My hospital stay

[noiretextatique]

I had a complete hysterectomy on Wednesday. The procedure was done laraposcopically, with robotic assistance. The procedure should have taken 4 hours, but I was in surgery 6 hours. My surgeon told me one the risks of the surgery was the possibility of damaging surrounding organs. Well, my bladder was damaged during the surgery, so the extra 2 hours were to repair the bladder damage.
I woke up after the surgery in excruciating pain, which seemed to center around the catheter that was inserting in my urethra. I got some morphine and passed out for a few hours, and when I awoke at 2am, I felt okay. The next morning I felt even better.
I had a kind and attentive RN who took great care of me that first night, so when the next shift came on in the morning, I was expecting the same.
I met my new nurse at 7am, but didn't see her again until after 4pm...after I called the patient advocate.
But I digress. Before the shift change, a doctor came into my "space" (a curtained area in a room I shared with 3 other people) and told me he was as associate of Dr. Gross, who is not my doctor. The doctor proceeds to ask me certain questions, and I quickly grasp that he is taking to the wrong person. So, I told him I didn't know a Dr. Gross, and he asks me if I am Mrs. Goldberg, and I replied: Um, No...I am not related to Whoopi Goldberg :7
So...mealtime comes, and since I was asked a zillion times if I was diabetic, I assume I would have a low-carb meal. Unfortunately there was some miscommunication because I got a regular meal, loaded with carbs. I was too hungry to wait for another meal, so I ate it. I was also asked a zillion times about the medication I take, and I was told I would be that medication while in the hospital...that didn't happen either.
In the meantime, my hand started to swell from the IV, and I had already told my MIA nurse that the IV was a problem at 7am. It's noon now, and my hand is double it's normal size, so I asked a nurse who was assigned to another patient to look at my hand. He undid the saline IV and gave me a bag of ice for my hand, and told me he would tell my nurse to come and start another IV. 1pm...my surgeon doesn't show up for our appointment. 3pm..still haven't seem my RN since 7am. 4pm...I call the hospital's patient advocate and complain about the nursing staff. 4:15...my MIA RN miraculously appears, along with the charge nurse. I tell the RN I don't want anything done with the IV until I talk to my surgeon and patient advocate, but she wants to start a new IV. 4:25 RN comes back and insists on starting a new IV, so I relent. I am dehydrated, so she can't find a vein, so I tell her to stop.
4:30 surgeon finally shows up and explains why I have a catheter, which I'd been asking about all day. Apparently she explained everything to me the night before, just after surgery, when I was drugged out of my mind :eyes: She explains that she nicked my bladder and had to call in a bladder surgeon to repair it, hence the catheter, which I will have one a week to 10 days. great...fucking great.
Surgeon wants me to stay another night in the hospital, but I am reluctant. I told her if she could find me another room, I would stay, because trying to sleep in that room with four patients divided by curtains was impossible.
By now...everything is as it should be. I have the right meals, and the right meds, and the MIA RN is stopping by regularly. They couldn't find me another room, but I decided to stay anyway...just to make sure I was stable enough to leave the next day.
I awoke the next morning feeling well enough to take a few laps around the nurses station, and thankfully, my surgeon showed up on time to discharge me. But alas, the MIA nurse had to be called three times before she showed up to show me how to use the catheter. They released with a foley bag which strapped to my leg. However, as I learned the first night, the bag had to be changed every three hours...so much for a good night's sleep. A friend brought me a bigger bag the next day, so now I can sleep through the night.
I hope I have described the comedy of errors that my stay in the hospital was. I thank god that my niece, who just finished nursing school, was there to be an advocate for me. God knows what might have happened if she wasn't there.
I am home resting and feeling stronger every day. Thank god I survived my stay in the hospital.

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Good for you! Continue to get stronger.

You had a horror story of incompetence. And we have the best in the world, right?

You did good and having advocates for you helped.

Bless you!

[noiretextatique]

4. if that is the "best in the world"

:wow: and this was a "rated" hospital, as my niece told me. i am doing great...i survived the hospital :woohoo: healing is a breeze compared to that :hi:

[elleng]

18. Rated WHAT? By whom?

[noiretextatique]

21. good question

http://www.altabatessummit.org/quality/

[elleng]

23. Looks like 'statistics.'

They'll tell one anything one wants to hear. So sorry about your stay.

Congrats on your progress!

[noiretextatique]

25. been through worse, believe it or not

that's why i know to question everything. i never understood those who have blind faith in humans with the letters MD behind their names, after my experience with breast cancer, i know you absolutely have to be responsible for your healthcare and not just "listen to the doctor." sometimes, the doctor doesn't know wtf s/he's talking about, and sometimes the doctor wants to make a quick buck.

