I would advise you if you are squeamish to just skip this post. It involves blood and rectums.

Wasn’t sure about posting this, but it’s part of my life, so. The first picture is Gertrude watching me get ready to take a shower this morning. Either because she was glad I’m back and wanted to make sure I didn’t disappear again, or curious to see if I was going to wind up on the floor again. The second one is spacer for the squeamish.

So I had to pee about an hour after dinner Tuesday. Oh, my, diarrhea. Surely I did not eat THAT much. Suddenly got very weak and dizzy, but seemed to be done so stood up. Not diarrhea. Blood. Lots and lots of blood, with bonus clots. Leaned on sink, woke up on floor. Too weak to stand, crawled to living room to get cell to call ambulance. Funny aside here, as I was crawling, Gertrude was walking along side and kept looking at me as if to say, “Why are you on the floor? What is happening here? I am confused.”

Called ambulance and just lay there, too weak move. EMT’s come, cannot move, had to pick me up to put me in the transport chair. Too weak to move because I was still bleeding. Fortunately, rug was spared. Oh, was sick while waiting but again fortunately had dragged wastebasket with me cause I was thinking some kind of food poisoning. Sick in ambulance, too, where they gave me antinausea meds and poked me full of holes for iv’s.

Get to Er where I am given a diaper and de-clothed and gowned. More poking and iv’s and blood draws and painful exam. Doctor suggests rectal bleed is caused by diverticulosis, which usually causes pain but rarely just bleeds. Except for the treatments, I was pain free, thank goodness. Anyway, after a very long time I was admitted and moved upstairs. Still bleeding some next morning and more clots, but getting better. Had to have help for any and everything because I was so weak. Lots of blood tests to determine if my hemoglobin was going down still in case of internal bleeding. But bleeding stopped, and by Friday my hemoglobin count was going back up, so I am home. Gertrude was happier to see Ed, her favorite person, than she was me. Thanks for nothing, Gertrude. And I wa so worried about her but Tess checked in with her every day. Tess and Ed brought me home, too. I am so lucky to have amazing friends.

There is nothing to be done for diverticulosis, it seems, but I have been advised to get more exercise (right. Fibro exhaustion, people.) Eat lots of fresh fruit and veg, whole grains, chicken and fish are okay, beans are good. So was very anxious last night after everyone left. DD 2 had come down, which I did not want her to do but was so happy she did. But anxious, I turned on Hulu and watched Castle and The Orville and a few other things to take my mind off it. Was hungry but nervous about eating. Wound up with peanut butter on toast. Extremely weak today after shower. Can barely walk with cane, just hobbling along in very short trips. Was much better yesterday. Too much excitement, though. Tess came over for a bit today, too, and that was really great not to be alone. Also, I had the best nurse on the planet and a really great doctor, too. Sturdy rules! So that’s it. Be safe. Wear your masks and help keep your friends and neighbors alive.