Two Ricci Women, Two Hospitals

Over the past three weeks, I have spent more time in hospitals than ever before in my life. Three weeks ago, Nonni, whom you've read about before, was admitted to the hospital for a heart attack (a fact which she vehemently denies). Of course, her faithful sons, daughter-in-law, and granddaughters have visited almost every day. The visits have ranged from fearful and sad (it wasn't looking good in the beginning) to happy and nostalgic, and, now that she's back to her normal self, to frustrating and blood-pressure-elevating. I'm the only one in the family who speaks Italian, so of course it fell to me to call her sister in Italy with whom she speaks every day. Let's just say this part has been a nightmare. I don't speak Italian very well anymore and it's hard for me to understand her. I tell her to slow down and she speaks even faster. Over the past three weeks though, it's gotten easier to communicate with her and understand her. But she now calls me every day. I don't answer my phone when she calls because it'll charge me (I use a calling card to call her), so she leaves confused messages on my voicemail. My voicemail message is in English, naturally, so she doesn't understand it, doesn't realize it's my voice. I listened to her messages and wound up in tears, laughing hysterically. I heard, "Amy Ricci. AMY RICCI." She apparently thought my voicemail was an operator and was trying to get put through to me. I hadn't listened to her messages for a few days. I'd just call her instead, so when I listened, it all finally made sense. She had previously spoken of "la donna", the woman, whom she called. I just assumed I wasn't understanding her properly. "La donna" is me on my voicemail. I've just let it go. It's no use explaining a cell phone or voicemail to an 88-year old Italian woman.

All that aside, Nonni is doing much better. She's back to normal, back to fighting with nurses, doctors, and us. She believes one of her nurses is too nosy and is most likely trying to deport her (she merely asked where Nonni was from). She freaked out when a male nurse tried to help her and yelled at the female nurses for "just standing around laughing, doing nothing" (because men should never do work, ever). And now she's been kicked out of the hospital because she won't do the training they're asking her to do. That's right. KICKED OUT. I still can't believe she lasted as long as she did. Those poor nurses. I give them a lot of credit for dealing with her.

Now for my story. On Monday, I was visiting Nonni when out of nowhere my right arm swelled up like a balloon from shoulder to fingertips. Because my insurance doesn't kick in from my new job until September and because COBRA was too expensive, for this one month out of my entire life, I have no insurance. So, I decided to wait and see if it would remedy itself. Of course, and I'm almost positive, BECAUSE I have no insurance, it didn't. I went to the doctor on Wednesday and they ordered an ultrasound on my arm. Instantly, they found three blood clots, one in a deep vein, and two in superficial veins. The doctors are stumped. I'm a medical marvel apparently. Great. I was immediately sent to the ER where I was admitted to the hospital and placed on blood thinners. I felt so horrible for the doctors and nurses. It was just too much for me all at once. The thought of the cost without health insurance, the fear of the clots, and to top it all, spending my long-awaited beach vacation in the hospital, was just too much. I lost it. In my defense, I was also PMSing, so that didn't help. I couldn't stop crying and the poor nurses were tip-toeing around me the entire day until I could finally compose myself.

So, for the past three days, I've been in the hospital. Missing vacation sucks (I'm not even thinking about the money anymore), but the hospital hasn't been all that bad. Even though my left hand now resembles a pincushion, I've been stuck more than a dozen times in my stomach, arm, and hand, and I've been confined to one floor of a hospital in the middle of Trenton, it could've been worse. The hospital staff (I'm at Mercer Medical Center in Trenton) has been wonderful. From the check-in staff, to all of the nurses, orderlies, and doctors. They have been so nice and accommodating. If you ever have to stay in a hospital, come here. Of course, while everyone's been great, I can't wait to get out of here and hopefully never see any of them again. I'm hoping to go home today. I finally have internet so I'm blogging from my (comfy!) hospital bed. I'll be on blood thinners for the next 6 months which means no drinking, no falling, and no getting cut. Sounds like fun right? I find out this week what caused a healthy, 26-year old non-smoker to develop blood clots. The best-case scenario? My birth control pills. The worst? A genetic mutation. For now, I'm just hoping to get out of here today and head down to the beach to salvage what's left of my vacation at the shore. Blood clots be damned.

PS - Nonni thinks I've been stuck at work this whole time. No doubt she's angry with me for not visiting her, but telling her the truth would result in her making my father's life a living Hell until I'm out. So we're keeping this one from her. Shh.