It had to happen. I just was too lucky with the staff here. Not to say that the staff on floor eleven has been slacking, and most others at the hospital have really been great. But I had to postpone an entry from yesterday because I was so upset.
It first started around midnight on Sunday. I was " lying in a hospital bed" with translates to: doing nothing as always. My favorite overnight nurse came in and asked if I wanted to move my CT scan that I had scheduled in the morning (5:30 to 6 a) to an earlier time. To when, I queried? She responded with.....Now. and the test takes only fifteen minutes. I pondered this decision longer than I should have and decided that I would not be a good patient at that time.
They awoke me a little past 4a for meds and to start prepping me for the scan. This meant more needles, latex gloves and tape. If I was into S&M, it would have been fun, but I'm not.....so it sucked as usual. So, since I was ready to go by 430a, they pushed back my pick up time till 11a. I understand that times in testing get flipped around all the time. Besides, this gave me time to catch up on some sitting.
I was dosing off when they stopped to pick me up for the test at 10:10a. I know they said 11, but since I was sleeping, just waiting, I let them slide and went with. On the ride down, I was getting excited because this was the final test before I could go home.
I got in the testing room, and it just felt like amateur hour. People were not sure how or where "people" should go. Since it was just me, it was obvious....."I" go to the small plank on the CT machine. Who am I to talk? I only had this test once before and no formal training. They had no idea what surgery I had because there was no effort in helping sitting me up or lying me down. Not that that bothered me.
So, the nurses are wiring all my monitor wires with disregard because occasionally, one would get stuck on a chest tube (those are used to drain fluid from around the heart) and try to yank it clear. The other nurse is muttering to herself some oral device on how to run the wires, something like "cross the brown trail to get some fire."
Then, they asked if I can put my arms above my head? I was just told not to have my elbows go above my shoulder by the physical therapist. But soon enough, the technician was trying to stretch my arm out to the side like the Da Vinci illustration of man. This action brought some pain, and immediately, I asked if I could try something different. And instead of pulling my arms out to the side, I rolled them up in front of my face, so there would still be a clear path to my chest from all angles. This was only after the tech said, "I don't know why they send people down here if they can't put their arms above their heads." I did not know that my technique was revolutionary and that nobody in that room had thought of doing it this way before, especially for someone who had just had heart surgery.
On top of the arm issue, the ct machine decided to have some issues as well. Though I never got an answer on what happened, I was fully aware of the results as I lie there on the plastic plank for an hour and 45 minutes, 6 X longer than the quoted 15.
After all was said and done, I found myself recounting the story to Kristie in Room 1137 about 2.5 hours after I went on my voyage. And then to the patient relations person later that day who heard of my disdain through an undisclosed source on floor 11. Even though the ordeal cost me time with my aunt who took her time to come down here to spend time with me, I was glad to hear that the hospital representative said that it sounds like they need some more education in that department and that steps would be taken to prevent this in the future.
All in all, this was my first and only glimpse at my time in the hopsital where I could see possible mistakes being made and sloppiness that can occur with patient relations. Because the staff, to this point, has been exceptional in every way.
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