Thoughts and prayers for oldguynurse

Bummer dude. As we all become more geriatric, "Hip Forums" will assume a whole different connotation.
Peace and healing.

 

Hang in there buddy;-)

 

Hang in there buddy;-)

 

I go tomorrow to meet with the surgeon as to future. I have to get out of this dump. As a for instance, the mattress on this bed is not the air 'flotation' type or even a lesser version. It's a foam mattress, worn out with a sag in the middle one has to climb out of when scooting to get arranged. And the edge is a 3' wide, firm foam ridge which I have to drag my wounded femur over to stand for transfer to the bedside commode. My thigh was still swollen when I got here 5 days ago, but today is swollen more, and so is my calf. I blame it on this horrid bed and the piss-poor excuse they have for staff. This 'hospital area' of the facility is definitely not for use by an orthopedic pt.

Example: Here a usual night shift (12 hrs) has 1 nurse and 1 aide, for 27 pts !!! Passing meds for that one nurse takes her about 2 hrs and 20 min! And happens twice a shift. She is unavailable for pt consulting or nurse-level assistance (dressings, etc) during that time. Leaving the 1 aide to cover 27 pts needs. And most of those have the attitude of doing as little and as quickly as possible to assist a pt.

My wife, who supervised ICU, step down, med/surg and another unit, and occasionally the whole house, at a mid-size hospital for 38 yrs, was livid at this situation. Blatantly unsafe. Today she called Medicare and will file a more specific, detailed complaint with their Quality Control and their Random Inspections people tomorrow.

I have to get such as this across to the surgeon tomorrow. And have him get me out of here. But my options to suggest to him are limited. I've maxed out Medicare given the extension after the bone fragment shifting thing, so can't go back to the excellent Rehab facility where I was originally unless there is a new procedure done.

The other option is for him to allow minimal or limited weight bearing, enough for me to "walk" with the walker to the satisfaction of the pt folks here. My wife (also retired RN), her sister (still active RN) and my 36 y/o son (Laboratory Technologist), have been working on getting our house 'walker safe'. We've ordered and received some of the equipment needed, and are ordering some more tomorrow. Chosen to fit the specific needs for our bedroom, bathroom, my 'nest' in the back room, etc. But it's not quite ready yet, another few days would help.

So perhaps, after he looks at the x-rays, which I assume he'll have done tomorrow, he can allow "very limited weight-bearing as tolerated" and "request PT / OT evaluate for home discharge." That might do the trick.

Of course, I'm going to defer to his judgment, but I simply can't stay here much longer! In the 5 days I've been here, I've back-slid on the other muscle groups and apparently am now doing something 'not good' to the operative leg.

I'm fairly well-off financially and can afford a home-health nurse for a week or two, and even home PhysTherapy for awhile. That may help sway him. Unless, of course, he sees something ugly on the films tomorrow. Then, I'm just screwed.

--- OGN

 

I go tomorrow to meet with the surgeon as to future. I have to get out of this dump. As a for instance, the mattress on this bed is not the air 'flotation' type or even a lesser version. It's a foam mattress, worn out with a sag in the middle one has to climb out of when scooting to get arranged. And the edge is a 3' wide, firm foam ridge which I have to drag my wounded femur over to stand for transfer to the bedside commode. My thigh was still swollen when I got here 5 days ago, but today is swollen more, and so is my calf. I blame it on this horrid bed and the piss-poor excuse they have for staff. This 'hospital area' of the facility is definitely not for use by an orthopedic pt.

Example: Here a usual night shift (12 hrs) has 1 nurse and 1 aide, for 27 pts !!! Passing meds for that one nurse takes her about 2 hrs and 20 min! And happens twice a shift. She is unavailable for pt consulting or nurse-level assistance (dressings, etc) during that time. Leaving the 1 aide to cover 27 pts needs. And most of those have the attitude of doing as little and as quickly as possible to assist a pt.

My wife, who supervised ICU, step down, med/surg and another unit, and occasionally the whole house, at a mid-size hospital for 38 yrs, was livid at this situation. Blatantly unsafe. Today she called Medicare and will file a more specific, detailed complaint with their Quality Control and their Random Inspections people tomorrow.

I have to get such as this across to the surgeon tomorrow. And have him get me out of here. But my options to suggest to him are limited. I've maxed out Medicare given the extension after the bone fragment shifting thing, so can't go back to the excellent Rehab facility where I was originally unless there is a new procedure done. Unless you docs have some sort of magical methods.

The other option is for him to allow minimal or limited weight bearing, enough for me to "walk" with the walker to the satisfaction of the pt folks here. My wife (also retired RN), her sister (still active RN) and my 36 y/o son (Laboratory Technologist), have been working on getting our house 'walker safe'. We've ordered and received some of the equipment needed, and are ordering some more tomorrow. Chosen to fit the specific needs for our bedroom, bathroom, my 'nest' in the back room, etc. But it's not quite ready yet, another few days would help.

