Re: Hospital story/OTHER EXPERIENCES -DEPENDENCE,ECT.

[Guest guest]

,

It looks like if we wait long enough then we do wind up in the hospital and these stories do happen. Maybe we should all get together and write a list to put in our charts or post at the nurses stations about how caring for us is different....tell them what we need and what mistakes they are likely to make if they treat us like everyone else.

Staying out of the hospital would be preferable but not likely due to the enormous list of things that are always going wrong with our uncooperative bodies.

's job confirmation has been put off until a week from tomorrow (Monday the 20 he will have the answer). Well the bill collectors have caught up with us. We got our foreclosure notice on our home telling us to be in court on June 12 to either pay up or get out. We have been living on my disability check since December. has not been able to go to work because of my health and the wolves don't care. They are at the door ready to take what little we have left. When we got home from our 2 day rest in Myrtle Beach, we walked in the house only to find that they had turned off our electricity.

I sure hope he gets the job in Greensboro. I don't know how we will ever escape enough together to move to California, job or not. We have been talking and I think that we will have an estate sale and get rid of everything except family heirlooms and necessities. That should help us for a time. Oh well, it's just things isn't it. Replaceable things. We have each other and at least he has his health and we have insurance through COBRA until August and we have our faith in God and believe he must know what he is doing ..... because we sure don't.

Anyway, I didn't mean to get sidetracked but I guess I needed to for the moment.

Have a Happy Mother's Day everyone,

Deborah Setzer

aka Tenacity Wins

> >

> > Belinda,

> >

> > Hang in there. It is not fun being so darn dependent on

everyone. Every

> > time I tell I will be just fine if he leaves for a little

while,

> > something always happens. It did while in the hospital.

> >

> > had had a very long week worrying about me in the

hospital so I

> > told him it would be fine for him to go home and get a good

nights rest. He

> > did, at least for a while.

> >

> > I had to get to get the times for what happened off of

my chart

> > because they were elusive to me. About 10 PM, the aid came in to

take my bp

> > and temp. I was asleep and they woke me. Problem is that I woke

having a

> > freezing spell. I could not move, talk or open my eyes but I

heard

> > everything that was being said. They asked me about what was

wrong, told me

> > that they had to take my vitals and then asked if I wanted them

to call my

> > husband. I could not respond. They left the room.

> >

> > About 15 minutes later, I heard 2 voices in the room. They were

back with

> > their bp and temp thingy. Again, I still could not respond.

They talked to

> > me and then pulled my arm out from under the covers and shoved the

> > thermometer in my mouth. Did their thing and then left the

room. My arm

> > was frozen in the position that they had left it in. I had

forgotten to

> > take my Sinemet at 8 pm and think that I may have also forgotten

to take it

> > at 4 pm.

> >

> > I was getting very uncomfortable at this point. I tried and

tried to move

> > to no avail. I did work up to being able to use my voice a

little and

> > started calling out to them. They did not come. Somehow, I

managed to get

> > two fingers on my left hand to work and pulled my body on its

side and

> > somehow got my legs off of the side of the bed so that I could

stay in that

> > position to try to open the drawer next to the bed which held my

> > short-acting Sinemet and get close to the phone.

> >

> > My grasp for the phone was unsuccessful and it fell to the

floor. Still I

> > cried out, my voice getting a little stronger by now but no one

came. I

> > clawed at the drawer for what seemed to be an eternity. I guess

over an

> > hour had passed before I got the drawer open. When I tried to

get my

> > Sinemet, it too fell to the floor. Somehow, I knew I had to get

to the

> > pills and the phone. I managed to maneuver my non-compliant body

over the

> > edge of the bed and fell to the floor. I took the phone and

tried calling

> > 911 (which could not be done at this hospital). I continued to

cry out for

> > help. I even yelled fire. No one came.

> >

> > With only 2 fingers working, I pulled the phone under my head

and called

> > my husband who realized that I was indeed in trouble. He says

that the call

> > to him came around Midnight. He did not get to the hospital

until 1:20 AM

> > where he found me on the floor, covers wrapped around my ankles

and pills

> > scattered all around me. I had managed to get the bottle open

using my chin

> > and had to lick 2 pills up off the floor to get them into my

mouth.

> >

> > The horror of it all was that somewhere between my reaching

and his

> > arrival, the nurses did indeed hear my cry's. I could hear them

laughing

> > and saying "Now she wants us...ha ha ha."

> >

> > They never once responded to me, nor did they come to the room

to check on

> > me. They were having a grand time telling everyone what a non-

compliant,

> > b**** of a patient that I was.

> >

> > got there and saw me on the floor with the pills all

me. He yelled

> > for the nurses who came in the room. says that they were

more

> > interested in covering my bare ass than they were in getting me

back into

> > bed. I was dehydrated by that time and terrified. I can

understand

> > ignorance but cruelty is a different story.

> >

> > The charge nurse came in the next morning and a full report was

filed. I

> > never saw the nurse who did this to me again and hope that she

lost her job.

> >

> > Moral to the story. If you go into the hospital, make sure

that they know

> > that if the person with the disease does not respond, it is

because of the

> > disease, not because they are being difficult. I wound up with

bruises on

> > my elbow from the fall and yet another nightmare experience to

tell of

> > hospitalizations.

> >

> > After talking to my PCP the next morning. Orders on my chart

were changed

> > where I had to be checked on at least every 2 hours and exactly

what I was

> > doing when they checked on me documented. 2 am, lying on left

side, 4 am,

> > lying on right side, etc. I received very good care before and

after this

> > incident. But folks, it only takes one ignorant person to mess

everything

> > up and leave you in harms way.

> >

> > Deborah aka Tenacity

> >

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