Quail_Antwerp: Words from the Barnyard...

[keljonma]

I am glad to hear you are both home! I'm sure you're glad to be back with the little darlings.

I can send ya some of dh's ear plugs, so E can block out unwanted "noise" if you like.... Try to let it go and let God handle it.....

Congratulations on the 2 Black Copper Maran and 1 Speckled Sussex hatchlings!

We're praying.....

 

[Tallman]

Tallman, I am sorry I had to end our phone call so abruptly. Ernie and I both enjoyed our conversation with you.

Absolutely no problem Quail. It was fun!!! So glad your home and on the mend.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Well, looks like I've got some time. Our bed isn't going to work for Ernie, so we've fixed up a bedroom of sorts in the livingroom for him. Our nephew is being a big help by assisting Ernie with standing/sitting. He also helped me with making a "bed" for Ernie in the livingroom.

I don't see us getting much sleep for awhile.

Couple stories about our hospital stay.

When they first took Ernie in, they told us it would be a 2-3 hour surgery. Six hours later the doctor finally came out and said that everything had gone as planned.

They sent me upstairs to his private room after he'd been in recovery for an hour. When I got up there, he was in quite a mood! He was still under the influence of the anesthesia, but he was quite sure he wasn't as far up in the bed as he could be, and he was being quite demanding and telling them he needed to be moved UP in the bed. We all tried to tell him that he was at the top of the bed.

They had him on a morphine pump, set for every 30 minutes he could hit the button to get a dose. He was hammering that thing every 30 minutes the first few hours, but by the time we were getting ready for bed, he was only pushing the button every hour or so.

Some of the hospital staff left a lot to be desired. Ernie was in the bathroom, and he pulled the nurse's cord because he needed help. I saw the light go off on his bed, so I ran to the bathroom to see what he needed. He told me, and I knew the nurse would need to handle the problem. I said she should be here quick since you pulled the bathroom cord. Ten minutes pass, no nurse. I ran out the door and to the nurse's station and explained the problem. She said Ok hon, I'll be there in a minute. I run back to Ernie's room, 10 more minutes goes by, and still NO NURSE.

So I took care of what he needed help with myself.

The first night after his surgery, I am ashamed to admit once I had fallen asleep I crashed hard. Ernie needs help turning over, so instead of trying to wake me up, he paged for the nurse. He said he waited and waited and waited. Finally he started calling my name, and I don't know how long he called for me before I woke up, but when I finally heard him and got up, he was crying and kept saying he called the nurse, but they didn't come, and then he kept calling me, and it took forever to wake me up. I felt so bad. I got up and helped him turn.

There was also a miscommunication regarding his pain meds. They came in and told us they were going to start him on oral meds and remove the morphine from his IV. We said ok. They told us he would get the first dose of oral meds before they took the morphine away. Not even an hour later, the morphine syringe was empty, so a completely different nurse came in and removed it. Several hours later he was really starting to hurt, so we paged the nurse and asked where his pain meds were. She came in and wanted to know where his morphine was. We told her that the other nurse removed it because it was empty. So she went and got him the oral meds. Six hours later he was hurting bad again, so we paged again and asked when would he get his next dose. They told us, "Oh, it's as needed. He has to ask us for his pain meds as long as it isn't less than 4 hours from the last dose."

Yes, I got a bit snippy and asked her, "Why didn't someone tell us that he had to ask or that it was as needed?" She looked at me funny and said, "Didn't she tell you he was going to oral meds?" And I said, "Yes, but she didn't tell us they were as needed, and that he'd have to page for his meds when he feels he needs them." So I kept track of the time after that, and every 4 hours on the dot we paged for his pain meds.

When Ernie's lunch was delivered yesterday, he paged his nurse to come help us sit him up in the bed. I am not able to lift Ernie by myself, although I did try. He was way down in the bed, and needed to be moved up so he could sit up. The nurse didn't come. We waited for an hour. Nutrition came to the room to get his tray, and we told them he hadn't got to eat it yet. So she left. I then went out to the hallway and found these two big guys...One was from housekeeping and the other was a patient transport. I asked them if they would help me move Ernie up in the bed since the nurse never came. The big guy who helped transport patients was a body builder, and he just lifted Ernie right up in that bed by himself! I wanted to bring that boy home with us!!

