I had my friends take me to the hospital. The doctor in the Casuality gave me an injection and started me on IV fluids. I think I slept for some time and when I woke up, I threw up again. At this point, the doctor asked me if I wanted to be admitted overnight and I agreed it was a good idea.

By morning, I finally stopped throwing up. The doctor wanted to keep me for a few days because my creatinine levels were a little high and kept increasing. At that moment, to be honest, I didn’t understand the seriousness of what was happening. When I asked him if he’d let me go that evening, he said my kidneys weren’t functioning well and until that became normal, he wouldn’t send me home. I ended up staying from Wednesday evening until Monday evening, getting lots of IV fluids and drinking lots of water. The final diagnosis was that I was extremely dehydrated and this affected my kidney function briefly. When I was discharged, my doctor said I was very lucky to avoid dialysis. That’s when I understood the seriousness of what happened.

The next day, I flew to Kerala to spend some time with parents so I didn’t have to cook for a few days and my parents would have some relief on seeing me. That’s when the second incident happened – I had a seizure, for the first time that I know of. I don’t remember much of Wednesday except turning off the alarm. When they got me to the hospital, they gave me enough injections that I was out until evening. I woke up around 7:30 pm in the Neurology and Stroke ICU. I had brief memories of being near the MRI machine, my aunt standing at the edge of my bed, and another aunt telling me something. I didn’t even realize I was in the ICU until the patient in the bed next to me told me.

Later, my dad came and talked to me. That’s when I understood what happened. I was under observation for one night and I was, to be honest, extremely bored. The nurses in the ICU were friendly, but most patients were sedated so I could just look around and watch them work. I stayed in the hospital from Wednesday until Saturday this time. After all the tests, the neurologist advised me to take more rest and stress less, and I was otherwise okay. Sigh. If you don’t see me around like you used to, now you know why 🙂

Two Casualty Visits in 2 Weeks

I finally have a few weeks where I haven’t visited the hospital (knocks on wood) and it’s probably safe to write about it. It’s been an interesting few weeks a…

I finally have a few weeks where I haven’t visited the hospital (knocks on wood) and it’s probably safe to write about it. It’s been an interesting few weeks after I got back from London. My sleep cycle hadn’t quite reset back to normal. I was going to bed pretty late and waking up late, whereas I’m notoriously a morning person.

Visit 1

I went to bed quite late Sunday (July 21st) and woke up quite late too. As soon as I woke up, I threw up. I’ve always been taught that vomiting is dehydrating and I should drink water. I felt extremely weak anyway, and I had water mixed with glucose powder. A while later, I woke up and threw up again. This kept happening throughout the day, I’d drink water, lie down, and a few hours later, I’d throw it up.

Around evening, I went to the nearest medical store and got an anti-vomit. That didn’t seem to help, so my friends (Thanks lut4rp and GnrlMxms!) got me to the nearest hospital. The doctor in the Casualty got me on IV fluids and gave me an injection. They also checked my BP and temperature. Turns out I had a fever of 102 F, and my BP was low. Somehow during all the mess of throwing up, I hadn’t noticed that I was feverish.

The doctor gave me the option of being admitted or going home after the IV fluids was done with medicines for a few days. Since I live alone, I preferred to stay at the hospital. A few days that involved lots of IV fluids, and blood and urine tests later, I was discharged on Thursday. Seems to have been just a viral fever.

Visit 2

A few days at the hospital really did sap my energy. I didn’t feel like cooking or eating really, so I decided to visit my parents for a few days and work out of there. I should describe my setup, which is pretty relevant to what happened – My laptop is an HP, which is mostly plastic. It sits on a stand that’s also plastic. This whole setup was on a metal table, which was in fact my old study table. And I use a wireless keyboard and mouse.

I missed work for large parts of July because of being sick and my hard-disk dying while in Cambridge. On August 1st, I woke up bright and early at 6:30 (okay, that’s late for me to be honest). I talked to my mom for a bit and booted up my laptop. I remember sitting down on my chair waiting for it to boot up. My next memory is right outside the Casualty at the local hospital in a car and my mom asking me to get out of the car into the wheelchair.

I was very confused. My body hurt and I had no idea what the hell happened. When the doctor comes around my mom tells him I got electrocuted. I’m lying on the bed going, WTF. I was hooked up to the ECG and I had a catheter placed and IV fluids again. I think I was given an injection at this point.

My parents later told me, they heard the chair move and what sounded like me throwing up. When my dad came to check on me, I was on the floor, shaking (my leg was still touching the table). My dad switched off the power and called my mom. I’m told my mom screamed so loudly that our neighbors came running. One of our our neighbors gave me chest compressions and helped carry me to their car. I have no memory of all of this. The one vague memory I have is throwing up. But I felt like that was part of a dream, and we were going on a trip somewhere.

Meanwhile, in the hospital, a more senior doctor looked at me. He said I looked fine, my vitals were normal, and he’d let me go after the IV fluids were over. They disconnected my ECG and wheeled me to a different bed. Later, I learned, I was part of the area that’s reserved for the most serious patients (gulp). It had an ECG and oxygen supply right there. There were only 3 beds like that and I was in one of them.

The doctor did let me go after the bottle of IV fluids was over, with pain meds to take if I needed them. I escaped with a scratch on my finger and my neck hurting for a few hours.

Yeah, it’s been a fun few weeks…

TL;DR: I was in the hospital twice in two weeks, once for viral fever, and then because I got electrocuted.