Regular readers of communicatrix-dot-com know that roughly four years ago, I spent one delightful summer sliding into a severe onset of Crohn's disease: colossal weight loss, fever, diarrhea. (I know, I know, sexy!!!)

It's a long story, but the short of it is I was sick, brother: 11 days in the hospital followed by four months of bed rest to get to anything remotely resembling my pre-Crohn's-onset life.

Today, I was in the hospital for the first time since getting ill. I'm not sick this time; I was visiting a friend who is. Several things struck me about the visit, though, probably in large part because of the parallel experience I had four years ago on the other side of the bed:

1. Our current health system blows gigantic, acrid chunks

I know this isn't coming as a huge surprise, but for people lucky enough to stay healthy or even well-insured, it's easy to downplay or forget. My friend can't afford coverage, and had to wait until he was ungodly ill at both ends (severe respiratory illness and something like what I have, neither of which has been diagnosed yet) until he could be admitted.

I had great coverage and still had to wait 6 hours in the ER because so many people without coverage are admitted via the ER. (My fever was only 102.2ºF when I showed up; they told me I should have come before, when it was 104.4ºF. Yeah, and the night staff was on duty, and I was delirious with no advocate to accompany me. No, thanks: I'd like to keep my colon.)

I don't know what to do about any of this. I'll be interested to read Dave Pollard's chronicle as he goes through much of what I had to, since he's pretty smart and pretty Canadian. But our health care system? For all but a very, very few? Sucks.

2. If you're not feeling sick, a few days in the hospital will cure you of that

No rest. Horrible food. Except for the maternity ward, a dismal environment.

The staff at Cedars, where I was incarcerated, was great. They still couldn't do anything but stabilize me. (Believe me, I was and remain grateful for that.) Even my doctor, the sainted Graham Woolf, told me I might as well try going home to see what happened, since a lot of people get better once they leave the hospital.

3. If you're wondering what to bring, start with toilet paper

When you're pooping 36x/day, hospital tissue feels like 3M's finest 40 grit. Even relatively well butts are attached to sick bodies, so any bit of comfort helps.

Ear plugs are also hugely helpful, as is edible food (provided it's cool with the doc). If you bring a book, make sure it's light reading, both in terms of subject matter and weight. A TV Guide is really, really nice (you watch a lot of TV), as is lip balm (you breathe a lot of dry air).

And flowers are lovely, but if you're bringing them, don't forget the vase.

4. Stay well

The most obvious, but the easiest to forget. Be a fierce advocate for your own health before anything happens. Get your annuals, even if you have to pay out of pocket. It's more important than any phones/lights/motorcars/single luxuries. If you're just scraping by, I don't know what to tell you. Hit the clinic, hit up your parents, hit a bank (kidding...kidding...). Eat right. Move your ass a little. Don't take stupid risks behind the wheel or anywhere else.

Take it from me: the only trips you want to make to the hospital are as a visitor. And even then, only when necessary...

xxx c

Photo by katastrophik via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license

TAGS: Crohn's disease, SCD, Specific Carbohydrate Diet, IBD, inflammatory bowel disease, hospitals, medical-industrial complex, Big Pharma, patient advocacy