Bad Times Timelion... Part 1
Sorry for the absence here and at the front page of GCP. Had quite a scare earlier this week, though things started off good. My entire family was in town during the weekend doting on our newborn which was a lot of fun. He got to meet his grandparents (again), his aunt (again), and for the first time his uncle (my brother ) and his wife and their children. He met his 31/2 year old cousin and her sister who is 1 1/2. They flew in from Delaware. Yes, Delaware lacked a population when they were in town.
The 1 1/2 year old thought she was going to meet a playmate and didn't quite understand that the baby is basically a burping, nursing and pooping football. My niece was very sweet though wanting to wipe his nose when he sneezed. She'd get a tissue to bring to him, her grandfather who was holding my son would thank her, take it and put it aside. She'd get another tissue and he'd do the same thing. It was only when my dad faked wiped the baby's nose did my niece stop bringing him tissues. That made her happy.
So, that was good. I'll spare you the rest of the "cutesy" details as probably that's only interesting to the people that were in the room when in happened. Needless to say, there were a lot of those moments.
Of course, with family in town my poker sessions were limited to just a few online sessions. I played micro stakes. Are there stakes any smaller than that? I finished about even. Still I'm lucky that I can satisfy the same poker need no matter the stakes. If I play online poker for 5 cents it's the same as playing high stakes live. Course I don't play poker online for too much more than that because I hate doing anything over the internet. I don't do any banking online nor any transactions. In person, by phone or by mail.
On Saturday, my wife started feeling ill. On Sunday morning at 5am she felt really ill and started... mmmm... I'll try not to be graphic here... though that's kind of impossible. Let's just say she bled... A LOT.
This did not abate through out the day. In fact, it got heavier. She didn't tell me until 4 and after my family had left. I assumed it wasn't much or she would have said something earlier. Later she went to the bathroom and I looked and I was shocked. Sorry, for those faint at heart and easily queasy, and for sharing too much information, well you guys.... skip the rest of this sentence... right now... Ever seen the movie Carrie with Cissy Spacek when she's at the prom? Yeah? Well you'd think my wife was doing the special effects for a remake.
"WTF? You've been doing this all day?" I ask.
"Yes," she said meekly.
"Alright we are going to the emergency room."
Well, just because I said it didn't mean it was going to happen. What part of putting my foot down am I doing wrong? I try to convince her that the human body only has so much blood, I looked this up on the internet (I'm something of a google doctor with a success rate of about 50% diagnosing things) and it's possible she's hemorraghing which has some bad effects... like death. Okay... Without trying to scare her, but still trying to convince her to go the E.R., and to get her parents to come take care of the newborn, I run into some stubborness.
See... on Sunday before my family left we discussed the Swine Flu. And how, it's imperative parents of newborns do everything they can to avoid it. Babies are especially susceptible so when the Swine Flu shots come out, we get to move to the front of the line and should get one. My sister-in-law is a doctor and while there was lot of conjecture about swine flu from my non-doctor relatives the fact that she was sitting there through all of it and not contradicting it made it all true--whether it was or wasn't and regardless of whether she did or did not agree with it.
One of things said, was that the Swine Flu pandemic was underreported and with schools back in session things were pretty dire. The USA Today last week had a cover story about thousands of people dying so, to say it's underhyped is... troubling. And of course, last place you want to go as a parent of a newborn is an emergency room. So this is on both of minds, and probably colored our experiences afterward.
We call my wife's doctor and they say go in.
Not quite enough to convince the wife.
However, one more visit to the toliet and she was convinced.
So we head to the emergency room... which is always fun.
We get there and it's like a scene out of a movie like Outbreak or something. The waiting room is JAMMED packed. Everybody has this glazed over look in the eyes, they are all coughing, people are sleeping, and it's like every one of my wife's fears realized. There was this one family of Mexicans with foreheads shiny from sweat that could have been lifted off a poster warning about plagues.
We sign in and I stress to the girl we have a newborn at home and my wife's lost a lot of blood. I'm really worried at this point. The last time we came in they shipped us up to labor and delivery pretty quickly because my wife was pregnant... this go round I hinted at that and the check in girl pretty obstinately said, "The nurse will decide that, please go sit down and wait." With a wave of her hand she dismissed us back to the waiting room. We turn around and I look at a collection of West Virginian black lung victims.
