I have just spent six days in the hospital over chest pain. It was hell for the most part. I have a rant for you all to read.
I think the next time I go into the hospital the doctor and I should have an agreement that reads: What ever I order for you to have done,you get to watch them do to me! Do these doctor have any idea how invasive some things are or how long you have to wait for test results to get back to them???
I went to emergency room Wednesday night around 8:30p.m. after dialysis with chest pain. I figured I would get checked; they'd tell me it was nothing and send me home. (Six days later..). Anyway they finally got me into a room at 5a.m. Thursday morning. Okay, fine. I tried to get rest. At 5:30 a.m. here come Dracula to get blood from me. Okay fine, I try to rest again, in come PCA for vital signs, okay try to rest again, in comes nurse with meds and heparin needle. Great. Try to rest again.
No breakfast, because they are going to take me to St. B's, another hospital, soon to go for angiogram. The paramedics arrive to take me, however the TB test from Tueday turns out to be positive and St B's will not take me. Okay, so no angiogram, but no food until I am on dialysis near 2 oclock in the afternoon. I was close to crying. Asked about lunch at noon, they bring me ice chips and say it is okay to eat. I asked where is some food. They bring me a nonrenal patient tray. Can't eat what's on it. They take it away. I wait for two more hours, go to dialysis and finally get to eat. Geez, a person can starve in the hospital.
So after dialysis I try to do the usual; rest, and relax .HAH! Drs in and out, nurses in and out. My room is across from nurses station. Noisy! All the time noisy! I do not think they even know how to be quiet.
I was going to buy NASCAR flags for that hallway with all the noise the carts made up and down the hallway all day and all night long. RRRRRRRR, squeak, rummmmmmmmmm, durrrrrrr!
Open the door, slam into the room, hit my bed with the cart as they have go see my roommate, come back out, hit the bed, slam. Don't close the door. Hey I am sleeping here! I wanted to yell regularly.
They would slam door closed if asked nicely by me. Not one night, every night this happened! Slam, here are your meds, get vitals half an hour later,shut door, slam!
Let me tell you about Nurse Ed. Idiot Ed. He was the night nurse (read nightmare). I had just arrived back on the floor from dialysis on Friday night. He came in and said: I have to give you your meds. Since I do not take my blood pressure pills but once a day I asked why. He said dr orders. I said: " Why? I do not take the pills but once a day. " This nurse and I had an argument for half an hour in front of some friends of mine over whether I shpuld take the meds or not. I knew if I took them I would be in dangerous low blood pressure valleys. He finally got the hint that I take the meds once a day despite what the bottles say. Every other nurse understood me when I explained it to them. Ed needed a hit in the head. His parting shot to me in the morning was for me to straighten out the meds issue with a doctor in the morning. I did straighten it out.
Oh Lord. Do not sent inept blood drawers to my hospital room. Send the profeesional ones, not the amatuers. I have terrible veins that roll and flatten out and hide. One night around 7pm. in walks a vampire lady to get blood. She decides to try the underside of my wrist after I told her already it was not a good place to go. She made me cry, it hurt so bad! I told her to forget it and get out. They could have their blood later. Nurse Ed-read Idiot here- came it and asked was something wrong. I looked him the they eye and said: "Don't send the amateurs into my room, go get the professionals!" He waited till 5a.m. to get blood from me again! The funny thing was I had a trained phlebotomist and an RN visiting me at the time this lady came in to try for blood. They were ready to kill her when she left me alone finally.
Friday, all set for angiogram, they find out neither St B's, nor the cath lab at Kaiser with touch me because the PPD- TB test I had on Tuesday as an outpatient had turned positive. Now they have to test for TB over three days with sputum tests. So for three days they monitor me with heart monitors, feed me occassionally, and have me spit into cups for examination by a lab in LA. Sunday at 3a.m. was the last spit-take I did. So the spit takes are clear and I am ready for the angiogram.
No TB in the system, thank you Lord. After Chest Xrays, an infectious disease doctor examining me, and three spit takes it is time for the angiogram.
Another night of NASCAR races up and down the hallways. Slam, noisy hallway, slam door open and closed all night long. Here are your meds. Try to get some rest, Hah!
Finally at 2pm. Friday afternoon, after no food or drink since midnight, they send me to the cath lab for the angiogram. Not too bad a test. They gave me some Verced, which does nothing for me, I felt everything, but they gave great lidocaine to the catheter sight so it did not hurt much. Morphine for pain later. An hour after this test I am wheeled flat on my back to dialysis where they dialize me and promptly take the pain meds out of my system. Three hours later I am in my room, in pain, asking for more pain meds, and the nurse is saying I have to get an order for it. "Shit hurry up and get the order! :I am saying to myself.
I am in tears. Of course I have been in tears every day since I have been here. However I don't let nurses see it. They would get the social worker to come see me. For God's sake don't send the social worker. I think it would be normal to be upset when you have not eaten or had anything to drink anything since midnight, been through a major medical test, then dialysis. Then been in pain for an hour or two with no pain med ordered for you. I did not eat until 9pm. that night and the nurse had to fix a TV dinner for me and add a few things like jello and a shasta Twist to drink.
The angiogram showed nothing wrong with my heart, Good! Tuesday I am sent home with new drugs and told to take it easy, no stress. Hah that'll be the day!
I go home exhausted and slept the day away. Slept most of Wednesday, went to dialysis that evening. They had no idea I would be there, even though I called I said I would be in Wednesday night. Geez!
Thursday yours truly gets up and goes to work as usual, hurting, and gimping along. I am out of sick leave now and the doc would not give me an off work order for Thursday or Friday. She saw no reason for it. It is Saturday now and I am exhausted still. I have had the urge to cry for three days now whenever someone says something to me nice or not nice. Must be the new meds.
The kids at school missed me and so did my aide. They were glad I was back.
The worst thing about the hospital was the lack of rest and the noise. The food was next. I am a large person and they kept me on mouse portions!
The best thing: Hmmmmmm. Getting out of there. The female nurses were nice. Most of PCA- nurses assistants were okay
Anyway there is my diatribe over the six day last stay in the hospital. I plan not go back real soon. Thanks for your prayers and thoughts.
Katherine
P.S. I spelled checked this three times. Sorry if any errors are in it.
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