Your first hospital trip

[hyphenate]

Mine wasn't until I was 43. I managed to avert disaster in my life until then. Then it all started to go downhill from there.

[progmom]

1. I was 6

I spent a month.

I had some kind of weird egg-shaped growth in my thigh.

They still don't know what it was, but it eventually got smaller and went away.

[u4ic]

2. I was 4

and was in for surgery to remove my tonsils.

I don't remember much, except lots of jello and ice cream. :thumbsup:

[bertha katzenengel]

3. three months

open heart surgery, the first of four

I wish I could say I got it over with early. :rofl:

Hope you're okay now, Hyphenate. :)

[ikojo]

11. Ewww...I hope you are all healthy now.

Wow!

[bertha katzenengel]

13. I'm fine. My mom said I was the first infant in CA to have open-

heart surgery, but she's gone and I have no way to verify whether it's true. :shrug:

But I think it's possible. No idea how research it.

[ikojo]

16. I would think that would be relatively easy

to verify with a cardiologist or in a cardiology journal.

Google?

If you were the first, surely it would have been news at the time.

[hyphenate]

19. I'm still alive

I suppose that accounts for a good deal. ;)

[bertha katzenengel]

31. I'm glad you're here.

:)

[hyphenate]

40. Thanks

It's nice to feel wanted for a change. :)

[blondeatlast]

22. Wow, bk! I just had my seventh arterial stent placed and I was

feeling cheated as hell out of life.

Is it a defect or heart disease (which as an insulin dependent diabetic of almost 40 years, I already have)?

I've been whining like crazy lately--thanks for shutting me up from my family and friends!

[bertha katzenengel]

32. Aw, hell, Blonde, I don't believe in comparative misery.

I was born with an intraventricular septle defect - VSD - a hole in the septum between the two big ventricles. It took four surgeries because things kept going wrong, but I'm okay now. A slight murmur.

Don't take my experience as an indicator that YOU should suffer quietly. Be yourself.

:toast: to your good health! :pals:

[BlackVelvetElvis]

4. I was 22. Blood poisoning from a workplace accident.

I was hooked up to IV antibiotics for 3 days. My employer didn't have worker's comp. and didn't pay the bill. I got the bill instead and was told that I was responsible. I took the threatening letter from the hospital collection dept. to them and they tore it up. I never got another one.
The boss was a major piece of work. I quit soon afterward.

[Redstone]

5. I can't even begin to remember, there have been so many.

I broke something every three months or so as a kid.

And never learned as I got older, so the trend continued. Though it's been four years sonce the last one, and if I can keep lying to the knee doctor, I should be able to keep ducking the next operation for another year or so, I figure.

However: Mrs R, like you, never spent a night in a hospital until she was 43. But in her case, it was to deliver a kid, not because she was sick.

Hope things start working out better for you.

By the way, I'm an advocate of tobacco use in general, but when you start putting up the kind of blood-pressure numbers you quoted, it's time ot lay off the Marlboros, my friend.

Redstone

[grannylib]

6. About 2...ate some tranquilizers and some nitroglycerin from Granny's

purse. Don't remember having my stomach pumped but I DO remember my dad's face, hovering over mine, as they wheeled me on the gurney down the hall.
Damn, I miss my Dad...

[Lannes]

7. 7 gettting my adnoids out

The anesthetic was a real trip.

[GOPisEvil]

8. I hit my forehead on a wall radiator when I was 2. 9 stitches.

I still have the scar 35 years later.

[Tsiyu]

9. I was four

One of my brother's friends thought it would be just swell to slam a big metal Tonka dump truck into my forehead. I vaguely remember lots of red when I opened my eyes so I just shut them and kept passing out.

When I finally came to, I remember having a white sheet over my eyes and hearing nurses all around and my mother's voice but not being freaked because at least whatever was over my eyes wasn't red. I immediately asked for a tuna fish sandwich.

Weird, to go that far back........

[ikojo]

10. Inpatient or outpatient?

Inpatient I was 20 when my appendix ruptured...I was in the hospital for a week.

Outpatient...I was nine. I cut the inner part of my thigh on some springs on an old couch and required stitches. That hurt. My mom did not take me back to the doctor to have the stitches removed, instead she let one of her hippie friends remove them. I wonder if it would not have scarred as badly had she taken me to the doctor?

[Zuni]

12. when I had meningitis

I was like 20 or 21

[Spacemom]

14. I was 8

My dad was pulling in to the parking lot of the apartments where we lived. I got the crazy notion that I was wonder woman and ran and launched myself at the hood of the car. He slammed on the brakes, and I went flip flopping through the air and smashed my head in to the concrete. My parents didn't know what to do when I immediately started throwing up and wanting to sleep. They took me upstairs and PUT ME TO BED. They let me sleep a couple of hours and my mom got worried enough to call my pediatrician. He told them to immediately take me to the ER. I had a major concussion and spent a week in the hospital.

[Dukkha]

15. When I was born

:rofl:

[obxhead]

17. Polyinodial Cyst @ 20

(think that spelling is right)
went back for a second 3 years later because my first doctor did a surgery that was 20 years out of date.
I will never see another doctor that is older than 40.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

18. When I was born...

and seriously, I nearly died. I was born prematurely and was incredibly ill as a baby and had a number of surgeries right after I was born such as slicing my tongue (I was tongue tied), and cutting the roof of my mouth to clear my nose. They also cut my feet to get blood samples.

I was also born deaf as well.

Blah... I'm 24 and doing well!

