| Hospital.... problems |
[Jun. 30th, 2009|03:32 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  frustrated | ] |
So I've decided to record the various problems and hurdles I've come across while staying in the hospital thus far. Some of them are funny, some are worrisome, and some are just odd. I'm largely doing this because I'm bored and have nothing better to do.
1) The cap to my picc line came off while I was getting IV antibiotics. I noticed before the IV had leaked too much and before I had bled too much, so I managed to stop the IV pump and clip off my picc line. I called the nurse and told her my IV had come off. She said she'd be right down. Then my mom called, and I talked to her for about 10 minutes while I waited. When I hung up and there was still no sign of a nurse, I called again and got someone down about 5 minutes later. I worry to think what would have happened if I didn't know how to stop the leaking/bleeding.
2) I'm supposed to get at least two respiratory therapies per day, and my evening treatment has a very important medication that I need to take. Evidently someone fucked up, because I was forgotten about and had some slight difficulties with my breathing overnight. I told the therapist in the morning what had happened, and he said he'd tell his director, so I suspect that I got someone in trouble. On the one hand I feel bad for getting them in trouble, but on the other hand I like breathing.
3) When I called a nurse to check my blood sugar (they have the glucometer), she said she'd be right there. I waited about 15 minutes while chatting with my dad and my boyfriend, noticed the time, and called again. Maybe 5 minutes later they showed up. If it had been an instance of a low blood sugar, I would have been fucked.
4) About half an hour after starting an hour-long IV, a lab tech wandered into my room wanting to draw blood. She told me she was scheduled to draw my blood at 9pm, and that it had to be before the IV was started. It was 9:30, and she acknowledged this. She looked at me, confused, as though I was going to tell her something other than "well, I guess you fucked up." She sort of ambled away in a confused fashion, then later came back and said she couldn't do a blood draw, and left. She just looked so helpless and confused. The way she seemed to want an answer from me, the chronically uninformed patient, was sort of pathetic. They don't tell me anything here, she's supposed to be the informed one!
5) My primary gripe is that I'm supposed to be gaining weight, but the food here is... problematic. The stuff they deliver to our rooms is of questionable quality. This wouldn't be that much of a problem if it weren't for the fact that the cafeteria closes at 6:30pm and they stop delivering if you call after 7:30pm. I tend to get hungry around 11pm. The only place that's open that late that serves food has RIDICULOUS mark-ups on their food. Two sticks of string cheese cost $1. Add that to a pre-made sandwich and a lemonade, and you pay roughly $6 for what I would consider to be a light meal. This is not conducive to gaining weight in any way. Thank god my parents are willing to bring me outside food, or I'd starve in here.
It's not all bad here, to be fair. I've got a night nurse named Annie that I remember from my last stay here, and she was one of the few people here that I genuinely liked. I have discovered that she is a fellow cheese aficionado, and I am considering giving her some aged cheddar if I get a chance. Genuinely good nurses deserve cheese rewards. |
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| Comments: |
Uhg. I feel your pain! I've had the idea of writing a book about being in the hospital... half informative, half light hearted and funny for a while now. I still plan on doing it.
I won't let them take my blood sugar in the hospital. I insist on doing it myself, recording it myself and taking my insulin myself. Because they'll come in to check it at 6am.... when breakfast comes at 9am. How is that helpful? Or they'll forget to come in, and my dinner will get cold. Plus my glucometer works on my arm, and the pokey thing is less painful. I refuse them if they try to take it themselves. I keep things up to me as much as possible, to the point where since I got the port, if I call and nobody comes to flush me, the last hospital stay I just got up and did it myself a few times.
Feel better soon!
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