Family, Beef and Vespas

I'll get to the picture in a moment... for now I'd like to update you on life events.
First off Hub is scheduled for surgery for April 1st -- they are going to remove the gall bladder and take a liver biopsy to make sure that there is nothing underlying going on, since his appendix just quit on him, and his bilirubin levels have been high since before that happened. He's got to be on a low fat, low spice diet till that happens, and he is not too happy about it, although I think it really hasn't affected his diet as much as he thinks it has. Whew.
My Big Sister is here!!!! YAY! She's on her spring break and so decided to load up her Beagle and visit :) Which is really nice because she's coming back down this way next week for our little sisters Army boot camp graduation! Oh, Sisters. How you enrich my life. Anyway, she's here till Saturdayish, and we're going to go out tomorrow night and have sisterly fun. I'm also making corned beef at her request (she called me the other day to ask if you could make corned shrimp -- I guess you could), which the Hub can't eat because of that whole low fat diet thing. I decided to just be irish about it and make cabbage and mashed potatoes as well -- so I'm looking forward to all that.

Ok. The Vespa. I don't know a lot about them, really, other than they are awesome and get kickin' gas mileage, but I've decided I want one. For real. I doubt this will happen anytime in the near future, but I know I want one that can go at least 60, and other than that I don't know enough to have requirements. I like the paint job on this one (it was a special edition Gap/Vespa collaboration for the holidays) and would generally like to find a quirky looking one.

I don't care what you say, I think they are awesome.

Rant.

Whoa! Sorry for the brief disappearance... I was out of town for the weekend, and then everything exploded, which is often a hindrance to blog writing.

I don't even know where to start, but I guess I'll tell you about the enjoyable part of my weekend first...

Hub and I ended up going to Atlanta (I say Atlanta, but it's actually a suburb, Woodstock) for the weekend. We left with the pug Saturday morning to hang out with some friends. Did the usual, awesome, relaxing and entertaining things while there. Got CiCi's. Sat and talked for hours with Mimo and Bob. The boys came over and we played balderdash.

Sunday morning we went to J. Christopher's for brunch, and as always it was delicious. Afterwords we played a card game called squidge, that I am TERRIBLE at, but that is lots of fun. Okay, I realize all of this seems mundane, and while it might be, it was exceptionally fantastic for me. I love these people a whole lot, and it always makes my life better to see them. Besides, the next part is so far from mundane, I needed the comparison.

The Hub and I decide the head out around 3:30, after visiting the boys place, and this exit time should have put us home around 7. We did not, in fact, arrive home until almost 5:30 the next morning. The events are as follows:

- Stop to get food, I am hungry.
- Oh, Sonic, how we have a love/hate relationship with you
- Hub orders Bacon Cheeseburger, I order French Toast sticks
- 20 min later, Hub has "indegestion"
- 10 minutes later I am running into a waffle house off 85 asking for the nearest hosptial, because Hub is on knees in pain in back seat of car
- 15 min. later arrive at the worst hospital in the history of hospitals
- Hub is actually taken to a room fairly quickly.
- 3 hours later, Hub gets pain medicine. At this point NO ONE has introduced themselves, washed hands or been pleasant in any way.
- 1 hour later, blood work is done.
- 2 hours after that, Hub finally gets ultrasound of gallbladder and kidneys. Still, no introductions, no one has informed us of anything (ie, bloodwork results) and my call bell ringing has been ignored.
- We are informed it would be about 45 minutes for the results of the ultrasounds.
- 2 hours later, we are moved to another room because they are shutting down the wing. Still no ultrasound results.
- 1 hour later, we are informed that Hub does in fact have gall stones. And that we can go home.
-2 1/2 hours of a rainy/foggy/exhausted drive later, come home and collapse.

REALLY PEOPLE?! 9 freaking hours for bloodwork and an ultrasound?! It's fine if we had to wait. I understand that Hub was not dying or anything. However, the HIPAA and Joint Commission violations that I observed while there were completely unacceptable and the fact that NO ONE was pleasant the entire time we were there is just ridiculous. Hub had his appendix out only 4 months ago, and we spent about 7 hours in the ER before finally figuring out what was going on, and that was totally fine, because everyone was pleasant. I didn't feel angry or irritated. People apologized for the delays, and generally tried to make sure that Hub was comfortable, and even went so far as to extend that hospitality to me. I am appalled that this place is not only up and running, but they are actually Joint Commission certified. Me and my pissy self are working on a letter to send the hosptial administrator, as well as Joint Commission.
Take that, assholes.

Alright, long rant, but I am STILL thouroughly traumatized by the experience, and am only thankful there wasn't something more wrong with Hub. He is meeting with a surgeon this morning, and will most likely be having his gall bladder out within the next few weeks.

OY.