More Hospital Tales

May 19, 2008 at 2:57 PM
6 comments

Sorry.

Wow, I forgot what happens when I don't go to work. Not a whole lot. Last night, I slept about 11 hours. I really needed it. I didn't get a lot of rest in the hospital, and general anesthesia takes a lot out of you. My throat finally stopped hurting from the breathing tube, which is pretty cool. My anesthesiologist actually came by after the procedure to make sure I was okay and didn't have any chipped teeth or anything horrible like that. That was really nice.

What was really odd is the trouble everyone had finding my veins. I have about 15 or so holes total in both my arms from IV attempts. It was pretty horrible. Finally, they got one in my right hand. They needed to put another one in during surgery, and when I woke up, found several new holes from attempts. Oddly, the most painful one is one from the teeny tiny needle that they use when taking blood. It's not visibly bruised, but it hurts a lot when I try to extend my arm. Urg.

My theory, and I really know nothing about it, is the fact that I don't work out nearly as much or as hard as I used to pre-brain surgery. Coupled with the fact that I was at least slightly dehydrated at both attempts may have made for difficult vein-finding. Before the big surgery, I was hiking, running, or working out at the gym at least one hour a day, five or six days a week. Even in the last several weeks when I've been feeling pretty good, my maximum workout would be maybe three days a week at about 45 minutes each go, and hiking or running hasn't even been attempted yet. And won't be for a good, long while. My theory is that my veins are larger and closer to the surface when I'm in better shape. Not so much now that I'm not in shape.

One of the reasons that I didn't rest well in the hospital, besides simply being in a hospital, was my roommate for the first two nights. She was very very confused. She had no idea where she was, and she would randomly (randomly to me, probably not to her) call out for people at all hours. Sometimes, she would be having a dinner party, and she would ask someone if they had the coffee. Sometimes, she would be in Vegas with her husband in 1988 and needed to get a taxi. I would often hear her trying to crawl out of the bed, and push my call button before she could hurt herself. Then she'd fight and yell at the nurse trying to help her. And when it came to taking blood, forget about it. The unsuspecting technician would tell her why she was there, and I'm not sure if they were ever successful. After two nights of that, they moved her, presumably to somewhere they could either restrain her better or at least with better supervision. I felt bad. Poor lady.

6 comments

Tags:

Comments

[this is good]

I have terrible veins. They always call the best they can find. I have had iv's in my feet for heavens sake. I get all bruised up and it hurts. Sorry you had such a rough time. I loath the hospital.

I have bad veins too. It has only been in the last few years that doctors can find them in one shot but I got concious about the issue and now I drink plenty of water if I know they're going to take blood or IV me. Sometimes, you just don't have any warning though.

I'm sorry you had to go back in for surgery and that your room mate was so out of it. I've sorta been in that situation and I deeply feel for you. If you ever need someone to talk to about it call my cell. Sometimes I think they need a psychological debreif for people who leave the hospital because the stay can be more tramatic then what they do to you.

In your feet? Wow! That sounds horrible! Honestly though, I quite like UCLA as far as hospitals go. I mean, not enough to want to spend more time there, but the staff is quite pleasant. I even just received a call from the charge nurse on the neurosurgery floor checking up to see how I was doing and if I have any questions, to give them a call.

Yeah, it sucks when they can't find your veins, dude. This is the first time that it's been a problem. I'm going to have neat scars. You're right about the psychological effects of being in the hospital. I do like the staff there at UCLA; it's the best hospital I've ever spent time in, of the four that I've spent time in as a visitor or patient. Kaiser is actually a close second, but I was only in their ER. Redlands Community is a distant third. Well, it might be tied with St. Bernardine. I've luckily never had the unfortunate experience of having to go to Mountains Community, but I'm sure they're terrible. I'm not really sure why they're there, to be honest. But I digress.

I think I'm most frustrated with the fact that I didn't do anything wrong. I was eating well, exercising, going to an acupuncturist, seeing multiple specialists to make sure everything was covered, seeing a therapist...the list goes on. So being rewarded with a hospital stay and surgery is a little hard to take. I mean, how do I avoid that again? It's kinda scary. Thanks for the support. =)

I've always felt that lab techs were in such a hurry to "process" the patient that they didn't take time to check if they were even punching the right spot in your arm. I had one who after poking me several times in the left arm, said, "Let's try the right one." More poking and prodding, until I finally said, "HERE! There's one right here!" I could mark the spot with a Sharpee, I'm so familiar with it.

But I've worked with lab tech and nursing students, and I gotta say they are all over the map when it comes to intelligence and competence. I find myself praying at times that if I ever have to go to a hospital for major surgery, I don't get particular students on my nursing team. I know too well not only how they did in freshman composition, but in biology, chemistry and other lab subjects.

Sheri replied to sakura_senshi’s comment:
May 20, 2008
Reply

I agree. My arm still hurts where one of the technicians took blood at like, 2 in the morning on Sunday. My worst nurse experience was the first time, after the initial surgery, when one of the partners jabbed the hepron shot straight into my stomach instead of folding the skin and going in at a 45 degree angle. I needed morphine for the pain.

More Hospital Tales

Comments

Post a comment

About Me

My Groups

Neighborhood

Tags

Archives