Sunday, July 28, 2013

Surgery, A; sleeping conditions, F

I started to write early this morning but stopped when I saw that I had three typos in three words. In other words, I couldn't find the keys. But after I got my pain medication and coffee from the nurses, I began to perk up.

Yes, Mark, I can get good coffee even though I am not on my usual floor of the hospital, although Starbucks it's not. Also, I can't drink my Coke because I have had abdominal surgery. So, there you have it, first things first.

The surgery Thursday went well.  Dr. Steele saw me afterwards and said he got everything. Then I went to a room on the 12th floor. My roommate, who had the same kind of surgery,  has MS. Overnight on Thursday, the light went on on her side, which I can easily see from mine. People rushed in and out. In the morning, when I went to take a walk with my nurse (a short distance around the nurses' station with, my walker, which I done before) I passed out after a few steps. I don't remember this, but he said that I wasn't responding to his questions, so he pushed a chair under me. I quickly came to, and he walked me back to me room. My blood pressure was quite low. It returned to normal after I got some fluids.

Friday night was even worse. I think she was having trouble because I could hear a whooshing sound like she was inhaling on something. The lights went on for about two hours this time. I turned on my TV but that didn't help. I felt bad for her, but it was an untenable situation for me. I called our shared nurse over and started to cry. I said I needed to heal too, and I wasn't going to be able to do it this way. She said she would try to get me a private room, which I did not want because I did not want to pay the extra bill. My roommate needed the private room, and her insurance should pay for it because it is medically necessary. In any case, a patient like me, just a day after abdominal surgery shouldn't have to figure this out. I said to just wheel me onto the sixth floor for the night (or onto any other floor, for all I cared). The commotion finally subsided and I got a little sleep.

Katie came over at lunch after I had repeatedly spilled my water while falling asleep. She told me to just give up and take a nap, but I wanted see her. She put her hand out to catch mine several times. At one point I swept my arms out in front of me and told her I was doing downward facing dog on the beach. Finally I gave up and took a nap, waking around 4. I called Emily and told her I had slept until Saturday. She convinced me that it was really Friday. Diane then called twice and couldn't make any sense of what I was saying, so she called the nurses' station got filled her in.

Today is better, but when I asked for my morning meds and my nurse asked me to rate my pain on a scale of 1 to 10, I said it was a 9. I ate breakfast, talked on the phone, wrote this and walked down the hall with Margaret, hands free. The pain comes back quickly. It is already a 7.

Time to call for the nurse again.

3 comments:

Robin said...

Hope you are feeling better and pain free, and that you can get some rest in the hospital. All the best.

PJ said...

I'm glad you posted because I wanted to know how you're doing after major surgery. I remember being in a semi-private room prior to my first chemo, waiting for a bed on the bone marrow unit. The first roommate moaned all night and called for the nurse repeatedly. I finally rang my nurse bell. My doctor switched me to another room where my roommate ducked out to smoke every hour and our room reeked of the smell.

Heel quickly and get out of that place.

Nelle said...

My last hospital stay I got a roommate with severe mental issues. She was hallucinating and parading around naked. I wasn't up for it and when I also cried to the nurse they moved her. I missed being in SICU after I left it.