War Stories!

Okay, to say that I have bad luck is like saying the Pope is Catholic. Things have a way of going south whenever I am involved, so I don't know why any of the following stories shock me. However, you think that when you have good insurance and you are being sent to a big private hospital that you will get good care. I thought that, it didn't happen, but I thought that going in. There were actually times when Tim and I would look at each other and laugh in total disbelief at the reality of what was happening. I won't even try to catch every thing that happened to us while we were there, but will hit the "high" points. To start off, I will say that I am so thankful for my husband and family and some of the most amazing friends that a person could ever ask to have. You guys have stepped up and been amazing! Tim is the best husband that I could ever have hoped to find in the entire world and thank heavens he has such an awesome sense of humor! So with that said here we go...

#1 The fact that they had to try 3 time to get my IV in my arm. The nurse was super nice and felt horrible, but the result was still the same. We took a picture because it was pretty impressive. In comparison to everyone else though this girl was the Captain of the A team for sure!

#2 (my favorite) I came to in the recovery area to the most negative, complaining nurse ever. She was mad at the price of gas, the extensive coverage of football during bowl games, the candidates in the presidential elections (both sides), the fact that it was cold outside, and basically that she was alive I think. This is just what I gathered as I was coming in and out of consciousness. It ends up that she was the one that took me up to my room. My SEMI-PRIVATE room. Seriously, I didn't know that those still existed due to HIPA, but they do. Anyway, I am pretty sure that she hit every corner that we tried to go around and every door jam as well. I am not going to get graphic, but when you have had parts pulled from your body it isn't the best time to go playing roller derby in a hospital bed, it doesn't feel too good. Anyway, she told Mom, Tim and Randy to wait in one place while they got me situated in my bed (Next to the woman with the mysterious rash all over her face.) We start down the hall and when she realized which room I was in she got furious, not for the same reason I was furious, but because according to her, it is the hardest room in the hospital to get a bed into. (This is from the woman who couldn't walk straight without hitting something!) So they manage to get my bed into the room and up against the wall when she says "Well, your just going to have to wait a minute, my knee hurts!" and proceeds to sit down to rest. I am in the mean time trying to holler out to Mom and Tim to come help me but it was like a bad dream and I couldn't get my voice to work loud enough. (That was a first for sure!)

#3 Apparently I am allergic to morphine. I know this now because throughout the night I was begging for help that never came. Tim had to go home because he is a male and I wasn't allowed to have a male overnight guest in my high dollar semi-private room. I could tell early in the evening that I was starting to itch and asked for some benedryl which they did give me. What I didn't know was that by midnight my skin was going to feel like it was on fire and I would not be able to sleep from being in total agony. Seriously, the pain from the surgery was not noticeable because I was hurting from the pain medication so severely. I had the nurses in my room almost constantly until 3:15 when I told them that they were going to have to give me phenegran and knock me out. To this I was told that they couldn't give me phenegran unless I was nauseated. I am so proud because I didn't hit anyone. I think I ripped the sheets, but I didn't hit anyone, as I explained that she could at that point consider me nauseated and get me the medication very quickly. It would have been a good idea to call the doctor and ask to take me off the morphine pump and go ahead and move me to oral meds, but I didn't have the type of nurses that were interested in making good decisions. I even had one tell me that if I would quit pushing my pain medication button that I would quit itching. The nerve of me actually wanting to use my pain medication, after all I was at least 10 hours out of surgery. My skin was sore to the touch for 3 days because the itching had been so intense.

#3 The nurses were unbelievably unhappy to be at work. The reason I know this is because every one that came into my room told me how much they didn't want to be there. There was one that was particularly unhappy and only wanted to share the joy. She brought me my pain meds but no water. When I didn't immediately take them she looked at me and said "Are you going to take those or what?" I told her I would be more than happy to take them as soon as I had some liquid to wash them down with. Somehow that annoyed her too. A little bit later Tim went to the sink to get some water so that I could brush my teeth and was covered in nasty brown water that came shooting out with major force. He asked the nurse about the problem and was informed that "Oh yeah, they turned your water off a little bit ago." Nice. I have not even started on the CNA that was very obviously not all there. The stories about her are endless.

Anyway, there are a few of the highlights of our 26 hours of "Care" at Baptist Hospital. Keep these in mind if you ever decide to get sick and need to go to the hospital.