[elleng]

35. I confirmed last year what I 'knew,' when my mother became ill.

Everyone must have an 'advocate,' and assume NOTHING!

[noiretextatique]

36. thank goodness for my advocate

a friend of mine literally stopped me from doing a type of radiation that would not have been the best option for me.
i am the first person mentioned in the story.
http://www.americanscientist.org/science/id.5023,content.true,css.print/science.aspx

[Bozita]

31. A "LeapFrog Top Hospital for Safety and Quality" award does not inspire confidence

It sounds like an award for skipping over things.

And, ... why didn't they get one last year?

[noiretextatique]

33. another good question

:rofl:

[Jane Austin]

2. Be sure to get lots of rest and don't try to rush things.

If you really take it easy for a few weeks, that will pay off in your ability to heal properly.

Just because you look normal on the outside don't assume your good as new inside yet.

Glad to hear you are home and healing.

[noiretextatique]

5. i am taking it slow, which is hard for me

but i do realize i need to let my insides heal, even though i feel good. thanks.

[Jane Austin]

20. All the more important to put the brakes on.

You'll want to get busy with something and it'll set you back in the long run.

[noiretextatique]

22. i am forcing myself to do nothing today, tomorrow and tuesday

since i have to go out on wednesday. good advice, and i will heed it...thanks.

[sakabatou]

3. Well... not as bad as my hospital stay in Dec. '06

I think.

[noiretextatique]

37. would love to hear about it

if you care to share.

[sakabatou]

47. 1 week of being in the hospital

after a seizure that caused deep scaring in the back of my brain.

[tavalon]

6. I'm a nurse of 20 years and this year I got to experience

the fractured world of Medical Surgical as a patient. I recognize so much of what you're talking about. I also know what they are doing to staff to make it impossible to do our jobs with the kind of compassion that we all started with. The powers that be don't care that you have a nurse who has few enough patients to take care of them adequately. We have showed time and again if there are enough RNs at the bedside, life threatening complications can and often do get caught before killing a patient.

My first morning I was served pancakes. I have celiac. Anyway, I didn't have your fortitude.They wanted to keep me another day and I decided I didn't want to play the roulette game.

[noiretextatique]

11. the RNs told me they were overwhelemed by their patient loads

and i am totally sympathetic. i really wasn't as critical as some other patients, but still...i deserved proper care too. i forgot to mention the faulty equipment the CNAs used that kept giving horrifically low blood pressure readings :7 a few of the CNAs said they would call the RN for another reading, but most just wrote down the crazy readings.

[Ms. Toad]

50. Our family policy is that no one who is not capable

fending for themselves stays in the hospital alone. Period. Not capable of fending for themselves includes being out of it on pain meds, being too young to understand what is going on, being too old to understand what is going on, etc.

I was hospitalized in 1988 for a month. I was not really sick enough to belong in a hospital, but I had to be on a pump IV (and have multiple blood draws daily) so I couldn't go home. Because I wasn't really sick, the full impact of how overworked the nursing staff is - and how reluctant they are to admit that they need extra help - was abundantly apparent to me. Several family members of my various roommates during the time asked the nurse if they should have someone stay with their loved one (who they found sitting in her own fecal matter when they arrived - for example). The nursing staff invariably said "no." I took the family members aside and let them know they really did need to have someone there.

Since that time, only fully alert and able to be assertive family members of mine have ever been allowed to stay in the hospital alone.

(The nurses were doing the best they could - there were just not enough time for each of them to take care of all of the patients they were responsible for caring for.)

[asjr]

7. That whole episode took me back to 1972!

The year of infamy!

[secondwind]

8. sending all my best wishes to you, for a safe and complete recovery.....and for

a Happy Holiday season!!!

Cheers!

[endless october]

9. i hope that you feel much better soon.

hang in there.

[madrchsod]

10. my wife works with a woman who had an iv disaster

she was given an iv and three days later her arm was twice the size. she was a heavy person so nothing showed up until that time. her doctor told her there is a good chance of permanent injury to her hand or arm. he also gave her the name of a very good lawyer....

good to hear you are recovering from purgatory hospital

[Blue Diadem]

12. I hear ya! I'm 5 weeks post abdominal hysterectomy. My insurance wouldn't pay for

the hospital that has the da Vinci robotic system, even though that is what my Dr. thought would be best for me.

My hospital stay was awful too. My Dr. had a fit the day after surgery when she came in that evening and I was still hooked up to everything and they hadn't got me out of bed yet. She said she had left very clear instructions that it was to be that morning if I was doing well and had even written in those instructions that if they had any questions to call her at the office. Well,after my Dr. chewed them out, they pulled out everything and as the nurse left the room, she told me I could get up and get cleaned up now. It's been a while since I've had surgery before this, but it used to be they didn't want you to get up by yourself that first time unless they were there with you. Two hours later the nurse returned and was surprised I had cleaned up and asked where I got a towel and soap! I told her my room mate, who had left earlier that day, told me she found out they were in the corner storage cabinet. Nights were the worst with patients hollering out in pain, alarms going off and not enough nurses to check on patients.

