I am home from the hospital. It looks like I had to unrelated problems, but without one I would not have known about the other.
First I have an ulcer. The amount of Aleve I have been taking for my back pain irritated my ulcer enough to make it start bleeding heavily.
I lost so much blood so fast that I started going in to shock.
I had just enough presence of mind to call my wife, who thankfully works less than 5 minutes away (though if I was really thinking clearly I would have called an ambulance).
By the time she got me to the emergency room, I was, apparently, very disoriented and confused. Enough so that the doctors ordered an ammonia test on my blood. Then they asked my wife if I was an alcoholic or heavy drinker (me who has maybe six drinks in an entire year). Apparently my liver is not functioning properly. I have to go in a few days for a liver biopsy. Even without it though my doctor is convinced that I have NAFL (nonalcoholic fatty liver disease) and have had it long enough to cause scarring on my liver.
The good news is that everything is treatable by meds and a low fat diet.
The bad news, because of the ulcer, I am limited to one half cup of coffee or 4oz of coke per day
Anyway, I am back. I am still very weak and very tired. I would not even be at the computer except I had to be up anyway to call my GI doctor and my primary care doctor.
Do not worry though, I will be back with more designs soon!
