Contributed by Nasa.

Ok, last part.  This went longer then I thought it would.  When we last left off I had already been in the hospital for about 1 and half days and still hadn't been given a room even though I was on a course to be admitted.  I was placed in a dark room with about a dozen other beds full with people in what felt like the hospital basement.  It was referred to as a "holding area".  The previous night, I was told that I had Colitis.  An infection of my colon and some of my intestine caused by food poisoning of some sort. 

I awoke the next day starting to gain more strength, I felt like shit, but at least I wasn't dehydrated anymore.  I was quickly visited by a surgical team.  It was made up of an older doctor with a team of interns trailing him.  One of the two guys that diagnosed me last night was with him, reading back his notes.  They asked some questions, the head guy seemed to agree with last nights diagnosis.  I didn't really get to ask many questions, it was kind of fucked up.  He said he'd "check back later with more info" after there was some sort of descrpetency in the notes.  I noticed his badge said "Head of Surgery" on it.

I started freaking out after they left.  Why the fuck is the "Head of Surgery" visiting me?  Are they going to cut me open now?  It just didn't add up.  This shit kept me awake and nervous for about an hour.  Eventually someone settled me down and explained that the surgeons just keep abreast of situations like mine, just in case something happens where they need to get involved.  It'd be nice if they told the patient that. 

I started noticing that most of the people in my "ward" were coughing up a storm.  A few of them were elderly and mentioned having Pneumonia.  Great.  They put me, a dehydrated food poisoning victim in a room full of sickies all night.  Just what I need.

At this point I hear a guy starting to bug out.  He's on some "I don't want any of that, I just want to get the hell out of here now!  I want a doctor here so I can get signed out".  The doctor on the floor goes over to him and tries to explain the situation.  He ends up just pissing off the doctor.  I can hear the doctor talking about the dude when he got far enough away that dude couldn't hear him but I still could.  Pretty funny, he was on some "whatever, fuck this dude then" shit.  Pretty ill to hear a doctor on that vibe.  The guy probably should have just shut the fuck up and dealt with the situation.  It got me thinking to the night before when I was really ready to march out if i didn't get my Catscan.  That would have been a really stupid decision.  After being there that long I started to see all the cracks in the Health Care System.  The hospital was understaffed and under funded.  The reasons behind why that is don't have to be visited here, but it was clear that the system we have isn't working. 

Finally, I get a room at about Noon or so.  Put me in a quarantine room.  When the door opened it made a loud high pitched buzz so that people knew to "close the fucking door".  They also had a sink so people could wash their hands on the way in and out just outside my door.  They hadn't made the desicsion yet as to whether I was contagious (I wasn't).  That was certainly interesting.  The room looked like something out of the 1960's.  It did have a private bathroom and shower.  That shit helped a lot.

From that point on my stay was pretty normal.  It was either another day or two in that room, the doctor eventually freed me to leave.  I was on a liquid diet for the entire hospital stay except for a small turkey sandwich that I had about an hour before my dismissal.  That was the tastiest sandwich ever made.

I lost mad weight.  I was super weak for days after I was released.  Eventually I re-gained my strength, but to this moment I am extremely suspect of all food that I eat from outside now.  I work in mid-town Manhattan later at night and the food just isn't fresh and the people handling the food are the "B Team" at best.  That adds up to food poisoning.  These days all my food is from the Fresh Direct machine in my building, a slice of pizza downstairs or maybe a sandwich from Subway.

That's my first lesson in all this, watch what your eating.  It's not about snacks and all that, it's actually about the quality of your food.  After you see how delicate your organs can be, you start to really think about what your putting in your body.  Fast food is OUT.  I haven't had any fast food since.  Between dropping fast food and my quitting soda cold turkey I figure that's enough to make up for the chocolate and beer intake I have going on.

One thing that struck me was when my wife came in the room and said "Damn, you think they could put a coat of paint up in here".  At that moment I realized why they never do that shit.  They don't want you to be overly comfortable.  They need you to get the hell out so they can get the next person in, they also seemingly have no time to shit like that.  The hospital was a buzz everywhere I was.  Everyone that was good at their jobs was busy all the time.

Sitting there as long as I did, I had some pretty deep thoughts about the Health Care Debate, which was raging at the time I checked in.  Unfortunately, this took a lot longer to write then I thought.  So much more happened, I could write a book based on that 3 and half- 4 day stay.  I practically did.

Hopefully, this will help anybody that's a first time hospital patient.  At 31, this was my first time.  I wasn't surprised by that much since I've visited so many in hospitals, but a lot did take me off guard.  My advice is, be patient but also get your needs across to people.  It's a tough balance, but you'll get it eventually if you're there long enough.  It's not a hotel, don't expect too much, but don't allow anyone to be incompetent around you either.

peace and good health!