DOCTORS AND NURSES...

 

were absolutely amazing. I may have complained about the hospital food and television, but I have absolutely no complaints about the care I received from the doctors and nurses at both Urgent Care and in the hospital. It was so terrific; I plan to write letters to them expressing my thanks and appreciation for how well they all looked after me.

It began with the doctor I saw on Thursday. He called first thing Friday to inform me my red blood count was very low and I should go immediately to Urgent Care. When I arrived at Urgent Care, I barely sat down before they called my name. They took me right in, asked me a bunch of questions and then moved me into a room. Clad in a hospital gown…they are really the height of fashion…there were more questions, blood draws and a trip downstairs for more CT scans.

No one really talked to me about the scans, but the one doctor who seemed responsible for me, eventually told me I was going to be admitted to Swedish Cherry Hill. He did tell me they couldn’t find a reason for why my red blood cell count had gone down, and that it was continuing to drop. They’d get it all figured out at the hospital, he was sure.

Three very nice young men came to transport me to the hospital. They made sure I was comfortable, strapped in securely, and made conversation, probably in case they thought I might be frightened. It was my first time ever in an ambulance, but since I wasn’t critical, they didn’t turn on the lights or the sirens. That was perfectly fine, but it might have been fun to go faster than we did because the roads are so very bad, I felt every single bump and dip.

I figured they would leave me in the ER, but instead, they walked me and my gurney through the hospital. I believe if they’d decided to abandon me at any point, I’d probably still be trying to find my way out of that maze. We arrived at what was to be my room for the next six nights, transferred me to the bed, got their paperwork signed and wished me well.

My nurse that night was Kevin. He was from southeast Asia and I think he told me he’d lived in Hawaii. Actually, his father was in the armed forces, so he lived in a lot of different places. He made me comfortable, took my vitals and returned every four hours to take my vitals again. It was still very difficult to breath.

The next morning, I met Dr. Phan who would be my doctor through Monday. He assured me they would get to the bottom of my problem. Kevin was replaced by Regine and Kristin and they popped in and out with medications, checking my vital signs, checking on me throughout the day. They didn’t allow me any food until late afternoon and I’ve already blogged about that.

Sunday morning, nothing had been accomplished and I felt worse than ever. When Dr. Phan came to see me, I cried like a baby and told him I felt hopeless, that I just kept getting worse and there didn’t appear to be any rhyme or reason. He patted my leg several times and assured me they would figure out my problem and make me well again.

After Dr. Phan left, I got up to go to the bathroom without notifying the nursing station. I was barely back in bed when I had three nurses around my bed. One of them gave me holy hell for getting out of bed. She told me I wasn’t to move from that bed, that they were going to bring a commode or bed pan. The other two nurses were Regine and Kristin and I never saw the one who raised hell with me again. Later on, I learned the reason for the big upset…my heart rate climbed precipitously to 133 during my little trek and I was very short of breath.

I don’t know if it was the tears or exactly what, by come noon that day, I was transferred to an OR where Dr. Demopolis removed the fluid from around my heart. I had been told it was a “moderate” amount, but the doctor and all his assistants (4 of them) seemed amazed at the amount. Dr. Demopolis left the drain in the pericardium which was a good thing since there was even more fluid that leaked out over the next 12 hours or so. The nurses had to change my gown and top sheet twice, plus the bandages twice more to keep up with the fluid that kept draining.

I cannot begin to tell you how much better I felt when the fluid was drained away. The huge rubber band that had been compressing my chest was gone and I could almost take a very deep breath without any pain or discomfort. Finally, we were getting somewhere.

On Monday, the pulmonologist, whose name I didn’t learn and who had arrived the day before while I was in the OR, came to my room with his assistant who handled the ultrasound. Together, they inserted another drain through my left back and removed the fluid that was in the plural membrane. Again, it was way more than they expected. This doctor also told me that as my lung re-inflated and expanded I might have some pain. Fortunately, there was no additional pain and I could actually take a very deep breath.

Regine and Kristin continued to take care of me on Monday and on Tuesday, it was just Regine. They didn’t come to check on me quite as often as before, but that was okay because I was getting better all the time.

Dr. Phan’s last day on the floor was Monday and he had indicated maybe I could go home on Tuesday. Dr. Burney replaced Dr. Phan and there was no way I as going to be discharged on Tuesday. She didn’t have any answers to any of the questions as to why this had happened to me nor were there any answers to why I had become anemic so quickly. It was possible I could go home Wednesday, but she wasn’t going to make that decision until then.

On Wednesday, my nurses were Courtney and Jen. Courtney had just graduated from nursing school and Jen was her mentor. They also took excellent care of me. Unfortunately, Dr. Burney still didn’t have enough answers to allow me to go home on Wednesday, but she more or less promised I could go Thursday morning.

Dr. Burney kept her promise even though she still didn’t have any answers. She told me the fluid in the lab wasn’t growing anything, so it wasn’t a bacterium, but perhaps had been viral. She also thought perhaps the anemia was due to the amount of inflammation in my chest, that my bone marrow had decided to take a break from manufacturing those important red cells. However, the blood work did indicate the red blood cells were now increasing as opposed to the decreasing they’d been doing.

It’s been decades since I spent any time in the hospital. Yes, I had both hips replaced and a shoulder repair, but they got me up and out within a day or two. Then, the care I received was excellent, but I wasn’t there long enough to really understand how it all worked.

I found it amazing that no matter who the nurses were that came on duty, my care was seamless. In the space of those seven days, I had at least seven different nurses and the ones going off-duty handed off my care to the incoming nurses. It was absolutely amazing how they coordinated so there were no mistakes or slip-ups. And, they’re not just nurses who administer medical care, but also are responsible for removing the trash and soiled linen. In the past, there was janitorial services who took care of that and I don’t know if it’s a COVID thing or if those chores have been added to a nurse’s workload.

Finally, let me say how amazed I was at the trash that was generated just in my room. I know it’s necessary to keep everything fresh and antiseptic, but the amount of trash generated each day when it came to blood draws, glucose checks, vital sign checks, etc., was simply mind-boggling. Someone really needs to invent that medical thingie they used on all the Star Trek programs…it monitored your body and fixed it without the use of all the products we now require.

I have absolutely no plans to return to the hospital for another stay, but it is exceedingly wonderful to know the care provided is extremely effective. Being either a doctor or a nurse was never a goal for me, but I’m thankful there are wonderful people who choose those occupations. They are a very special breed of human and I don’t think we can ever thank them enough for the work and care they provide.