A Hospital Stay

If you are ever in a position to avoid a hospital stay, I suggest that you do so. Not only are you sick, which is what brought you there in the first place, it is very likely that things will get worse before they get better. And then there is the matter of needles and in my case, lots of them. None of it is fun. And even though I had tested negative at home several times, they tested for Covid and a host of other things with a miserable nose swab, far worse than I'd done on myself pictured below.

Sleep, what is that? How does one sleep with lights on, someone coming in at all hours to either check your vitals, or far too often, change the battery in the heart monitor? At first it was impossible, but over the course of seven nights, I got the hang of it. In fact, when woken at 5AM for something, I asked why no one had come in at 4AM to draw blood? So not only did I become accustomed to it, I was asking for more!

After a few hours in the emergency room, we were lucky to have a bed assigned to me. To tell you the truth, I don't remember too much about the first few days except that I got a terrible rash that covered my entire back and it was darn hard to sleep with that. Eventually a steroid cream was prescribed, but it was not the nurses or aides who administered it, rather it was my honey. That's something else that becomes clear very quickly; if you don't have a helper you are sunk! 

Another problem with staying in the hospital is that they find other things that are not to their liking. In my case, first it was my heart which misbehaved a bit, requiring a visit from a cardiologist who immediately told them to discontinue all the drips they started. He and I agreed it was probably the stress that I'd been under for over a week. The echocardiogram proved his point. Unfortunately when said cardiac treatment began, it required a second IV which was no easy feat. My veins were AWOL and more often than not, it took several people sticking me before a suitable vein was located. On two occasions they brought in an IV team who used a type of ultrasound to locate veins. All very disconcerting, not to mention painful. In my handbag I've kept my squeeze ball from my hand therapy and it was a lifesaver.

So my heart problem was sorted, then it was on to my elevated platelet count. We waited an entire day for a hematologist to come in and when he said he didn't think it was cancer, I was flabbergasted. Who said anything about cancer? That, we learned is a worst-case scenario. The best case is that it is merely a reaction to the sickness.  This morning I saw Dr. Parrillo and he ordered both a chest x-ray and blood work. Finally my white blood count is normal, down to 8K from a high of 29K, and my pneumonia seems to have resolved. The platelet count, on the other hand, remains high, so while I was hoping to sweep it under the rug, it appears that it will require further investigation.

During the stay, we discovered METV, a channel that runs old shows. If it was in black and white, we watched it!

The board below the television is meant to communicate with the patient. The nurse has a direct line that you can call. They also have your doctor's name, and mark each time they check on you. Although it is meant to be hourly, I can assure you that is only a goal!

One day Cynthia brought flowers from the church service, as did Ann. Cynthia's were a little more showy and how do you like that stand?  

Another hiccup happened on Saturday night when they changed computer systems for the entire hospital. As you can imagine, it did not go smoothly. Although two nurses were assigned to me, it might just as well have been none. Seriously, the whole thing was almost like a sitcom, one we did not want to play any part in. No blood work was ready for the physicians, they tried getting me to have another chest x-ray in spite of the fact that I'd had one the evening before, and even medication problems. Oy vey!

Probably the very worst part of it all is the lack of time for actually caring for the patient in a humane fashion. Don't get me wrong, no one was mean, but only a couple were actually nice, including Johanna, luckily my nurse for two days. She put my last IV in after asking me to trust her. I did and she did good.

Going to the hospital we took both my own pillow and a quilt which proved to be just the best. You see that old skin of mine? The tape....oh my goodness, taking all the tape off was a nightmare. Except Johanna who was so gentle. 

One thing I've not mentioned is that in 1971, as a 17 year old high school graduate, I went to x-ray school at what was, at the time, called Winter Park Memorial Hospital, changing the course of my life from someone who hated science to someone who worked in science. Of course, I quickly forgot most of the bookwork, but what I never forgot was patient care. Maybe because it was such a small hospital in those days, I'm not sure, but empathy was a huge part of what we did. Furthermore, gloves were reserved for surgery so there was a real human touch, and if someone had said that nothing would happen without the patient's bar code being scanned first, well that just would have sounded like science fiction! 

Alas, that is the way things are done. 

Another memory that popped up was learning that we were having twins when my friend Connie was doing the ultrasound all those years ago. Talk about life changing! That hospital is long gone, having been swallowed up by Advent Health. Not one single thing seemed familiar when Bruce brought me to the car to leave. Not one. 

After much rigamarole it was decided that I could finally leave in spite of some of my blood work not being perfect. Woo hoo! Except then that took hours and hours to sort out, the very definition of hurry up and wait. When they asked for my dinner preference I said that I'd hope to be gone by then, however she was right and I was wrong. Finally, my nurse Frank went over the discharge instructions and we arrived home at 7:30, mostly none the worse for wear.

Jane Lou left a lovely fruit bowl by the door knowing that we were coming home.

So many well wishes, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for everyone who either texted or wrote something nice on facebook, which, btw, I do not have on my phone, so knew nothing about. 

Each day I've grown stronger and able to do more. I even made brownies so that tells you something, right? Following this morning's doctor visit, Bruce and I went to the court where pickleball play was happening. Two games for this recovering lady! Now we are talking!

your friend,

Gail