1 post tagged “security guards”

Pills in the Ceramic Cup

Has anyone ever made the mistake of putting all their faith in one doctor?  You might think because I've been so versed lately in the medical field (mostly because I can't seem to stay out of the hospital), maybe I'd be beyond making this mistake.  Nope.  I'm a little niave when it comes to some things, like people in authority.  To me, doctors were always the ones who you could depend on to give you the "end all" answer.  You rarely ever question your doctor.  I'm beginning to learn that we should question EVERYTHING.  We don't live in a day and age anymore where we can just trust what the doctor tells us.  If you receive some information that you just don't understand or it just doesn't sound right, question it.  If one doctor doesn't have the answer that puts your mind at rest, ask for a second opinion.  I never believed in this because I felt like Doctor A. would be insulted or wouldn't give adequate care if he found out I didn't trust him.  It seemed WAY beyond my capabilities to call for another doctor.  I finally had to though, and surprisingly it wasn't hard.  In fact, it was very easy and I didn't get in trouble from Doctor A.  It's almost like Doctor A. respected me more as a patient once I called Docter B. into the equation.  He started taking me a little more seriously (or at least the hospital did).  The usual saying, "Take this and call me in the morning" wasn't the first thing out of their mouth anymore.  I'm so sick to death of pills, pills and more pills, that I could choke!

needle with hand

So here's my story...  I was admitted BACK into the hospital last Sunday after not being able to keep even water down.  The pain was so intense that it was becoming unbearable. I called my surgeon on Saturday afternoon to tell him this and he told me how to drain one of the tubes that was still attached to me.  If that didn't work, he would see me in his office on Monday morning.  I really, really tried to wait til Monday morning but I couldn't.  It got to where I was not comfortable laying down or sitting up.  Amazingly enough, when I went through the emergency room, there wasn't a big wait.  They sent me through a cat scan and couldn't find anything that looked like an infection but they admitted me anyway.  I wasn't arguing about being admitted because their drugs were SOOOOOO good that it didn't matter to me, I just wanted relief!  Apparently, this hospital is known for being the dillaudid capitol of hospitals.  Some of the nurses don't like this because they worry about addiction with the patients and as irritating as these nurses are, they're probably the good ones.  I'm going to tell you here that if you've ever experienced the kind of pain that I've had to endure recently, you'll not be shy about asking for the dillaudid either! lol  Anyway, I stayed in the hospital for one week and a day only to find out that they couldn't help me.  My surgeon kept saying things like "You're fine" and "I don't know what to do with you".  It ended up that he had to go on vacation and needed me to be out of the hospital before he went.  I had physical signs, signs that the other doctors and nurses could see (like a lump underneath my skin covering half of my stomach).  I knew I wasn't fine.  I didn't have a fever though so he was basing his diagnosis on THAT!  I found out from the consulting Doctor B. that what I had was called an illyus.  This is a problem where whenever I eat, It just stays and makes a lump in my intestines.  Since I have hardly any stomach, my food goes nondigested right into my intestines.  Now THIS I can understand but the surgeon, Doctor A. couldn't bother to explain it to me.  I guess he thought I was too stupid to understand?  The only cure for what I have is time.  Apparently the beloved narcotics are only making it worse so I was able to take myself off of them.  This is something I've always prided myself on.  I can stop all prescription drugs whenever I want (and sometimes it's hard) because I don't want to be under the control of any outside force.  I HATE to admit defeat.  I'm the first one to ask for them (narcs) though during the period of time that nobody questions why I'm taking so much! lol  I seriously love the feeling of no pain:)  So, the more time I spent in the hospital, the more the nurses insisted that I didn't need the dillaudid.  They wanted to put me on oral pain medication.  Now, I'm no genious but the way I see it is if I can't even keep water or ice down, how can I keep the oral pain medication down?  Slowly I did and even though I'm still having problems keeping it down, I'm home and am REALLY trying to NEVER end up in the hospital again.  Despite what some of the doctors (Doctor A.) may think, a hospital is not my idea of a vacation destination! lol

Smoke

Which brings me to this subject.  I smoke.  I'm not proud of it.  I'm pretty ashamed actually but now is not the time to quit.  Smoking, at least in my mind, eases some of the pain.  The hospital that I've been in stands to receive a fedral grant if they can prove that they've been smoke free as of September 1, 2007.  The problem with this is that there will always be smokers.  Most smokers don't care about security guard warnings because they know that there isn't a law in St. Louis County banning smoking.  The security guards took their jobs so seriously when it came to disciplining me, though.  The reason, I'm convinced, is that I did my best to respect the hospitals rules.  I took my IV pole or my husband would attach my IV pole to the wheel chair and wheel me to a spot where the hospital didn't own.  We were yelled at and threatened by the security guards.  Nobody else, just us!  There came a night where I walked my little IV pole to a spot where it was ok for me to smoke and the security guard told me that I was stealing the IV pole.  I showed him where I had the IV pole on the hospital side of the property and I was on the city side of the property.  He was so pissed that I figured a way around his rules that he went up to my floor and told my nurses that he'd write them up because several concerned citizens called to say that I was standing in the middle of HWY 21 smoking my ciggarette.  This was an obvious lie.  NOBODY but the guard could see me.  Besides, I'm WAY too proud to look like a psycho and stand in the middle of the highway!  He was so pissed that he told the nurses that he needed a "face sheet" out of my chart. THIS is a NO NO NO where a hospital is concerned!  You've heard of the HIPPA laws, right?  This is a law where we have to authorize anyone to look at any information that is part of our chart.  A security guard is obviously NOT part of my health care team and we NEVER authorized him to look at any part of my chart.  He broke a federal law and by the time my husband got done making a few phone calls, I got to smoke anywhere I wanted and so did everyone else.  The security guards got into some severe trouble and they weren't able to confront us anymore about anything.  This kind of backfired.  I still went to the areas that weren't on hospital property whereas other people felt like they could smoke anywhere they wanted.  I truly do respect nonsmokers rights to be smoke free so the only benefit for me was that I could walk or be wheeled around without being harrassed.  The harrassment was bad too.  Before they got into trouble, the security guards would follow me only to put their spotlights on me no matter where I was at.  Whether I was smoking or not, I'd have a security guard right there to ask me if I was planning to smoke on their property.  They even claimed to "own" the sidewalks and roads that ran alongside the hospital.  They truly deserved to be in trouble and I'm happy that I could be the one to do the honors but I would have rathered everyone smoke in the designated areas.  Oh well, you can't always get what you want, eh?

The good news is that Surgeon Doctor A. did really fix the problem!  He may not have good bedside manner but I'm not losing blood and my hemogloban count is higher than it has EVER been, still.  I guess digestion will come in time.  Afterall, it's only been week 3!  I guess I'm doing pretty good, all things considered:)  Thank you EVERYONE who've sent me good wishes and most of all prayers.  They really did work and I couldn't be more blessed by all of you!