It's time to finally post about my stay in Methodist. I was in from June 30th - July 6th. I took some time off to rest and now it's time to get back to the regular world (and regular posts!). As you may have noticed, this is part 1 of day 1. I took a TON of notes and pics while I was inpatient and I want to make sure there's as much info as possible in my posts. So I'll be breaking it down into multiple posts. I'll try not to keep them too long (no promises though!).
Typically, sometime the day before you're supposed to be admitted, someone calls from Methodist to let you know what time to come for admission and to give you some basic info, like where Methodist is located, and what to do to register. Since there was some back and forth about what day I was being admitted, I was a little nervous when I hadn't heard anything by 3 pm. So I called the sixth floor of Methodist, where the headache unit is located, and asked if I was on the list to be admitted. I managed to call at just the right time - the woman who calls the new patients was about to begin and she answered when I called. I was on the list and, since she had me on the phone, she told me to come in at noon the next day.
At 11:30 am on June 30th, I arrived at Methodist. My sister accompanied me, so I would have someone to help carry my stuff and get me settled. When I arrived in the waiting room, I stood in line to sign in. Once I gave my name, I received a black beeper, like you get at a restaurant when you're waiting for a table, and told to wait for it to beep.
The beeper
Once the beeper went off, I went back to the registration area. There, I gave my insurance cards and photo ID. Once she made copies, the woman checking me in phoned the 6th floor to make sure there was a bed ready for me.
Next, I stopped at the security desk to get an ID for my sister. Then I headed down the hall to the outpatient lab. There, they do a uranalysis and take some blood. Then I waited for someone to come down from the 6th floor to escort me up.
Every time I've come to Methodist, I've had to wait in the conference room for a room to be available. Once they even took me back downstairs and put me in a spare room while I waited because it was taking so long (but that was the time I was admitted as an emergency, so it was a bit different). This time I was brought right to room 607. It was tiny, definitely the smallest I've been in, but it was in a quiet area (believe it or not, not all of the headache patient rooms are quiet. There are signs asking people to keep quiet, but not everyone on the floor is there for headaches, and some of them can get quite nosiy. Once I was across the hall from an older Italian couple who shouted at each other the whole time they were there).
The window in my room (you can't see it here, but I had a lovely view of a brick wall). The fan was brought from home because I get hot when I have a migraine
The other side of the room
A very short time later, someone (I think he was a fellow) came by to ask questions about my pain, current medications, and medical history. I also had to fill out a form listing my belongings (for security reasons). Then the nurse set up a video on the television about fall risks. This was new, but I'll admit, I didn't watch it.
Finally, it was time to go for my PICC line. The PICC line takes a bit of explaining, so that will have to wait for my next post. In the mean time, I'll just say I've been feeling much better since I got out of the hospital and I'm back to enjoying my summer. I hope all of you are too!
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