I ask my wife if she wants to wait outside. No, she wants to sit. This is after she declined a wheel-chair because she doesn't like a fuss being made about her. Great thing about a wheel chair is... I think to myself because she wasn't listening to me... you get to sit where-ever you want. Like away from this group of Ebola victims.
http://www.gulfcoastpoker.net/
The 1 1/2 year old thought she was going to meet a playmate and didn't quite understand that the baby is basically a burping, nursing and pooping football. My niece was very sweet though wanting to wipe his nose when he sneezed. She'd get a tissue to bring to him, her grandfather who was holding my son would thank her, take it and put it aside. She'd get another tissue and he'd do the same thing. It was only when my dad faked wiped the baby's nose did my niece stop bringing him tissues. That made her happy.
So, that was good. I'll spare you the rest of the "cutesy" details as probably that's only interesting to the people that were in the room when in happened. Needless to say, there were a lot of those moments.
Of course, with family in town my poker sessions were limited to just a few online sessions. I played micro stakes. Are there stakes any smaller than that? I finished about even. Still I'm lucky that I can satisfy the same poker need no matter the stakes. If I play online poker for 5 cents it's the same as playing high stakes live. Course I don't play poker online for too much more than that because I hate doing anything over the internet. I don't do any banking online nor any transactions. In person, by phone or by mail.
On Saturday, my wife started feeling ill. On Sunday morning at 5am she felt really ill and started... mmmm... I'll try not to be graphic here... though that's kind of impossible. Let's just say she bled... A LOT.
This did not abate through out the day. In fact, it got heavier. She didn't tell me until 4 and after my family had left. I assumed it wasn't much or she would have said something earlier. Later she went to the bathroom and I looked and I was shocked. Sorry, for those faint at heart and easily queasy, and for sharing too much information, well you guys.... skip the rest of this sentence... right now... Ever seen the movie Carrie with Cissy Spacek when she's at the prom? Yeah? Well you'd think my wife was doing the special effects for a remake.
"WTF? You've been doing this all day?" I ask.
"Yes," she said meekly.
"Alright we are going to the emergency room."
Well, just because I said it didn't mean it was going to happen. What part of putting my foot down am I doing wrong? I try to convince her that the human body only has so much blood, I looked this up on the internet (I'm something of a google doctor with a success rate of about 50% diagnosing things) and it's possible she's hemorraghing which has some bad effects... like death. Okay... Without trying to scare her, but still trying to convince her to go the E.R., and to get her parents to come take care of the newborn, I run into some stubborness.
See... on Sunday before my family left we discussed the Swine Flu. And how, it's imperative parents of newborns do everything they can to avoid it. Babies are especially susceptible so when the Swine Flu shots come out, we get to move to the front of the line and should get one. My sister-in-law is a doctor and while there was lot of conjecture about swine flu from my non-doctor relatives the fact that she was sitting there through all of it and not contradicting it made it all true--whether it was or wasn't and regardless of whether she did or did not agree with it.
One of things said, was that the Swine Flu pandemic was underreported and with schools back in session things were pretty dire. The USA Today last week had a cover story about thousands of people dying so, to say it's underhyped is... troubling. And of course, last place you want to go as a parent of a newborn is an emergency room. So this is on both of minds, and probably colored our experiences afterward.
We call my wife's doctor and they say go in.
Not quite enough to convince the wife.
However, one more visit to the toliet and she was convinced.
So we head to the emergency room... which is always fun.
We get there and it's like a scene out of a movie like Outbreak or something. The waiting room is JAMMED packed. Everybody has this glazed over look in the eyes, they are all coughing, people are sleeping, and it's like every one of my wife's fears realized. There was this one family of Mexicans with foreheads shiny from sweat that could have been lifted off a poster warning about plagues.
We sign in and I stress to the girl we have a newborn at home and my wife's lost a lot of blood. I'm really worried at this point. The last time we came in they shipped us up to labor and delivery pretty quickly because my wife was pregnant... this go round I hinted at that and the check in girl pretty obstinately said, "The nurse will decide that, please go sit down and wait." With a wave of her hand she dismissed us back to the waiting room. We turn around and I look at a collection of West Virginian black lung victims.
I ask my wife if she wants to wait outside. No, she wants to sit. This is after she declined a wheel-chair because she doesn't like a fuss being made about her. Great thing about a wheel chair is... I think to myself because she wasn't listening to me... you get to sit where-ever you want. Like away from this group of Ebola victims.
http://www.gulfcoastpoker.net/
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