Luckily my Dr. released me from that hell on the morning of day 3. Two nights were more than enough for me.

I know someone who works at that hospital and she told me that none of it surprised her. She works on another floor and told me she'd heard some bad things about the surgical floor but didn't want to say anything because she knew my insurance was forcing me to go there. She said their hospital is the only one in our area that is profitable right now and that most likely under staffing contributes to it.

Take care of yourself, follow Drs orders and don't overdo. There's a good site called hystersisters that you might want to check out.

[noiretextatique]

13. sounds so familiar

a shared nightmare :hug: at least they didn't nick your bladder, so be thankful for that. the alarms...geez, you couldn't even tell which ones were ringing or if they all were. thanks for the website and the advice.

[Shagbark Hickory]

14. And if you thought that was a nightmare.... wait until you have to start dealing w/the insurance co

[noiretextatique]

15. HMO should cover everything

i will find out if they do.

[Shagbark Hickory]

16. What's important is that you get well. I'm glad that you survived.

Best not to think about insurance at a time like this.

[noiretextatique]

17. i am not worried about it at all

just happy i survived the hospital :hi:

[NMMNG]

19. Get well soon!

And you're just lucky we don't have that socialized healthcare stuff or you would have been a gonner. ;-)

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. When I had my hysterectomy I developed pneumonia

The doctor ordered an xray and some hospital employee showed up to take me to get the xray. I was very sick and could barely move so they put me in a wheelchair. The guy pushing it was going really fast and I asked him twice to slow down, that I was getting dizzy. He put me on the elevator and when it stopped he pushed the wheelchair pretty roughly out of the elevator. My hospital gown got stuck under the wheel and he came around front to pull it out and as soon as he leaned over, I puked all over him.

I said "I tried to tell you to slow down".

Never felt bad about puking on that guy. LOL

[noiretextatique]

27. the fucker deserved it...instant karma

oddly enough, after i got a huge bouquet of roses and tulips from a friend, i got a lot more attention from the nurses. of course they were more interested in my flowers than me, but it did help :7 glad you got through that experience. i was concerned about pneumonia, but so far, so good.

[proud2BlibKansan]

29. Oh I am sure you're fine now

Pneumonia is a side effect of the anesthesia in surgery.

And by the way, I tell all younger women to get a hysterectomy when they are done having babies. It's one of the best things that ever happened to me. Life post womb rocks!

[noiretextatique]

32. all the women who've had hysterectomies say it was the best thing they ever did

:thumbsup: in my case, it was more a preventative measure, since i had breast cancer. i had a uterine ultrasound because i take tamoxifen, and when they found the fibroids i was :woohoo: tamoxifen can cause uterine cancer, but the insurance company would not approve the hysterectomy until i had fng fibroids. what a screwy system we have.

[EFerrari]

26. I'm so glad your niece was there.

Get well, noiretex. :hug:

[noiretextatique]

28. feeling good, my friend

so glad my niece was there watching them all like a hawk and questioning everything. she's my girl. i am feeling good :hi:

[cry baby]

30. good grief, what an ordeal!! Glad you're feeling better! nt

[ohheckyeah]

34. That's terrible. I'm sorry you had a rough time.

When I had a hysterectomy the hospital was renovating some of the rooms on the ward I normally would have been put on so they put me on a heart patient ward. The nurses loved having something different to deal with and were in and out of my room all the time. I was a novelty I guess. Back then they kept you for 4 or 5 days.

[noiretextatique]

38. lucky you

i realize i was not as critical as some other patients, but damn...can't a woman get basic care? i am glad your hospital stay was more pleasant than mine. the flowers did help though. a friend sent me a huge bouquet of roses and lilies, so all the nurses came to gawk at them :7

[ohheckyeah]

40. I really was lucky, but I had other hospital experiences

that sucked eggs. Sent home to miscarry because the pregnancy test was borderline? What the hell is a borderline pregnancy test?

You were critical enough to get some damn attention. A hysterectomy is no walk in the park and there can be lots of complications as you unfortunately found out.

Be sure to take it easy and take good care of yourself. Your body needs rest more than anything else right now. I'll send you some happy thoughts.

:pals:

[noiretextatique]

41. never heard of borderline pregnant

:wtf: thanks...speaking of rest, i should probably get some now :hug:

[ohheckyeah]

49. WTF indeed.

Sleep well.

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. Two comments

YOU ALWAYS need an advocate while in a hospital, this goes anywhere in the world.

