Get well Chris!

Thanks everyone.
I tried to write a short version of what happened to Karol, but lost everything when I used the Spell Check feature. So I typed it up in Word and it turned up being lengthy.

Wednesday May 7, I had on and off chest pressure. Didn’t think much about it and went to bed.

Thursday May 8, woke up with chest pressure still occurring. This time it was not going away, but went to take my final and figured it would pass also. Done taking final, I call my GP doc wondering if there was a quick fix, blood test, or something not requiring an ER visit, but get answering service instead. So I travel towards home and stop to get mother’s day card (not a good variety this year of humorous cards this year) and as I am going thru almost all the cards, I get a call from my doctors nurse. She tells me there is no quick fix and I have to go to the ER. Since I didn’t finish picking a card out yet and didn’t think I would be admitted, I continued to look for a card and then leave for the hospital.

I get to the hospital’s ER area at 12:30 pm and tell them what has been happening and they take me right back. Idiot #1 enters the scene and asks me to step on the scale with my coat on. She didn’t want me to take it off. Well crap! Weight is going to be way off with this coat on. She proceeds to take my vitals and records from my medication sheet what I take tat I bring with in my folder. She takes me to a room, but also takes my folder that had all my medical information and insurance cards. So I get into the dinky hard to close freeze your butt off gown and wait 20 minutes for the nurse to comeback. She was about to take blood pressure from my left arm till I told her she couldn’t and why. So she puts up the usual medical sign to not use left arm for b/p or vp and proceeds to start an IV line. Doctor comes in a few minutes later and asks the same questions the other two nurses asked on why am I here. I tell him the same thing and he orders blood test and a nitroglycerin pill.

Then idiot #2 enters the scene. The lab tech apparently missed sign #1 and sign #2 on not to use left arm, or can not read English at a grade school level. Tough call there! I tell her she can not use my left arm and she begins to give me an attitude as I am telling her why. So I jot down her name to complain later. Then an EKG tech comes in to do a test and a chest x-ray an hour later. So I lie there waiting and waiting for someone to come in to just check up on me, even when I disconnect an O2 sensor or a heart monitor lead. Apparently that’s the first thing they check instead of asking “are you alright?” So there I lay boredom a bed that I am to long or big for and the doc finally comes in after 4 pm to tell me the test done so far comeback negative and asked me how I felt after the nitroglycerin pill. I told him I felt better and noticed I could breathe better that I didn’t notice I had a problem before. He then tells me we can keep you for observation or admit me to find the cause of the pressure feeling. Well duhhhhh! I want to find out what is the cause of the problem is. So more waiting, but he already decided to admit me anyway due to my medical history and talking to my doctor. So there I lay by myself again, smelling fresh brewed coffee I would love to have instead of this cup of ice water they left me that I won’t touch. I ended up dozing off, but can hear people walking by making loud sounds. Then 8 pm rolls around and a new nurse comes in to see how I was doing and to tell me that a room will be ready in 15 minutes. I proceeded to tell her that I haven’t had anything to drink since this morning and would like some decaf coffee or even some regular coffee. She asked when the last time I ate was and I said yesterday afternoon. She tells me that she will be right back with something and I am hoping it’s a coffee! A few minutes pass by and a transporter comes in to my room to take me upstairs at 8:27 pm and the first thing I thought, crap, no coffee! Then the nurse comes running in and hands me a brown bag and 2 of those 4 oz apple juice containers. Brown bag was odd o me till I got upstairs to find a chicken sandwich, pudding, a cookie, cranberry juice, and potato chips inside. This stuff use to come in a nice neat packed box, I guess paper sack was a real cost cutting measure.

So there I am in a room finally and then it dawns on me, I have the usual roommate that I get 99.9% of the time I am here. The other .1% is when I have my own room there where there is peace and quiet. I never get a quiet or sane roommate and I already know I won’t get any rest. Turn on the tv, but fall asleep. I wake up at 10:00 pm and ask the nurse about my meds. He tells me that the pharmacy is running behind and told me to wait. I told him I can’t wait. I only have an hours window before my immunosuppressant’s become ineffective. He then asks if I had my meds with. I said yes, but they are out in my vehicle and I’ll go get them. At that poi I’m thinking I wish I didn’t rush to get out of class and put them in my book bag instead of my coat. He say’s no, I can’t go out to my vehicle and he goes over my meds and I discover that the nurse downstairs or who ever copied my meds down wrote down what meds are taken at what times they are taken. Crap, when will they ever get this right! Anyway the nurse calls down the pharmacy and tells them that I need my meds ASAP and I get them by 10:37 pm. Then the nurse proceeds to ask me if I wanted a sleeping pill, I told him yes, and he asked me how many, 1 or 2. I said 2 with the roommate I have.

