Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[rhoda_bruce]

When DH was in ICU, after his heart attack, we so happened to both be in the middle of a novena and we saw no reason to not complete them, so we were both assisting each other with each our respective prayers but DH, always the kidder, was picking on me, while I was trying to say my prayers and I never missed a word, but just picked up his IV line and began to put it in a kink (not completely), which caused painful laughter, so I stopped and told him to behave and let me pray.
Britesea....that would be an unforgetably, humbeling experience, for me. But I'm usually pretty good about catheterizing females. We aren't all text book perfect, so I like to make sure everything is in a good clean way, before I even pretend to look sterile and a flashlight is a wonderful thing and once, I know for sure exactly what is what, I say,"Oh, I can get that" or else, I might say,"Hmmmm....I think its right, here...lemme give it a try." But so long as everything is as clean and dry as possible and I have everything where I can see it, its usually good.
To tell the truth, I prefer doing men, except I feel so sorry for them because it traumatizes them so much. Not much can go wrong, so long as there isn't anything wrong with their prostate.

 

[Britesea]

I have to admit I never thought about what the nurse must have been feeling about that, it was just so funny that she came up with that. I wish I had a quick wit like her, but mine is more like a "3-in-the-morning-why-didn't-I-think-to-say-that?" kind of wit

 

[hqueen13]

Lol hilarious. Nurses and paramedics tell the funniest stories!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Well, we had a slight bump in the road with DH's recovery. Wednesday morning at 3am we headed back to the ER. DH had felt bad all day, very tired and became short of breath. He got on the scale and noticed that he'd gained almost 7 lbs in 2 days. Classic signs of fluid retention - so off we went. They started him on Lasix and decided to keep him for observation...ugh. He started feeling better almost immediately and we really wanted to go home. The only real issue we were having was that his blood sugar was running high...stress does that to him. So... Wednesday night they gave him his overnight dose of insulin as usual. For whatever reason (mostly because he is a very a-typical diabetic) his blood sugar bottomed out in the 20s.... very, very bad news.

I am so glad I decided to stay the night even though he was pushing me to go home because I woke up after hearing him moaning in his sleep. As soon as I put my hand on him I could feel that he was drenched in sweat and I knew immediately this was an emergency situation. I grabbed a high sugar energy bar that we carry for these situations, and he was able to get a few bites down but he was in such bad shape that I was worried he would choke.... Now - big question is why didn't I immediately start screaming for a nurse? I think because I was wrenched out of a solid sleep that I went into auto-pilot mode and started treating him like I would have at home. After a couple minutes I finally figured out that I needed to get more help for him. Got a nurses attention and they immediately called the Rapid Response team and within a couple minutes there was a room full of people.

Orange juice would have been great but do you think there was any on that floor anywhere? Nope. It took them a few more minutes to find any Glucophage for injection...and even more for an IV push. I told them and told them when we were admitted that even though we were there because of his heart surgery that I worry more about his diabetes. And, dang it, the diabetes nearly claimed him that night. I've seen him in some very bad hypoglycemic episodes, but this one was the worst one I've ever seen. He was passed out for most of it and I was terrified that he wasn't going to wake up.

When the nurse decided later to fuss at me for not calling them as soon as I woke up - I fussed right back at her and asked why somebody didn't check his flippin' blood sugar! She decided that was not a fight she wanted to get into with me at that time. I had made a mental note to check his blood sugar at midnight, and I kick myself for falling asleep and missing that opportunity. It would probably have saved him from all that, because it was about 1am that he bottomed out. I know that nurses follow doc orders, but they do have some leeway to do simple things like check a blood sugar.... especially after I warned them repeatedly about how brittle he is. It is also the reason that we never go anywhere without his test kit, insulin and energy bars, peppermints and anything else sugary.

He slept most of yesterday and we finally got discharged late yesterday afternoon. After a good nights sleep he feels great this morning. I am constantly amazed at what the body can tolerate and come back from. God is great!

In farm news: Thankfully, the doe that is due anytime is still due anytime and didn't have to deliver all on her own. Not that she couldn't do it...mother nature is pretty good at her job...but I'm glad that I will likely be here for the delivery. Should be soon.

