One of the worst hospitalizations Mike and I experienced was at Riverside. That hospitalization was the first time Mike had experienced an attending physician wanting him to die. That is a true statement, she put a lot of effort into fighting us for treatment. She even lied to me about his lab results during her consultation where she told me that I needed to just let him go, that there was nothing further they could do. What she didn't know was that I had drawn blood cultures and other diagnostic labs the day he ended up being admitted. I knew the results independent of that hospital. She didn't know they had ever been drawn and she certainly didn't know that I memorized what they were. The director of the hospital and the attending physician who was also the director of the ICU not only refused him antibiotics but when I argued his case for treatment to the ethics board, they kicked me out. It is the first time that I had ever seen Mike lose his cool and composure to medical staff in front of me. The director was accusing me of video and photographing things, which I was. But it was with Mike's permission. I offered her my cell phone to let them see what I had captured so they could see for themselves that it was only things regarding Mike. As a side note, we did that often. Especially when Mike was so sick that he was unaware of things, I would capture his vitals and color of urine and IV lines by picture and email them to him so that he could always know what was going on. The director claimed that it was illegal.... it isn't. Mike argued with her as he usually does, with great diplomacy and tact, for as long as he could. But their attacks against me became more personal talking about my tone and demeanor.... I still remember Mike's face as he typed out... You are mistaken, she has not said or done anything in response to your personal attacks against her during this entire encounter. (which is true, btw.... she stood nose to nose with me insulting me and I didn't say one freakin word) He NEVER speaks out like that in defense of me. The only time I spoke was when she told him .... Mr. Vollmer, it is easy to see that you used to be a very effective lawyer and that you at one time were a very smart man..... I spoke up, I had to.... I said, No need to speak of him in past tense, you haven't killed him yet and he is still a hell of a lot smarter than you've realized. After Mike realized that they were not reasonable he typed just one more word.... BULLSHIT. He had that computer say that one word in response to anything else they said to us. I've never seen him do that. Mike's adrenaline is what was keeping him alive. They took him off his pain pills unless he asked for them but then he had no way to ask for them. They took him off all antibiotics claiming that it was a wasted effort. His vital signs were showing a worsening of his condition. I met with the ethics board representative and effectively argued for his right to treatment. The attending spent the rest of his entire hospital stay discontinuing his medication every morning at rounds. I spent the rest of his entire hospital stay contacting the attending for the Infectious Disease doctors to get them added back on.
The kicked me out for just the one day. Mike wrote them a letter..... basically telling them that he is entitled to his advocate and medical poa and that if they did not let me resume my visits then he would seek counsel.
Mike fought hard to get better and come home. We couldn't transfer to another hospital because medicaid law wouldn't cover the visit. Something about they only transfer if the current hospital is unable to provided the needed care... not if they are withholding. We couldn't just go home, that would have been AMA (against medical advice) and the entire stay wouldn't be paid for..... that and he would have probably died before we could get him admitted anywhere else. We were stuck there and he knew it. Once he had me back by his side he asked me to not say another word to anyone and he promised to get better. It was a deal I almost kept. They had transferred him out of ICU but the discharge planner had been trying to get in touch with me to send him home.... I also knew that his lab work showed that he needed a blood transfusion and I was working on getting that done (that was thanks to a very nice nurse calling me). I told Mike that I needed him to let me out of our agreement or he would die. He agreed.
Once we were home Mike was more depressed than I had ever seen him. The day he didn't have me by his side was torture for him. He had no access to a call light, no access to communication of any kind. He was totally at the mercy of people who had shown him that they didn't value his life.
So I bought a puppy.
Adam and I researched different breeds of dogs and settled on a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Mike approved of the breed. Adam found a home not 10 miles from us who had a litter for sale. Adam drove over and picked out the dog and I met him there with the cash. We didn't have a crate or food or anything. But we had a dog. One of the things Mike and I enjoyed together was books. Early on we had discovered that we both liked Orson Scott Card as an author so Mike messaged me a suggestion for a name..... Ender. Based on the main character in the Ender's Game. Of course, no one understood his name when I would say it.... my brother thought we had said Bender. lol
I had never had a puppy before. Mike was so excited.... he knew I was clueless so he set about educating me (that's his way of showing love). I would get emails for links to books he had bought for me to read. We watched training videos together. I have to say, I didn't do too bad. Ender did exactly what I needed him to.... he loved Mike and Mike loved him. Mike's profile picture on Facebook had never been changed to one of Mike and I, but it was quickly changed to him and Ender. LOL
I'll talk more about Ender another time, but this is the backstory to how Mike ended up with who he called..... My Canine Companion.
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