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Yesterday morning I dropped in on Kris to make sure she was okay for the day. She had been moved to another room and the move had been done badly - the gurney had slipped, the people who were supposed to be helping get her onto it had been pretty useless, and she had ended up flailing about to keep from falling on the floor.
Not a good thing when you have a 14-inch incision. On each side of your body.
I'd been in the previous evening until late, getting her comfortable and her meds adjusted, and by yesterday morning she was still hurting a lot but appeared to be doing better. So I went on in to work.
At 11 she called to tell me that her pain pump had run out an hour earlier and that they wouldn't come and help her. I called the nurses' station and asked them to please help her.
At 3 she called again, hysterical. She'd had no pain meds all day. I bolted from the office and headed for the hospital. Josh and Erin arrived shortly ahead of me and said that when they got off the elevator they could hear her screaming. Her epidural had gotten pulled loose and the "pain management" team had simply removed it and slapped an extra Fentonyl patch on her. Other than that, they'd done nothing. The family of her roommate were trying to make her comfortable, trying to get her help, furious with the staff.
Once we appeared, there was a flurry of activity - morphine shots and a new I.V. drip and much concern. But for the time she was alone there was nothing. I had a number of stern talks with staff persons, but in the end we left Josh there for the night to take care of her, and I will be taking shift tonight.
Why the fuck should we have to do this, when she is at one of the best hospitals in the nation?
She just called. Where the epidural pulled out is so painful that it is eclipsing anything to do with her surgery, and she can't get anyone to take her seriously. So I will have to go there before work again to make certain she's getting the care that she needs. Because several thousand dollars a day is apparently not enough to manage that.
Suck much? Yes, yes it does.
Not a good thing when you have a 14-inch incision. On each side of your body.
I'd been in the previous evening until late, getting her comfortable and her meds adjusted, and by yesterday morning she was still hurting a lot but appeared to be doing better. So I went on in to work.
At 11 she called to tell me that her pain pump had run out an hour earlier and that they wouldn't come and help her. I called the nurses' station and asked them to please help her.
At 3 she called again, hysterical. She'd had no pain meds all day. I bolted from the office and headed for the hospital. Josh and Erin arrived shortly ahead of me and said that when they got off the elevator they could hear her screaming. Her epidural had gotten pulled loose and the "pain management" team had simply removed it and slapped an extra Fentonyl patch on her. Other than that, they'd done nothing. The family of her roommate were trying to make her comfortable, trying to get her help, furious with the staff.
Once we appeared, there was a flurry of activity - morphine shots and a new I.V. drip and much concern. But for the time she was alone there was nothing. I had a number of stern talks with staff persons, but in the end we left Josh there for the night to take care of her, and I will be taking shift tonight.
Why the fuck should we have to do this, when she is at one of the best hospitals in the nation?
She just called. Where the epidural pulled out is so painful that it is eclipsing anything to do with her surgery, and she can't get anyone to take her seriously. So I will have to go there before work again to make certain she's getting the care that she needs. Because several thousand dollars a day is apparently not enough to manage that.
Suck much? Yes, yes it does.
