Where to begin about our trip to Barcelona and Madrid? Maybe
at the end… which came a few days before we planned.
Larry is fine now, but spending 12 hours in a hospital in
Spain was not on the original itinerary. I won’t bore anyone who reads this with too many details, but after several nights of no sleep, dehydration, loss of appetite, Larry/Dad/Gpappy
decided he had to get checked out by a doctor. In this case, at an urgent care
facility in a hospital in Madrid.
Diagnosis was hyponatremia, or abnormally low
sodium in the blood. It can lead to all sorts of problems, but we didn’t know that, so after a
slow (8 hour) IV infusion that only brought up the sodium level a few points leaving it still well below normal, we asked for Larry to be discharged rather
than to be admitted to the hospital for more tests, figuring we could do that
at home. Well, home was several days off yet, so we made arrangements to return
to the U.S. the next day. A non-emergency trip to the emergency room for
follow-up when we got back showed that
the sodium level much better, and is approaching normal again. Instructions are to
increase salt intake slightly (Larry has never been told that before!), keep
fluid intake lower than normal, and see his doctor on Monday. Huge relief for
us that it didn’t get more serious and that we made it home without Larry
getting sicker.
I'll leave out the details of being in a hospital where it's hard to communicate because of language differences, following up with the hospital business office via fax, explaining to BCBS that, yes, the discharge information is in Spanish and billing details will be as well, etc. However, we had a unique experience on this trip that no one else in our group had. While they were having tapas and watching a flamenco performance, we were getting medical assistance in a Madrid hospital! It's a story to tell.
Now that the bad part is out of the way, we are beginning to get over jet lag and the stress is slowly disappearing.
Despite the difficulties at the end of the trip, Larry we really did have a wonderful time. We loved Barcelona (especially), and there are lots of good stories to tell about it. I’ll post something more cheerful tomorrow and the next day!
P.S. Annie suggested this:
P.S. Annie suggested this:
Plenty of sodium now!
