Hospital Stories

I returned home from the hospital yesterday 12/7. The pains in my stomach have returned today in addition to actual headaches, fluid in my forehead and throbbing on the shunt valve.  I was hooked up to a catheter in my left hand for two days so I wouldn't get dehydrated.

IV bag on 12/2 - 12/3

IV bag monitor 12/2 -12/3

On day three (12/4) An Intracranial pressure monitor and bolt (see right side image) had been placed and screwed into my head for 2.5 days in order to measure the intracranial pressure inside my head.

Me attached to ICP monitor on 12/6

The only image I could find online that explains what the ICP does.

2nd ICP monitor screen.

After I had surgery I was transported to  the Neuro ICU.  I was taken out of the ER ICU after my surgery and was transported by someone who worked in the Ambulance.   As we were riding down the hallway, he explained to me how they were going through training and had not been told the correct procedures in how to drive the vehicles.  They were basically told figure it out on your own.  This stressed him out because he was used to being given actual directions.  We arrived on the 7th floor and as we rode down the hallway, he realized we were on the wrong floor. As we're heading back to the elevators a nurse yells out to him the following:

RN: "Can you get me a bed?"
Driver: "No, because I'm busy right now. I have to take this patient to the Neuro ICU."
RN: "Well, you need to get me a bed."

The driver ignores her and we go into the elevator. The moment the doors close. He says:

Driver: "Can you believe the nerve of her asking me to just get her a bed? As if she had the right to just order me around.  She wasn't going anything. Why couldn't she get it herself?"

Me: "I agree. I mean you're obviously in the middle of something right now. As if you were obligated to help her."

Some people like to abuse their powers or sense of power. I arrived in the Neuro ICU around 9pm.
I had a corner bed by a window. The window however, was blocked by a building so I couldn't see too many clouds. The woman across from me was an elderly woman who had just had brain surgery. She tried to pull out both of the IV's in her arm. The nurses kept telling her not do to. At one point they took out the arm restraints so she wasn't able to move her arms.

The elderly man next to me died around 3:45am. I didn't watch him die because there was a curtain dividing us.  I do recall hearing a loud sigh coming from his bed then the nurse, Ana walked over to him and confirmed he had died. She then made the arrangements over the phone with morgue and called the family.  In the morning when the family came to pay their last respects, a nurses aide came around to take our temperatures.  She took the temperature from the elderly man's bed and the following conversation took place:

NA: "He's really cold"
RN: "He died this morning at 3:45am"
NA: "Really? Why didn't anyone tell me?"
RN: "Oh. I thought it was self-explainatory."

oops.

My shunt pain was bothering me on my first night in the NEURO ICU. I was given two percocet. The pain didn't go away until two hours later and was only diminished until I feel asleep. The 2nd night I had another episode and was given two additional percocet which didn't get rid of the pain completely.  I was given a morphine pill around 11pm.  I've had this same problem at home when I get the shunt pain. I take two advil and the pain doesn't subside until more than 2 hours later only to be relieved by sleep so it can happen again multiple times the following day. The morphine pill eliminated all the pain I had for that evening.

I was moved around 12am to the out patient ICU.  The older woman next to me had undergone back surgery and was in a lot of pain.  She wouldn't let anyone touch her.  I spoke with the night nurse, Lucy who was from Ireland.  She had never planned on coming to the states.  She was counting down the weeks until she was transferred to the Trauma ICU where she felt she could help the patients more.  In her opinion she couldn't really help the patients in the Neuro ICU because of their specific injuries.