So perhaps, after he looks at the x-rays, which I assume he'll have done tomorrow, he can allow "very limited weight-bearing as tolerated" and "request PT / OT evaluate for home discharge." That might do the trick.

(Whatever you docs write as 'orders' is, by most nurses, taken verbatim, word for word, as sacred gospel. So chose your words carefully.) Years ago, in my ICU, couple of the surgeons knew and trusted me well. If I called because a pain med wasn't holding a post-op pt, they'd say, "Pat, what do you think would work better for him", I'd give my opinion, and they'd say write it as a verbal order and I'll sign it in the morning. But John, those days are long gone.

Of course, I'm going to defer to his judgment, but I simply can't stay here much longer! In the 5 days I've been here, I've back-slid on the other muscle groups and apparently am now doing something 'not good' to the operative leg.

I'm fairly well-off financially and can afford a home-health nurse for a week or two, and even home PhysTherapy for awhile. That may help sway him. Unless, of course, he sees something ugly on the films tomorrow. Then, I'm just screwed.

Sorry for going on so long, but I wanted it all down to help organize my thoughts for tomorrow, and in case I need a documented version for future use. (We nurses must document.) <grin>

 

If one signs oneself out, it's called "Against Medical Advice" and you are billed the full cost of treatment up to that point.

Sorry, I don't have the probably $70,000 + lying around at home. So that's out.

 

Praying for you buddy! Hope you get out and much better resources.;-)

 

We are all rooting for you Patrick xxxx

 

Good news,.....finally. Saw the doc's P.A. on Wed.

He agreed with me to try limited weight-bearing on the operative leg / hip, limited by amt of pain involved at my discretion. Yay!

Tried "walking" yesterday and today. Went well, for not having used R leg in 3 weeks. Feel sure will be better by Mon, and will give Rita and our son 'til then to finish getting house "walker-friendly" and setting up equipment.

I had him write orders to "have PT / OT evaluate for discharge on Mon or Tues." Yay! (They're on my side.)

Worry about Rita now. She's having to a good bit by herself, and is seriously fatigued daily. With her heart as it is, not good situation. Will have a "talk" with son tonight.

More later. --- Patrick

 

❤❤❤

 

Peace & healing.

 

Wonderful news!! Your almost home!!)

 

Well, as usual, getting out of here has changed, again.

Monday I felt I wasn't ready and also the house wasn't quite finished being set up for use by me with a walker. So now I'm shooting for this Fri. or at the worst Sat. There are several problems associated with both options, but I simply cannot stand being in this crappy excuse for a medical facility any longer. Example: I asked for a pain med an hour ago. It just got here as I'm typing this, and with no sense of urgency from the alleged 'nurse'. In fact, she walked in, said "here" and walked out. The patient /nurse ratio is 27 to 1, with one aide. With a crappy attitude from the staff.

I keep thinking I can deal with one more night so I can get the PhysTherapy for an hour and a half in the day time, but it's no longer worth being ignored for the other 22hrs and almost completely for the 12 to 14 hours at night. The PT folks are on my side, so I'll cross my fingers and hope for Fri.

Oh, and I've seen a doctor once for 15 min in the last 7 days. I could go on with such, but.......

Thanks for the thoughts, folks.

 

This breaks my heart.
Hang in there, you will soon be home.

 

Best wishes,

 

:-(( so sorry! Keeping you in prayer!!

 

If, as you're reading this, you listen carefully, you'll hear a choir of angels singing. The heavens have opened and light is pouring downward. In other words, with my constant urging and pestering of everyone, my discharge has been ok'ed for TOMORROW morning!!! If I could spell Halleluia correctly I'd use it here.

Somehow, seven or eight different things all fell into place finally today. Rita will be here about 10 am to start packing my stuff up, and the transport van will be here "about" noon. Funny thing is, we live only about 4 miles from here and it won't take maybe 15 min to get me to my front door. My son finally got busy and assembled and installed the 'over toilet' arm rails, and Medicare (similar to your NHS) found and delivered a wheelchair to the house (won't be using it often except as a change of pace). The house is now 'walker friendly' and I can move about slowly and somewhat painfully with the walker. All the i's have been dotted and t's crossed (He said, hopefully.) for me to move around the house.

After six weeks now, our terrier will completely lose his little doggy mind, while the cats, in cat-manner, will glance up for a second and then go back to their affairs. Many things will still have to be fine-tuned and arranged of course, and it won't be easy for awhile, but at least I'll be out of this hell and in MY HOME.

Hopefully, the next of these status reports will be written from my 'nest / room' at home. God only knows what my wife has done will all my files, books and stuff, and I'll have to be careful of what I say, since she's worked hard at getting things ready.

So tomorrow we begin yet another phase of this journey. The fracture and hip joint are still many weeks from being healed and I'll have to be very careful with them 'til then.

I'm both elated and scared in equal measure, and my thanks to everyone who's followed along so far.

Until later, --- Patrick