The doctor came in yesterday and wanted to know where Ernie's back brace was, as it was supposed to be there on Tuesday. They had just sent the order out on Wednesday! Ernie's doctor was NOT a happy camper. Wednesday at 4 pm his back brace finally arrived, and the guy who brought it fitted it to him, and put it on him the first time. He talked me through the process and showed me how to assist him with putting it on. He told us to take it off when Ernie is laying down, he only needs it for sitting up and walking.

The guy then helped me put Ernie in the chair next to his bed. Ernie was thrilled to be in a chair instead of his bed. It was while he was in the chair that Tallman called. We were having a pleasant conversation when Ernie's eyes suddenly rolled to the back of his head, and I thought he was going to pass out. I hurriedly got off the phone and paged the nurse, and by the time the nurse go there, I had Ernie back in his bed. He was breaking out in a sweat and was very light headed. Come to find out, it was a bad reaction to the steroids they had him on for inflammation. They didn't give him anymore and stopped the steroids immediately.

We were very happy to come home today, and the kids were all very happy to see us. My nephew has said he'll take the night shift with Ernie so I can get some sleep, and I'll have the day shift. Right now I'm just waiting until it's time for Ernie's next pain pill, and then I am calling it a night.

 

[Farmfresh]

So ... hospital business as usual I see.

Overworked, under staffed and under paid - this helps them all achieve the "who gives a _hit" attitude that you seem to find at hospitals everywhere now.

We have spent far too much time in hospitals. Hubby had pneumonia, and another time tick fever and his mother was hospitalized three times before she finally died. Then we had visits for both his aunt and his uncle. Unless you bring your own personal care crew you just lay there and suffer. Sad to say this is medicine in America complements of "the lawyers" (have you been injured? Taken a certain drug? Have a birth defect? .... Let us make money by suing somebody- anybody) the "insurance companies" (statistically speaking you only actually need hospital care 23.6 minutes), and "the hospital" (lets not hire any new nurses, if they would apply themselves one nurse should be able to work a 16 hour day and care properly for 25 patients - that will sure help our profit margin!)

At least you are home now and it is over. Get some good rest Quail so you can help Ernie get better fast!

 

[Beekissed]

Aly, glad you and Ernie are home and everything went well. Just imagine what his hospital stay would have been like if you hadn't been there?

I would like to say its because of understaffing and such, and that is definitely part of it, but its also this phenomenon of no one having any pride in their work. No get up and go! You all know the kind.....the person who is there to get paid and is watching the clock for every break, goes out to smoke ten times a day, calls off all the time and barely works when they are there. The one who spends more time getting out of work than actually doing it. The nursing profession is rampant with them! One of the reasons I really hate nursing....... Its one thing to be lazy at a factory, quite another when someone is lying in a bed suffering.

I'll tell you something...if you don't already have one, one of those 3-4 in. memory foam overlays for a mattress has done wonders for my back. They cost about $120-$150, depending on the size of your mattress. One of the best investments I've ever made!

Keep us updated on his progress!

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

I agree that a lot of hospitals are understaffed, and the wing Ernie was in had a total of 12 rooms, all of which were full. They had a staff of 6 working the wing from 7 am to 11:30 pm, and then a staff of four from 11:30pm to 7 am. During the day there were 3 people assigned to Ernie...a nurse, an LPN, and an aid. At night he would have just a nurse and an aid. They worked in teams of 3 during the day, and teams of 2 at night. They split the floor, too. One team would have the left side of the wing and the other would have the right side.

When I say wing, I mean just a long hallway with 12 rooms and a nurses desk.

They were really good about letting me use their phone to call home to check on the kids or to call family/friends to give up dates on Ernie.

