The first number is in accordance to Surgery II, with the number in parentheses in accordance to Surgery I.
--------------------------
5:30 am
The lab tech came by to take my blood. He didn't take it because my registration bracelet didn't have my middle name spelled out, just the first initial, while the lab order had my middle name spelled out. He refused to take my blood until the two matched. He told me he would be right back, so I kept the light on.
6:00 am
I gave up on the lab tech coming back, so I turned the lights off and went back to sleep.
7:00 am
The nurses changed shifts. All night, I had been waiting for new nurses because my overnight nurse wasn't that attentive or helpful. With the first surgery, I had one amazing nurse after the other, so I had high expectations of my nurses this time. The new nurse and her assistant were TERRIBLE! In my first encounter with the new nurse, she introduced herself, put her name and number on the board, and said that she was going to look over my paperwork and be right back. Hours later, she never showed back up. I tried to call her several times, but she wrote her number so illegibly that I never got through to her. I asked the new nurse assistant to refill my ice bag. An hour later, I woke up and realized my foot was in pain. Why? The assistant never brought me my ice bag back!!! When I finally got her to come back to my room, I asked her to help me to the bathroom (because I need someone to take the IV pole while I use my hands to crutch myself there), and she tried to convince me that it was a better idea to use the bed pan or the bedside toilet. What is wrong with these people?!?!?! She said that with all of the "wires" (my IV and the pain pump) that I shouldn't be out of the bed! It took me more than 10 minutes to convince her that I could successfully use the crutches to get myself to the bathroom. During this time, I was thinking that she wouldn't be so helpful in letting me get to the bathroom often, so I decided to bring the bag I had packed with me to the bathroom so that I could give myself a wash up, brush my teeth, and change my gowns while I was in there.
I immediately closed the door and just rested, sitting on the top of the toilet, after I closed the lid down. I wanted to escape from all of the nurses and doctors. I took my time bathing myself, something I couldn't do independently until 2 weeks after the first surgery, and then I called the nurse assistant back. She insisted that I eat my breakfast from the chair, so she made me wait in the bathroom while she rearranged the room. I finally got out of the bathroom to sit in the chair, and opened my breakfast plate. There were some breakfast potatoes and eggs and that is it. Sometimes I really wonder if anyone read my chart before my stay. I am young and fit, and I am in there from an injury I sustained running marathons! That tiny breakfast had no chance of filling me. I called the kitchen and had them bring me some wheat toast and some bacon to add to that since I don't even eat breakfast potatoes. When I finished, I realized that she had stashed my bag in a cabinet that I couldn't reach from the chair, and that my crutches were all the way across the room.
I called her number and asked to move back to the bed so that I could better elevate my foot. She came by and said that she wanted to change the linen before letting me go back. So I sat there waiting...waiting...and more waiting. 2 hours later, she still hadn't returned and this whole time I had been stranded in the chair.
10 am
The PT team showed up and saved me! Of course it was my regular therapist that got them on my case so early. Lucky for me, he knows the inpatient therapist. They had me do some seated exercises, then they got me out of the chair and let me crutch a loop around the hospital wing. With my IV moved to my forearm, I had no problem using the crutches. I told the therapist about how the nurses were treating me, in terms of not wanting me to get out of the bed, and not being attentive, and he talked to them for me. He also went and got linen and changed my bed for me so that I could get back in after our session.
The lab tech had been coming back and forth all morning to check to see if my bracelet had been changed. The registration department finally made me a new one, and then the challenge of him finding a vein began. They didn't have this trouble with me the first surgery, maybe my veins retreated deeper in my arms after all the trauma they suffered. This time, I went home with 5 new wounds, 3 from IVs, 2 from blood draws. I still have the scar from where the IV was put in for the first surgery, hopefully I'll fully heal this time. My arms look like I'm a drug addict.
11 am
My mom arrived to the hospital for the day, and of course everyone was on their best behavior again while she was there.
1 pm
My surgeon's PA came to check on me. He explained all the surgical procedures to me and said that the surgery went really well. They did all the same procedures as last time, except for the tendon transfer (added a bone wedge to rebuild my arch, repositioned my heel, and lengthened my calf and achilles). It was good to hear that the surgery went as planned. He gave me the option of removing the pain drip then and switching to oral meds (Percocet) and possibly going home that night, or removing the pain drip the next morning and going home after confirming that the Percocet would be able to manage my pain. Based on my last experience, I decided to stay in the hospital one more night. I didn't want to go off the pain drip before my nerve block fully wore off.
Rest of the Day
My pain level was creeping up as the nerve block was wearing off and as I was supposed to be weening off the pain drip. It also occurred to me that I had only seen the nurse 2 times the whole day (12 hr shift) and that the nurse assistant had missed at least 5 hours of vitals checks. I am so lucky that the pain and initial recovery from this surgery was much easier on me this time, because I swear that these nurses would have let me die.
The PT team came back and made me crutch another loop around the hospital wing.
As the nurses changed shifts again, the other nurses did not say bye, nor did the new nurses introduce themselves and change their information on the board. For a while I was calling the nurse line with no one picking up. When my night nurse finally showed up, it was the same one as the previous night. I knew that she wasn't as bad as the day nurse, but she wasn't much better. By the time she finally came in my room, I was in a lot of pain, she wouldn't answer any of my questions, and she was just as "busy" as the nurses had been today. I wasn't dying, so I wasn't a priority of theirs. I literally lost it and just started crying out of frustration from the day. Since I was hooked up to the IV pole and need both of my hands to crutch around, I am literally stuck in my bed if no one comes to help me. I only knew that I could survive the night because her assistant is really nice and was the only one that really helped me throughout my entire hospital stay.
---------------------------
Reflection
The common tie throughout my recovery has been the lifesaving efforts of my mom, my physical therapists, my surgeon, and his PA. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have such a supportive team around me. I wouldn't have made it through this day without their support and the knowledge that they all armed me with to be able to handle things for myself...even while 1-2 feet down.
No comments:
Post a Comment