The Journey of 2011.................... More on CCU..........

Part 1

About halfway through her shift things with the CCU nurse improved. Not that she got friendly or anything but she did respond sooner when I pressed that darn button and there were no more jaded statements from her.

Maybe it was the fact, I had suggested the possibility the button wasn't functioning properly that made her decide I wasn't so bad. Or maybe she just got over being in a bad mood. Whatever it was, the care was better but not good enough I didn't wish I was still back in the surgical ward.

The aide that was assigned to this shift was not particularly friendly either. She was a young woman and had some mannerisms that suggested she might be uncomfortable whenever I saw her. I wasn't sure if she was uncomfortable with me, or her job but I made a point of trying to talk with her and to learn her name.

I have always been really bad with names and with the drugs my head wasn't particularly clear so it was a pretty big chore for me to concentrate let alone try to remember the names of all the new people I met. Still I figured working on remembering names would be a good mental work out and it might show this aide I was sincere in my attempts to be friendly.

As it turned out this young woman had an unusual name that actually made it a little bit easier for me to remember. When I had asked her what her name was, she had responded that no one ever got her name right which is something I can relate to so that only pushed me to be sure I did get it correct.

By the time I got done with my stint in the CCU this young woman turned into a warm friendly face clearly glad to see me each day and I was glad to see her too. There's nothing harder than being sick and feeling alone.

This hospital's method of scheduling meant there seemed to always be new faces as my care givers. In the case of this CCU nurse that was probably a good thing. I only had her as my nurse for two nights but this particular aide was assigned to me most evenings while I was in critical care.

It was actually with the help of this aide that I found out the light connected to the call button was indeed not always turning on. She showed me there was a corresponding light in my room that I could check to know for sure if anyone would know that I needed something. If the light didn't go on when I pressed the call button, the light in the hall wasn't on either so I just kept pressing that button until the light in my room turned on.

Armed with that information, I didn't do nearly as much waiting as I had. During the day I didn't need that call button nearly as much as it did at night though. My little episode with the pulmonary embolism not only changed my patient status but it meant I needed several different kinds of doctors monitoring me.

The day light hours brought a steady stream of those doctors by my room, each checking up on his or her particular specialty. I had gone from just being under the care of a surgeon, or his representatives, to under seven different specialties.

I never was able to keep track of all of them, let alone the changes in doctors that represented each but I can tell you I met the department head of each and everyone of them the day of the PE and from that point forward, not only did I see the department heads but a representative each and every day I was in the critical care unit.There was no way I went without getting what I needed during those times of the day.

To be continued.............

I'm still struggling since the colonoscopy but I have to say watching this video sure brought some relief to a boring miserable day. Scarlet is such a beautiful moving horse, it did my heart good just to be reminded of that although I must admit I had forgotten she had fallen on that day. Even the fall was "easy" looking and she ended up unhurt and pretty nearly unphased.

NOTE 2013: I didn't get back to posting this story until May of 2013. Here are the links to my explanation Plans why I resumed the posting and then the resummation of this story.

 Prelude to a Nightmare



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