08.11.08
The Hospital – Part 2 – The Circus Has Come to Town
We left of Part 1 with Nurse Ratchet doing what she thought was proper I suppose, but after I stepped in, well let’s just say I didn’t see her for the rest of the night! Ok, so I don’t have to worry about Nurse Ratchet any longer, what else could possibly happen…Well, the circus just so happened to come to town that night.
Let me tell you what we are dealing with regarding this Hospital. This Hospital is highly regarded by..well, someone I guess. They have won lots of awards and claim to be on the Forbes list of best places to work and they have also turned this hospital into “Medical University”. Which I am guessing translates into “Campus hospital that pays low wages to young inexperienced interns that are trusted with our loved ones”.
It is around 11 pm now and an older nurse in blue scrubs (we will call her Hazel – she looked like a Hazel) comes in and shows me where the ‘call Nurse’ button is on the TV remote. There is also one on the bed frame but she told me it didn’t work. I suppose it really sucks for the patient in bed, by themselves, drugged up needing to call the nurse but can’t find the remote!! Man, that has GOT to SUCK !!
1130 pm and he still is not hooked up to any equipment yet to disperse pain meds, IV, etc. The equipment never made it to the floor, so it was MIA in the hospital somewhere.
1155 pm – Finally hooked up with an IV – Remember he has not eaten in 28 hours now. Still no pain meds because the pharmacy didn’t want to give the nurse what she wanted. Not really sure what was going on with this but they finally came to an agreement around 1215 am and pain meds arrived.
Shortly after this another young inexperienced nurse type of person comes in to change the cath. bag. She stated that she didn’t know how to do this so she got some help (hey, at least she asked). She then proceeds to rinse the pee container in the hand sink – the same sink that drinking water is expected to be gotten from. Call me crazy again, but I am not too certain that the drinking water sink should be used as a urine rinsing sink. For that matter, what was the cup of red liquid (maybe blood, maybe the kool-aid man was in without my knowledge) that was in the garbage can in the restroom. And while we are on the bathroom, doesn’t the sink look very similar to the sinks that are used in prisons??
It is now around 1230 am, our wonderful patient is sleeping peacefully and I am writing like a mad person all of my notes.
Tomorrow is another day I tell myself, it can’t get worse. I wash my face with the cheapest washcloth that has ever been known to man that they have in the hospital and curl up with a paper covered pillow – THIS PLACE REALLY SUCKS!
End of Part 2
08.10.08
The Hospital – Part 1 – Savannah GA
Here we go…
One of my loved ones was scheduled for back surgery on Friday. He was scheduled for 930 am surgery, that then got put off until 1030 am, he arrived at the proper time and proceeded to wait in the waiting lobby for 6 hours before being pulled in the waiting room for surgery, which then he waited another hour for the surgery to begin. I am sure he was very hungry at this point being that he had not eaten since 8 pm the previous day. The doctor finally finished the surgery and came to talk with us at around 930 pm and he made it into a room at 1030 pm…well, there were no rooms available on the floor that he should have been on so they prepared a room in the Outpatient Observation unit (the 23 hour unit they call it).
Now granted, I am not a doctor or nurse or anything like that, but I am guessing the “Outpatient Observation” unit translates into is “Get the patient on his feet and out the door as soon as possible, at any cost” unit!!
So, here he is…in the “Move your ass” unit (from this point forward we will refer to this unit as the MYA unit!!) at 1030 pm, very drugged up from just coming from back surgery. He starts complaining about his stomach and feels like he needs to take a poo. Nurse ratchet in the Pink scrub tells him that if he needs to go poo then he needs to get out of bed and make it to the bathroom (which is about 7 nice big steps beyond the bed).
Now call me crazy, and some of you will. But if someone just came out of back surgery one hour ago – Real surgery that requires the surgeon to cut him open and have previous screws and pins removed from a couple of vertibrae that were then replaced with springs…oh yeah, and they found another vertebrae that was cracked or something so that was fixed or removed also….
Now I would think…that standing… and walking THAT close in time from the surgery MIGHT not be a very good idea.
And I would also think … that Nurse Ratchet COULD have been a little more compassionate while she was holding her hand up so he could PULL himself up while with slurred speach complaining of the pain of pulling up like that.
After I untangled him from his tubes that were wrapped around the bed (which she didn’t notice) he finally made it to his feet with very little assistance from Nurse Ratchet. Now we are talking about a big guy – over six feet and about 285 – drugged from the back surgery he just had, in pain and leaning and wobbling with Nurse Ratchet not knowing what in the hell she was doing. If he would have fallen….well, at least we would not have had to worry about that nurse anymore!(see, told you I always see the positive in a negative situation!!) Now, let me also let you know, there was a portable toliet that COULD have rolled to the bed, but I suppose THAT would have required a brain inside of Nurse Ratchet wing-scaped head and in her eyes he needed to get his ass moving so he can get the hell out of the MYA unit!
Just a little about me, so you know what you are dealing with in this blog..
I am not a violent person, in fact it takes a lot to get me angry. I have never been in a ‘fist’ fight or ‘cat’ fight. I am one of the most positive thinkers that I have ever known. I smile all of the time and always see and make the best out of any and all situations. I have a heart of gold and will do anything to help others before I help myself.
Ok, back to my story…
I (literaly) was ready to bitch slap this lady. I could feel the adreniln in my system surge through me like a bolt of electricity. I HAD to step in and say something, I COULD NOT watch what was happening. He was helpless and she was heartless – NOT a good combination!
They did not have anyone else on the floor that could be of assistance (does anyone really work at the hospital anymore – that will be another post). He finally sat back down and had to vomit from the drugs. His stomach settled and he fell asleep.
Needless to say I stayed in the hospital from this point forward and wrote down what was going on. I had another friend that went in this same hospital for a routine hernia surgery and almost died because one of the nurses accidently had his feeding tube going into his lungs, therefore filling them up with fluid and landing him in intensive care.
~end of Part 1, The Hospital
Coming soon: The Hospital, Part 2 – Has the Circus come to town!!!
Hospitals! What has happened to them!
I have been very lucky in my life not to have spent much time in hospitals, either visiting or being admitted – VERY lucky it turns out.
Just recently a friend went in for back surgery and I was with him during his hospital stay and what I witnessed was shocking to me. The lack of compassion, kindness, caring and general lack of knowledge from professionals that make their careers of handling the lives of our loved ones.
I started taking notes after a few of the mishaps because I could see a trend of possible disaster starting to form and I wanted to be prepared. That is what has led me to start this blog.
I do have to get my notes together and my head straight as to what I will be writing about, but check back later and I will give you the shocking dirt on a hospital stay that was like a circus act!!
Thanks!