[Left Is Write]

20. Age 20, when I gave birth to my first child.

[MrsMatt]

21. I was 34

and eight months pregnant with my first child - I came down with chicken pox and was stuck in a room FAR from the birth ward with big yellow CAUTION and CONTAGIOUS signs on my door.

[Robeson]

23. I was 20 years old, and it was a spinal fusion.....

...yeah, it was real fun.

[hyphenate]

24. It was 6 years ago, anyhow.

Angina, and subsequent (3 and 9 months later) heart attacks. Three angioplasties in one year. Been symptom free since then. Though what was scary is that the doctors and nurses kept telling me I was having a panic attack and were administering for that, NOT for a heart problem. It took a long time before I was taken seriously.

[blondeatlast]

25. Age 7, diabetic coma, blood glucose of almost 1000.

Yep, you read that glucose right--ONE THOUSAND.

The doctors refused to take credit for my recovery--seriously. They thought I was a goner for sure, and couldn't explain how I recovered (this was in the mid '60s).

[hyphenate]

27. Yikes

I gather that you are a member of the Diabetes I category. Mine's been up to the 500s, but it came down quickly once I insulin. Diabetes II here, though.

[Ladyhawk]

26. I was hospitalized at two weeks old for pneumonia. n/t

[CaliforniaPeggy]

28. My first hospital trip that I recall was when I was 21 years old

and a newlywed. I had miscarried my first pregnancy, which had lasted 9 weeks. But I still was bleeding quite a lot, so we went to the ER, my MD was called, and I had a D&C in the wee hours of the morning. My MD told me later that I'd come THIS CLOSE to needing a transfusion...

6 weeks later, I was pregnant with my oldest daughter!

:hi:

[sakabatou]

29. When I was 6

I was taken in beause I couldn't move my limbs fter being struck in the back.

[enigmatic]

30. I think I was 3

I was in for dehydration or something like that. I've been in a few times since then, mostly for sports and work injuries..

[all.of.me]

33. i was born in a hospital!

lol

i broke my ankle when i was 13, then i had a caesarean birth at 36. maybe in between i had an asthma attack or two. my memory is starting to fail me.

[SCDem]

34. i was 8 and it was pretty major

I was 8 and in a car accident. We we're coming home from a vacation so not real close to a hospital. I was asleep in the car, another car hit us (the guy was asleep at the wheel), I was knocked unconcious and in a coma for two weeks. I had to be helicoptered to the closest major hospital. And from there I was in the hospital alot.

For the last decade not too many emergencies! I guess there is an advantage to having your life's worth of emergencies in the early part of your life!

[eyesroll]

35. When I was born, I stayed an extra couple of days due to jaundice.

Beyond that, I've never been an inpatient.

First ER trip was around age 13 or 14 for a hand injury.

[tenshi816]

36. Age 2 for a tonsillectomy, next at 5

when I ran into a rusted metal fencepost while running (playing "tag", looking over my shoulder to see who was behind me and not turning around until too late - 5 stitches parallel to my eyebrow, and still have the scar).

If you had asked for my most recent hospital trips, it would be for 3 broken ribs after being thrown from a horse last October, followed in December by a broken ankle.

[Trigger Hippie]

37. When I was born,

then when I was about 8 to get my tonsils and adenoids out. About the same time, I was crossing the street at a friend's house and was hit by a car. (Yeah, not the swiftest child on record.) I had a bump on the head and a couple scraps. Not bad for landing on the hood of the car and ending up on the other side of the road. Now, when I tell that story, I say that's how my brains got scrambled and why I'm so "special" today. :silly:

[Bridget Burke]

38. None for myself so far.

Although I've spent many hours in hospitals with family.

Broke my fibula a few years ago. They splinted it & gave me a giant Motrin. Then gave me a quick lesson on how to use crutches & called me a cab. Also told me I should make an appointment with an orthopedist...

[Shell Beau]

39. I was 4.

My grandfather lived with us at the time and he left his medicine in a easy place for me to reach it. I got to it; the pills looked like Red Hots, so I ate the entire bottle. I realized too soon that they were NOT Red Hots and told my mom how yucky they tasted. I was rushed to the hospital for a stomach pumping. Which I remember fairly vividly. I guess not vividly enough. The next year, I was sick. My mom gave me some cough syrup that helps you sleep. It tasted good. I watched where she put it, and when she left the room, I climbed up the counters and got into the medicine cabinet and proceeded to drink the whole bottle (so much for child safety caps). Back to the hospital I go. This time I almost drowned during the stomach pumping. My father and I were in the room while the doctors left briefly and my dad noticed something wasn't right. He rushed to get the doctors just in time. Whew!!! I hope my kids don't give me as much trouble as I gave my parents. Medicine was locked up from then on out. I did manage to get to some Pepto one time and drank a good deal of it. Luckily my mom didn't find out about that one!

[supernova]

41. I was 5

In 1967, I had open heart surgery to correct a Ventricular Septal Defect, like Bertha.

I remember quite a lot about it. I remember them testing sutures before the surgery on my underarm. I remember the long drive to the hospital. (Not really long, it's only about 5 miles, but it seemed long that day.) I remember wearing a warm, slightly wet spongey ring around my chest the day before the surgery. I remember waking up in the OR shivering and getting a really warm, toasty blanket. Hmmmm.

I remember crying all night because my mom had come back to bring me a stuffed toy I wanted (I could hear them in the hall) but didn't come in to see me. She later told me that the nurse assured her I was asleep. Yeah. Right. I told her no one had seen me to see if that was true.