Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Names have been changed to protect... (myself?)

The waiting room was back to normal! I have new housemates and have decided I’m giving them a month of rent for free. I figured since I’m the CEO of the waiting room and since I have issues with sharing our remote, it’s the least I could do for them. After last night, I wish I could revoke the contract and get fines for disobeying the noise ordinances.  There was a lady in the right corner who sounded more like a clogged drain in the bathroom when she snored than anything else. A lady lying on the couch in front of me has the best story to date. She was sleeping with her rear facing us and she was out. She fell asleep early and fast. As we were sitting with our computers and talking, I started to smell something that resembled rotten eggs. I remembered that I ate an omelet for dinner the other day, so I didn’t want to mention anything. However the green cloud of smoke started the suffocate us. I soon realized it was not the smell of raw eggs but it was far worse. I can’t even describe it. I’ve had the opportunity to smell a lot of nasty things anything from sour milk, limburger cheese, cadavers, and a third world country. Mix them together and you may have something that will rival it. I actually had to get up and leave the room, and was still afraid to go back in an hour later. Anyways, thankfully the ceiling tiles we’re singed and the pleather chairs don’t seem to hold in the odor so it’s back to normal.

I woke up this morning to no one in the room, either I was incredibly tired, or they finally listened to my inside voice lecture. I woke up a few times last night and noticed Chris wasn’t in the chair next to me. She had fallen asleep 3-4 times attempting to do her homework on the computer so I assumed she had just gone to bed. When I woke up fully in the morning I text her to see how things were going, and she told me he had a fever, was restless and his oxygen was low. We have another new doctor today, and he feels the fever could be coming from what we thought was a contaminant really was an infection in the blood. They started him on a new sedation drug that is supposedly easier to wean off of than the current one. I had a few friends mention the medication to me, but last I knew the pharmacy here didn’t have it. Dad has been quiet so far today since he’s been given the new medicine. They’ve also been able to wean him more off of the fentanyl because he’s been so quiet.

Today as I was sitting in the room when the admiral (of the ICU) came in and told me she printed out the blogs and was reading them. After my heart started beating again, I asked her how many people knew about it. She told me that a lot of people (even some doctors) do and a lot of people are questioning what their nicknames are. The pressure is on now, and I have to be careful what I term them. I’m having difficulty coming up with a good word to describe the nurse we’ve had the past few days, I’ve considered; stringent, the foreman, but I think I’ve settled on, the nerd. She’s very determined and focused, which reminds me of those kids in school who have to get the straight A’s and study all the time. She’s been good at communicating with us for the most part, she tells us what she going to do, what’s she planning on doing and is good at describing what things are before we have to ask about them.  I could call her the teacher, because she is focused on making him better, but that’s a little too nice for me. Before she gets a big head, she’s not in my top 3 favorite employees yet, you have to work hard for that (sucking up goes a long way with me), it just doesn’t come easily (unless you have cookies). I was intimidated on my first impression because she told us she’s keeping him quiet and doesn’t want us to over stimulate him. She also told us that’s she’s planning on cleaning up the room and clearing some things out, so I could term her as the housekeeper, but I don’t think it’s that fitting, there is still a bit of a mess around.

The kidney doctor came in and told me that his kidney levels are all normal, and that his kidneys are looking good, but with the fever and the stuff going on, that may change. The doctor is funny, he’s very quiet and seems pretty shy, but he’s been stopping and talking to us and keeping us up to date. He’s been one that has been great at communication and keeping us updated. Today he took a little time to find out more about dad and our family. He was asking where we were from and just more about dad. It was kind of nice to see him genuinely interested. We had a nice chat and I learned more about him as well and the places he’s worked and traveled. It was pretty refreshing to see.

The Admiral came in a little later and started talking about the blog and just listening to concerns. She was great to talk to and nice to have an ear of someone who knows the situation from both sides and is truly interested and concerned about the care. We were talking more about communication and how you can be the smartest and most knowledgeable person in your class, but if you’re a terrible communicator it will make others perceive you as a bad health care provider. I’m lucky I have the best of both worlds I’m the smartest person I know and probably the best communicator you’ve ever met (that’s incredibly sarcastic if you didn’t catch it).

There has been talk about moving out of the ICU to a long term acute care unit (LTAC). He is able to go there on a vent, but he can’t go while he’s on pressors for his heart rate. We’re not really sure how the care is on the LTAC and I’m kind of nervous about it. I know the nurses and respiratory therapist will have more patients so it won’t be as close of care as what you get in the ICU. One doctor said it would be a week or so before he leaves ICU but then someone today mentioned possibly tomorrow. I think we want to find out a little more about LTAC before the move is made and see if we approve.

For those of you who know how much I love my girl scout cookies, I wanted to let you know how big of a step I took today. I shared… I know it’s hard to believe and it was hard to do, but I actually gave away 3 of them. Usually it’s one maybe two if you’re lucky, but I gave away 3!!! I had to sit down and gather myself together after the generosity. I’m pretty sure I also made our cardiac doctor feel really bad today. I was sitting in the room talking to the nephrologists (the coolest name ever) she popped her head in and asked if I’d be here for a bit because she was going to stop back in. After an hour and a half of waiting and talking to the Admiral I went to the waiting room to rest. 7 hours later I go back and see her and she apologizes immediately. Of course I give her a hard time and tell her I’ve been waiting all day and haven’t left. She tells me that she’s been incredibly busy and apologizes and I continue with my guilt trip and tell her I saw her outside and in the cafeteria taking a break today (I really didn’t). She hung her head and said I was right (I’m used to hearing it now) and that she did in fact eat there today and I caught her. I then took it a step farther, and told her I didn’t see her there because I didn’t get a chance to eat anything because I was sitting in the room all day waiting for her return. She really felt bad, and I’m not sure I fully convinced her that I was kidding about the whole thing. I think the laugh was good for all of us and made the mood in the room a little lighter.

Today was pretty good, He rested nearly the whole day. He stayed on volume support for 9-10 hours and tolerated it really well. The new medicine we tried seemed to work really well, but from all the studies I’ve read you’re really only suppose to use it 24-48 hrs. This could be to quick to fully wean off the other med, so I’m not sure what the next step will be, we’ll find out more tomorrow hopefully. 

No comments:

Post a Comment