Today's plan is to get few tomato plants in their new home today. I'm hoping and praying that our cold weather is finished. Time will tell I guess - but those plants are moving out of the garage today either way, lol.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Oh my!!! Seems like they would have just hit him with glucogon, IM. I have saved a few with it. Only thing I don't like about it, is it takes a bit longer to mix than I'd care for.
Well, I guess he's not quite out of the woods yet then. Sorry to hear.
My dumb husband doesn't take care of himself at all (well for some things....and others no). He just got a new tattoo right over his defibrillator, which reads "NOT TODAY"

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Today has been a good day... it takes him a bit to recover from a low bs so we slept late this morning. It was good to spend the night in our own bed! Thankfully, his heart is strong! He never had a heart attack and this surgery was to prevent one.

Rhoda, it was like a nightmare! There was no orange juice on the unit... they did finally come up with some IM glucagon. None of what they did was timely. I had already given him a high energy bar and when I couldn't find any OJ on the unit I dissolved some sugar in some hot water and gave him that.

They had removed his existing IV a couple hours earlier because the magnesium they ran through it gave him big problems. Mostly they figured we'd be released the next morning so why start another one - AND - DH is such a hard stick he refused their offer to start one anyway. His bad on that one!

When the Rapid Response team arrived (which consists of anesthesia, respiratory therapy and who knows who else) the anesthesia folks were in charge of starting a new IV. There were nurses on both arms trying to get the IV started. One after the other would say "I've got it" only to have the vein blow... more times than I can count. At one point DH (who is a an RN himself that excels in folks who are hard sticks) rallied enough to say "I'm *ucked up and I could do a better job than all of you put together!" I was embarrassed and proud of him all at the same time!

Anyway - right now he is good (!) and I'm grateful for that!

 

[Britesea]

so glad he's better! I wonder sometimes about the training nurses get these days.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

When DH first began having symptoms of being a cardiac patient, he should have had a few diagnostic tests done. perhaps, he could have had the angioplasty done, before having the heart attack. Then he wouldn't need a defribulator. But he hasn't learned his lesson
I understand what your hubby means. I have refused to leave the room for certain procedures, to be done on my family members and have looked directly at them and said,"If I'm not here watching, then how do I know if you are doing the procedure correctly?" to which, I normally see wide eyes. I have also had babies and when nurses trying to remove my catheter, when I didn't have enough output, start in on them,"You haven't even massaged my fundus, monitored my loctia or checked my vitals and if I can't void and you try to come in here to catheterize me again, you going to hear some crap!!!"

 

[frustratedearthmother]

The angioplasty is what really told us what was going on. And, the best thing is that in many cases they can go through the wrist now. DH has had them both ways and the wrist is sooooo much better.

Today was great! It was almost like a pre-surgery day. We went to town and ran some errands and DH got a haircut. He feels almost human again. We went to Wally world and he walked through the whole store with me - even though he got a little fatigued. Not surprising since he's only 12 days post-op and only 3 days from his last hospitalization. He did recover nicely and even helped do a few things when we got home.

I weeded one of the raised beds and managed to stick a few more seeds in the ground today. Dirt under my fingernails - is there anything better?

I'm on a mission to get my chicken breeds caught up and put into separate pens. So far, I've almost got one breed caught and penned - big whoop. And, while I was doing that I made a weird discovery. One of my Red Dorking hens has spurs! I've never seen a hen with spurs. I came in and did a little research and it seems it isn't all that unusual, but it was unusual here!

Picked up some feed while I was in town....and wouldn't ya know it... I grabbed alfalfa cubes instead of pellets. Argh! However, I soaked them in some water and broke 'em up and the goats scarfed 'em right up.

Still on baby watch. Sparkle, the doe that is closest is on day 151. Spooky kidded on day 152, so hopefully Sparkle will go tomorrow. Splash will hit 145 days on Friday - dang I hope she goes before next weekend is over. I'm on Spring Break this upcoming week so thankfully I don't have to use up 40 hours of sick time.

 

[hqueen13]

So glad he recovered! What a scary thing! The body is amazing isn't it!