Getting to the Starting Line...

UGH! This was supposed to post at 6:01AM-new blogger is killing me!

...this was the hardest part because I didn't even know if I'd be able to go! Let's rewind back to Thursday afternoon, about 4pm Matt gets home from work and starts complaining his back is hurting. By 10pm, he can barely move and is doubled over in pain. About 3 weeks ago, he'd had a double-bacteria kidney infection so we had an idea where this was going. Without going into much detail, Matt has a history with his kidneys so we take this sort of thing VERY seriously at our house.

At 10pm, he calls his primary doc who says go to the local hospital. We have one hospital about 2 minutes from us and another, newer one about 15 minutes. I talked him into going to the one 15 minutes away and we were VERY happy with this decision. I dropped him off at the door, parked, came in, went to the bathroom and by the time I got out, we were heading back into a room. After 18 minutes, the doctor was already seeing us. The doc, well, he was like a baby and we weren't 100% impressed by him but the RN that was treating Matt was awesome.

They started Mattie on some pain meds then took him for a CT scan. The RN came back and said, yes, there was an infection but we'd have to wait for the CT scan to come back and he started Matt on some antibiotics. Then, the doc came in and surprised us. He said that Matt needed to be admitted to the hospital and because of his history, he needed to be at the main hospital downtown. Both of our jaws dropped-WHAT!?! Then the doc goes on to tell us that the ambulance is on the way and we're like-hold up! We denied the ambulance, they finished the antibiotic med and we headed home. He said Matt's kidneys were enlarged and they saw a couple stones in his bladder.

We got discharged at 2am, went home to pack a bag for him because we had no idea how long he was going to be staying. He told me to put my Indy bags in the car so I could leave from the hospital. I did but there was NO WAY I was going to Indy if my husband was still in the hospital. At this point though, it was easier to do it than to argue. We went ahead and fed the dogs at 2:30 because we didn't know when we'd be home again. Then headed downtown. Matt was so precious because he could tell I was getting tired as I was driving (both of us were going on almost 24 hours of no sleep) so he made a point to rub my back and start talking to me about random stuff just to help me stay awake.

We got to the second ER a little after 3am and I dropped him off at the front door. Now this hospital...let me tell you, it's in downtown STL and any place downtown anywhere is SCARY at 3am. There were like 10 people milling around outside the hospital and I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a bit scared. I pulled forward to go into the parking garage and you have to hit a button. The security guard comes on and I really couldn't hear anything he was saying except that he was asking me if I was there to visit. In my mind, I'm thinking, "Who in the hell comes to visit people at 3am? Isn't that against visiting hours?" Eventually he lets me in and I park although I wasn't so sure the car would be there when we left.

I go inside and have to go through a metal detector (I told you-scary!) but I was so tired I kept forgetting about my phone in my pocket, my watch and duh-my belt! I finally got through and didn't see Matt any where then the nurse told me he was in the first room. Since the other hospital had already called, we got back right away. We passed a really nice old man in the hallway but he smelt like urine sooo bad. They got Matt in a room and hooked him up to the IV again, the nurses and doctors came in but we were waiting for a uriologist which took about an hour or so to see him. As we waited we heard someone yelling about someone's effing "cat" (if you get my drift) and I looked at Matt giving him the "Where in the hell have you taken me?" look. Our room had curtains but also glass sliding doors (hopefully they were bulletproof!) and about 4:30am, Matt and I both drifted off to sleep. Umm...2 chairs to sleep and stretch out in is NOT comfy AT ALL.

The uriologist finally comes in and tells us that he was able to pull all of Matt's medical records and from the CT scan they did in 2006 (when he had this happen last), they looked similiar so the kidneys weren't enlarged, that's just how they are from all his surgeries and everything. Basically, the doctor at the first hospital, who wasn't familiar with Matt's history, freaked out. The uriologist says he's going to give us a couple prescriptions and send him home. Thank goodness!

As we're waiting to be discharged, Matt's says, "Okay, we'll go home, sleep a few hours and be on the road by noon." Seriously? Do I not have the best husband? Despite 7 hours in the hospital and feeling like crap, he was still coming to support me in my race. I love that man!

We get home and I drop him off then head to Wags to fill his prescriptions. I called him mom and updated her about everything as I waited. Luckily, I had wifi at both hospitals so I was able to email our fams to keep them posted and you all had a live-Twit feed of the action! When I went to pay for the prescriptions, I just stood there until it dawned on me and I said, "I bet you want some money for this, huh?" The pharmacist was a bit worried that I was driving but I assured him it was just around the corner. Around 7:30, I finally made it home and my Mattie and I took a nice long 4 hour nap and we're up and on the road by 11am.

He was feeling 100x better than just 12 hours earlier. It really sucks to see someone you love in so much pain and not be able to do anything about it. He's a trooper though and already back to his old self. So there my friends, is how I almost didn't make it to the starting line of the Indy Mini Marathon but my husband did everything he could to make sure I did. Don't you just love him?