“Hospitals are only an intermediate stage of civilization”

“Hospitals are only an intermediate stage of civilization” -- Florence Nightingale


Day 2 AS - Thursday, September 23

This was probably the most discouraging day of my stay -- I remember asking my surgeon why on earth I had done this when she came by to visit me. I had the highest fever of my stay, was the most swollen, was leaking gobs from the drain site and just overall felt crappy. She sidestepped my question and gave me the expected bad news that all these symptoms were leading me to at least one more day in the hospital -- to be reviewed each day, one day at a time. I bitched about the chair situation.

Her response was as you'd expect very measured -- let's see what we can do to fix all this. Gave me some heavy duty Tylenol with hydrodone liquid to bring down my temperature and help relieve the pain. Ordered IV Lasik to make me pee -- and boy did that every work. I lost more than 10 pounds of fluids that day! I finally farted and better yet started to have diarrhea. Kind of gross I know, but what an incredible relief to the abdominal pain did just that prove to be!!

After that I started my quest for a decent chair with the day RN. For hours she looked to no avail -- so engaged her charge nurse in the quest. Unbeknownst to me at the time that charge nurse had had this procedure herself 3 years ago (and looks fabulous I might add!) and was instrumental in the ordering of the 2 whole bariatric chairs the hosptal had. Pleasantonians must be a lot smaller than Oaklandians -- I remember there they had several suites dedicated to bariatric patients with appropriate beds, toilets and chairs as required for COE certification.

Several hours later -- success! She found one of her chairs in the ICU waiting room and stole it back. Crazy, isn't it? Got it aounrd 4 PM -- and although a bit low to the ground it was a blessed relief to the too big wheelchair.

Early that morning I met the biggest ray of sunshine in the hospital -- my CNA was fabulous. She probably spent 1/3 of her shift with me, cheering and encouraging me every step along the way.

Without presenting to graphic of a picture -- once my bowels restarted there's been no stopping them! I could not bend in the middle yet, hence I could not clean myself. She very matter of factly handled the issue for me every time I needed her -- and later came back to administer a blessed sponge bath.

I also told her my fear of getting back in bed and potentially getting Nurse Ratched again that night. She said not to worry -- she'd make sure that didn't happen, and sure enough she did! My day RN came in and asked me about her -- told me she'd talk to the charge nurse and did. She came back and let me know we were "safe" that night and that I could rest assured if I spent any others there I wouldn't see either Nurse Ratched or the lazy CNA. The RNs and CNAs circled their wagons it seemed to make sure nothing like that happened again while I was there.

3 of the RNs on the floor have had this same procedure performed, and the lovely CNA shared their success stories -- very sweet.

John had to leave for a few hours around 3 to hand off Tasters Guild materials to Jerry for the Guild's dinner that night. What wonderful friends we have in that group! Carol, Jerry, David, and Ray all went beyond the call of duty to make sure the group had a good night without either of us and so John could come back and be with me. I can't begin to tell you what an incredible champion/help mate John has been. I am truly blessed in my partner. You definitely need an advocate in the hospital, and he was with me every tiny step along the way helping to make me as comfortable as possible.

The lovely CNA started negotiating with me to go back to bed -- I really did need to elevate my feet. I totally trusted her, so with her help went back to bed -- she turned off the light, put the call bell right next to my hand and promised to come back to help me up before her shift ended at 7. And sure enough she did.

The only down side was when John got back she had closed my door, so we didn't want to disturb me not knowing what was going on behind that closed door. He ate his dinner in the hall, and then she came by to help me up and we spent a few more hours together.

The night RN had too big of a patient load that night as the hospital filled up -- 5 patients including 2 new admissions. The night charge nurse came by and chatted about Nurse Ratched -- told me I should definitely have complained and that I should spread the gospel that even if it's just a personality conflict as patients we have rights to care we're comfortable with.

Given the RN was so busy, the charge nurse personally took me on! :) She helped me in and out of bed that night, as well as found a new bed that worked and traded it out in the middle of the night -- there's a program that helps prevent pressure sores and the one on my bed had crapped out.

The only negtive that night was that a different RN came by to "borrow" my good chair for another patient. Wanting to help him, I said sure, but I needed it back at 5 AM. Suffice it to say I never did get it back -- sigh,