You got an idiot for an RN... but it could also be under-staffing. You were stable... she\he spent more time with less stable patients. Not justifying it, but this is happening A LOT.

But for anybody who needs to go to the hospital ANYWHERE in the world, make sure there is an advocate by you.

[noiretextatique]

42. she told me she had so many patients

that she had to deal with the most critical ones. she was a visiting nurse, and she said the regular staff dumped all the patients on the visiting nurses. i don't blame her now that i know how overwhelmed she was. and...when i really got frustrated, i just zapped myself with some pain meds and dosed off. two of the three women in the room seemed a lot more critical than i, so i didn't mind that they got some attention...they needed it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. You got to see, first hand, why the sytem is collapsing

reason number insert number here.

And that is one thing that in my view needs to be corrected ASAP and FU to profits. Patient safety is at stake. We need REASONABLE patient nurse levels.

[noiretextatique]

44. i totally agree eom

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. Now get healthy there

:hi:

Me, need to fly home as mom needs to go to the spital... on the bright side hospitals in Mexico have a better ratio...

[noiretextatique]

46. thanks...hitting the hay soon

did more today because i felt good, but will make it up with rest all day tomorrow. good luck with your mother :hi:

[Hekate]

48. Swift and gentle healing to you, noiretextatique. I'm glad you came out of that okay! nt

[Obamanaut]

51. self delete

[malaise]

52. Get well soon

What a disaster. :grouphug:

[HamdenRice]

53. Sorry to hear you've been sick -- and best wishes for a quick, painless recovery! nt

[Tracer]

54. Hi Noire...

I realize that people on this board prefer to read the horror stories, it's far more entertaining.

And a post about a GOOD hospital stay will disappear faster than a chocolate cupcake.

My THIRD operation in July was one of the good ones. Wonderful surgeon, attentive nurses, private room, and a quick and easy recovery.

(And judging from the dead calm on my floor, nobody seemed overworked, either.)

[noiretextatique]

57. hi Tracer

:hi: nice to see you. i also had another hospital stay that went smoothly, so i appreciate your post.

:rant:
we need to take the profit motive out the health care: bottom line. it is not unreasonable to expect at least a basic standard for health care services when you need them...especially when you are paying for those services. as a customer, i'd have to give my hospital a big, fat, F for its standards and services. it was total chaos in there, and it was totally unacceptable. there weren't enough nurses, the equipment was either faulty or the CNAs didn't know how to use it, and there was ZERO accountability. and i am not so sure that patients who were more critical than yours truly were treated any better than i was...i certainly hope so. many of the RNs were contractors from alabama, and they didn't even know where the supplies were! i shared my story to illustrate the need for real health care reform.

btw, my surgery was the option i chose after some fibroids were discovered in my uterus. since i'm on tamoxifen, which can cause uterine cancer, i was happy this opportunity came along, because the insurance company would mot authorize the removal of some potentially troublesome organs until i actually developed uterine cancer, or ovarian cancer, or cervical cancer. if you are on tamoxifen, you should have the option to have your uterus removed. you shouldn't have to wait to develop uterine cancer. especially since the treatment for uterine cancer, if caught earlier enough, is the removal of the uterus.

[TwilightGardener]

55. Geez, you had a much worse experience than I did--that's a shame.

I had an abdominal hysterectomy for fibroids two months ago, and overall it went pretty smoothly--as a former nurse myself, I thought the staff was mostly competent and friendly. Only downside was waking up in pain in post anesthesia recovery, the nurse there kept yelling at me because I was moving around too much and kept pulling my oxygen mask off to scratch my face (morphine makes me itch like crazy).

One beef, though: they placed me in an OB/GYN-surgery ward meant mostly for c-sections, and the nurses would babysit some of the newborns at the nurses' station, so I heard babies crying at all hours. Now, I'd had my children and I've been done with that phase of life for some time, so it didn't bother me except for the sleep disturbance, but can you imagine how a younger woman who was sad about her hysterectomy might have felt, seeing all the preggos and newborns? Kind of an insensitive room assignment, I thought. General med-surg would have been better--I felt like a red-headed stepchild, especially when a social worker came in to ask about my baby's birth certificate (!) and a priest came in to bless me and afterward mentioned that he hoped my infertility treatments were successful(!!--he probably prayed that I would get pregnant--now THAT would be a miracle with no uterus, LOL). Apparently checking names and procedures and room assignments don't occur to these folks before walking in.

Anyway, sorry about your bladder (what a pain in the ass to have to go home with a foley), but at least you're home--take it easy, don't worry about housework, and take care of yourself. Edit to add: very glad I had the surgery done, no more baseball-sized tumors, no more monthly hemorrhaging and anemia. What a relief!

[LiberalAndProud]

56. Thank goodness for patient advocates.

I'm glad you're home so you can get some rest. I'm so glad you're getting better.