ER Plus Updates - October 30, 2010

Pete's father picked him up this morning for his final day of hydration. I sent a text to Pete around 11 and about a half hour later I got this message back from him: "Very low pulse rate - 40s. Gonna hook me up to ekg, might get lasix b/c of fluid retention. I'll know more later."

The next message came shortly after noon: "Sending me to er b/c of h r. Precautionary. Phone batt dying, gonna keep comm to min, just what is necessary. feel ok, other than tummy."

I then texted his father who replied: "my battery is low too" and then around 1:30: "at beth israel mc 16th st 1 ave. pete's heart rate low everything else seems ok. no treatment yet just monitoring in the ER. battery low. I'll keep in touch."

It's now almost 3. I texted a short time ago asking if they'd heard anything from Dr R or A, and if the plan is to keep him overnight. No word yet. It's hard not to jump in the car and drive up there, but I'll wait and hopefully hear more soon.

4 PM Update: I called Beth Israel ER.  After explaining the situation and spelling his name several times, the conversation went something like this: Nobody by that name here. Are you sure? I know that he was transported from the Beth Israel Cancer Center around noon. Oh. Then he was probably discharged. Are you sure? Could you check? Maybe he was admitted? Oh. Yeah, maybe he was admitted. Could you check? Can you connect me to a main number? Or maybe you could give me the main number I so can call. No. No!?!? Do you have a main number that I can call? What do you mean? (Very slowly now, trying to control my temper; taking a few deep breaths.) Can you please tell me the main telephone number for the hospital so I can call it and try to locate my son? No. Ok. Thank you. Click.

Google Beth Israel and find the telephone number. I call and explain that I'm trying to locate my son who was taken to the ER and that I just spoke to the ER person and they told me he was admitted. Nobody here by that name. Maybe he's still in the emergency room. (Hello? Is anybody home? Didn't I just finish telling you that the person in the ER said that he's not there?) The person in the ER told me that my son was admitted. Why don't you call the ER? (This is going nowhere but in circles.) Ok. Thank you. Click.

I call the ER again. Tell the story again; spell the name again. B as in "boy"... Could you wait? (Music immediately starts playing...) I picked up my cell and texted Pete's father: "Where is he? calling hsp and they can't find him."

A few minutes later, Pete texts me: "Admitting me for overnight. wish i had better chrg on phone, will call you when I get 2 my room. Feel Fine." (I'm still on hold with the music sweetly playing, but at this point I'm not exactly sure why, so...) Click.

7 PM Update: Pete called a little while ago. He's still not assigned to a room and was told that he might not get one for another 5-6 hours. He said his father is probably going to stay up there tonight and mentioned something about "camping out". His heart rate is still quite low but is higher than it was earlier when it had gone down into the 30's. The normal resting heart rate (pulse) for an adult is 60-100 bpm; for well condtioned athletes it is 40-60 bpm. Because his is abnormally low, they're keeping him overnight for observation. He told me that he'll be turning off his phone to conserve the battery.