Well that night I was out cold and pretty much the next day, but was awaken by nurse who wanted to give me one pill. I asked here what it was, then told here I’m not taking it. ItAt 7am it was to early and that type of med goes with taking my immuno meds, not by itself, what good is it going to do to me. So she gives me an attitude about that. Well that was next name on the list to complain about, but start to wonder if these people can read and right Why do they copy my medication list and do not follow it is beyond me. Not sure how much simpler I can make it. After lunch, more test begin. First was a echocardiogram. That was fast, but as soon as I was taken up to my room, I am taken back down to nuclear medicine for a stress test. First part of the test is done with a dye injection and a 3-D scan of the heart is taken. Will ere comes idiot #3 giving me crap on how to hold my arm. So I yell back I can’t do it that way. H tells me I have to hold my arms straight above my head. Well when I do that, my left arm becomes weak and blood flow is not to good because of the graft in my arm. This test takes 15 minutes and he tells me to quit moving my arm. Wish I could idiot, but I can’t, I’m loosing feeling and can’t hold it up without wiggling my fingers or bending my arm to circulate blood. Finally done dealing with this jack in the box and I’m off to the treadmill. Doctor comes in and tells me he has never worked with a transplant patient before and ask me why I’m not on Lipitor. I told him I was taken off it after my transplant and my numbers are good, I just had them checked, go look on the computer. Well while on the treadmill, only wearing socks (not the best thing to wear on a treadmill!), I pass the standard mark, so they rev the rpm up and angle. 5 minutes later they rev it up again all the while adding more dye to my body. At this stage I am running in the worst kind of way, holding my hands out onto a bar and wearing only socks, which is not the best way for me to run. At this point I am running out of energy and the treadmill stops. Once the treadmill stopped, I got nauseated real fast and then the chest pressure begins. At the same time the doctors I give you a C for effort. WT$! I’m nauseated and have chest discomfort and you tell me this! Give me some shoes and don’t tell me to hold the bar in front of me and I could have done better.

Back to scanning room and this time I have a different tech. She tells me I only need to hold my arms above my head just to clear the machine and then I can rest them comfortably. This made the experience 100% tolerable compared to dealing with idiot#3. And back to my room I go.
I get back to my room and find that I will have no rest since roommates family and their small kids are there taking up most of the room yacking away. Great, no peace and quiet and now I gotta worry about these small kids spreading germs I don’t need to catch. GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!!!! Luckily the test wore me out a little and I dozed off. 10 pm rolls around and my meds are given and again asked if I wanted a sleeping pill and how many. I say 2 and I fall asleep. Then at 2 am I am woken up by my roommate screaming his head off having a nightmare. CAN’s come in wondering what is going on and this guy thinks he is in a jeep and begins talking to people that are not even there. A few minutes later he turns the TV on at full blast. So I leave the room wandering the hallways looking for a quiet area to sit and snooze. Only place I find is the surgical waiting room, but there are people waiting there, so no luck sitting there. So I walk the hallways and thought about sneaking downstairs to the vending machines o get some decaf coffee, but there are nurses and security guards wandering the hallways. 5 am rolls by and I try togo back to bed since it is quiet now in there. I doze off, but awaken at 6:30 am by room service asking what I want to order. I said peace and quiet, I want some sleep and I hang up and go back to sleep. &:30 am I am awaken again this time by a dialysis tech for my roommate. Guess trying to be quiet to not disturb anyone else is out of their realm. Then I thought, I hope I don’t have to use the washroom since he has equipment in there! So I put my head between two pillows to try to drown out the noise and pull my blankets over me to get some sleep. Well that almost worked till the roommate became combative with the tech trying to pull his needles out constantly and trying to leave. CRAP!! GET ME OUT OF HERE NOW or I will beat this man with a baseball bat to shut him up and calm him down NOW! He constantly did this throughout his session.

Finally, I get some news from the test. Doctor comes in and wakes me wondering why I am covered up, head between two pillows. I tell him why and that I need to get out of here due to roommate. He tells me that it wasn’t a heart attack, but there is some swelling of the heart that is due to diabetes complications and that the cause for the chest pressure is due to acid reflux which nitroglycerin also helps, but would like to do more test and will talk to the other doctors. The cardiologist comes in my room 2 hours later and asks me why I am covered up with my head between two pillows and I proceeded to tell him why. He tells me what I already been told and we discuss what diabetes does to the body and he would like to see me on Lipitor even though my numbers are good.

Doctor #3 comes in; the nephrologist on duty from my clinic asks me the same question the other doctors asked about. Why am I under the covers with my head between two pillows? She then asked me when was the last time I urinated and I told her yesterday before lunch, but I haven’t eaten or drank anything since. I had no appetite or thirst. I just want to get out of here and get some rest. She then say’s she will push more IV fluids and I argue about that. I told her I would do better if I was not here, especially with this roommate. She leaves and says’s nothing. So at 2:30 pm I call the nurse to ask about my discharge papers. I get no reply. Call again and no reply and this is way before a shift change. Finally at 4 pm the nurse comes in and asks if I am ready to go home. I told her yes and she tells me she will get my papers ready. So I start taking my heart monitor off, change my clothes, get my shoes on, and begin peeling all the tape off my arm holding the IV line in place. Could have taken it out myself, but didn’t want to go to the middle of the room to empty the IV line in the biohazard wastebasket and risk seeing or getting in some odd conversation with roommate.

Nurse comes back into room after 4:30 pm and see’s that I am ready to go. She pulls out my IV line and starts to tell me I have to wait for transport to take me down. I tell her I can walk and my vehicle is close o the front. She then tells me I won’t have to wait, she will take me downstairs. Get downstairs and just missed the coffee shop from closing. Crap, I need some real coffee. On my way home, I stop at Starbucks and use my gift card to get a large decaf raspberry latte and then proceed to go to the pharmacy for my prescription.

I get home and look at my discharge papers and notice that the papers where ready at 1:58 pm, SO$ I begin l Lipitor that night and had nothing but problems with it. The side effects are to adverse for me and my nephrologist said to stop taking it when I talked to her on Monday.

And that’s what happened in a nutshell.

There ya go Chris.

EDITED: Copied and paste document - Sluff/Admin