Emergency Hospitalization
While I was at work, I got a LINE message from my husband.
"I've been admitted to the hospital."
When I asked if he could talk on the phone, he replied, "I can."
I got permission from my colleague, left my post, and pressed the call button, but a man's voice I didn't recognize answered. It was the doctor.
Here is what he told me over the speakerphone:
It was an intestinal obstruction.
His condition is dangerous if he doesn't have surgery, but it's also dangerous if he does.
Or rather, we cannot perform surgery.
Likely due to his underlying condition, his platelet count is low.
We will perform a platelet transfusion, but we don't have a rheumatology department here, so we cannot handle this fully.
We will make arrangements to transfer him to the hospital he has been attending.
Your husband is being moved to the ward now.
Intestinal obstruction!? Not his stomach!? Huh???
What do you mean his platelet count is low?
Wait, like the little girl? Platelet-chan?
They're low? Why? Huh?
A transfusion? Just platelets? Is that even possible??
I managed to act like an adult without interrupting with those questions, so good for me.
I wasn't very surprised by the hospitalization itself.
I had a feeling it might happen, and if anything, I felt relieved from the bottom of my heart.
I got permission to leave work, went home once, stuffed towels, underwear, and pajamas into a bag, and headed to the hospital.
My husband, connected to various tubes on a bed in the treatment room, looked so helpless, and I think I probably made a terrible face.
But at least he was in the hospital, so he was safe.
They would be able to force him to eat. They had IV drips, too.
I wouldn't have to fight with him anymore, saying, "Just eat something!"
Back then, I didn't have the slightest idea that things would turn out like this.
He'd transfer hospitals, have surgery, and it would be over.
It would be hectic for a while, but I was sure it would end soon.
I just thought, "I'll do my best until then!"
But that was how my husband's long battle and my own tumultuous days began.