One LPN that Ernie had was just phenomenal! We couldn't keep her out of our room if we wanted to! She was constantly running in to see if she could help us with something, and when her shift ended at 2:30 pm, Ernie almost begged her to work a double. Unfortunately we only had her for a few hours on Wednesday and they switched her to another patient.

Another LPN was just a big flirt, and it was more her personality to be outspoken. A few of her jokes were just inapporpriate, and not the proper language for bedside manner. She did her job though, and while she was there Ernie didn't have many problems. But she was the afternoon shift, and most of the problems were the overnight and morning shifts.'

We had not told any of Ernie's family that he was going to have his surgery, with the exception of our nephew of course. My step dad insisted on calling Ernie's dad. I told him fine, go ahead, but I am telling you he really won't care.

I was right. My step dad called my FIL and the FIL called up to the hospital and gave Ernie a lecture for having the surgery, and then bragged up about being with BIL to go pick up a Goldwing. I mean, c'mon!

Ernie didn't let it get him down.

Want to shift gears on ya'll, Ernie and I had a wonderful visit with keljonma and her husband. I don't know where they got the bed they let us sleep on, but it was the most comfortable bed we'd ever been in!

Their kindness to us while we were there really touched Ernie. We really enjoyed our visit, and it helped to distract Ernie for a bit.
We really enjoyed the trip to the lake, and OMG the fish ya'll!!!!! We got to see a beautiful sunset and we did look at a farm house that would have been walking distance to keljonma, but no way would I pay $200,000+ for a place to live.

We visited with the First Ladies, and Sam, the First Rooster, showed me why a rooster stick is necessary. Ernie's favorite of the ladies was Lou, who if I remember correctly is a Black Jersey Giant. He was petting her and commenting on how soft her feathers were.

Another of the first ladies, I'm thinking her name was Pat? but I'm not sure, thought I needed to be bullied, and gave me a good hard peck on my back while I was squatted down to get pictures...Now that I think about it, I might have been Betty?? Keljonma will have to clear that up for me LOL

I am really glad to be home.

We rigged up the bedroom for Ernie this morning. I pulled out an extra twin mattress and set it up ontop of our bed for him. It's much higher now, so he doesn't have to try to lower himself to the bed. He's managed to get comfortable, finally, and is getting some sleep. Wish I had thought of the twin mattress last night!

 

[Tallman]

It was while he was in the chair that Tallman called. We were having a pleasant conversation when Ernie's eyes suddenly rolled to the back of his head, and I thought he was going to pass out. I hurriedly got off the phone and paged the nurse, and by the time the nurse go there, I had Ernie back in his bed. He was breaking out in a sweat and was very light headed. Come to find out, it was a bad reaction to the steroids they had him on for inflammation. They didn't give him anymore and stopped the steroids immediately.

I've been wondering what happened because I knew that you had an emergency. It's a good thing that your home.

I have a good friend who was a doctor on the mission field in Africa for about 20 years. This Harvard grad ran a hospital back in the bush country. One of the most interesting things about that primitive set up was the fact that his hospital basically had no nurses, nutritionist or housekeepers. If I was to enter his hospital, DW would have to come and do all of the nursing duties, cooking and housekeeping around my bed. They did this in order to keep costs down. It sounds like this hospital should adopt the same procedures. It seems that they are very close to having it all set up!

Quail, tell Ernie that I think that he is a very lucky man, and I'm keeping him in my will for a few more days.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Quail, tell Ernie that I think that he is a very lucky man, and I'm keeping him in my will for a few more days.

Sure thing, I'll tell him!

Ernie asked me to pass a message to you for Hardly. "No redheaded nurses, just blonde snobby ones."

 

[justusnak]

Quail...so glad to hear you both are home. What a blessing your nephew is. Im glad he is there to help. I will say a little prayer...for a speedy, and comfortable recovery!

 

[punkin]

So glad you are both back home and Ernie is doing well. It's wonderful that your nephew can help you.

I hope you both get plenty of rest. People mean well, but take the phone off the hook if you have to.