Thursday, May 23, 2013

A Return to the Journey of 2011... Consequences....





  Part 1

I managed to make it through that first shower despite the fact I was exhausted enough to fall asleep while waiting for the nurse to bring the chair. However, I knew I was pushing myself well beyond my limits so I actually rang for the nurse before I was finished.

I figured it would take her some time to get there so I pulled the cord to summon the nurse when I was just finishing up with the wound flushing. Then I would have plenty of time to dry off, cover my wounds and dress before she arrived. No way was I allowing her to see me naked again.

I was so exhausted at this point i struggled to raise myself out of the chair to dry off my back side. I nearly fell as I tried to stand long enough to place a dry towel on the wet seat but I refused to admit I could not complete the simple tasks facing me.

By the time the nurse arrived I had managed to finish. I even got on my socks and slippers keeping them dry in the process but I was totally spent. I had to resign myself to being wheeled back to my room.

Once there, the matter of my ostomy bag had to be addressed. As I feared the seal has indeed been compromised by the method I had used to clean my wounds. The bag had to be removed and replaced with a new one.

The only one who seemed to be concerned with this was me so twice more in that day the whole process was repeated. Each time, no matter how the bag was protected or what I did trying to keep it dry I ended up with the same result.

The next morning when the surgeon arrived, he was thrilled with the improvement in both wounds. He decided I could be discharged as long as the treatment of flushing the wounds three times a day was continued.

The only question was where would I go. Patients are rarely discharged to home with open wounds, instead they are sent to nursing homes. The only exceptions happen when there is someone in the household who can perform the necessary care.

I didn't learn of these restrictions until the wound nurse came. She was there for final instructions about my ostomy and talking about what I needed to know when I got to the nursing home. You can imagine how this hit me. I had no plans of going to any nursing home, no way, no how.

We ended up in an emotional discussion. The nurse was trying to convince me why a nursing home was best and I was arguing my perception that such a place would be detrimental to my mental health. The nurse insisted I needed someone to change my dressings everyday.......and I once again volunteered Dave.

To be continued.....

More Mistakes.........

3 comments:

  1. Ugh. My mother threw a fit when the hospital discharged her to a nursing home when she had surgery on her leg. That turned out to be the worst place for her. Not only a detriment to her mental health, but she was so severely neglected that the stress of not getting help when she needed to use the bathroom affected her heart. The nurses' solution was to slap a diaper on her, but then they didn't change it. I ended up pretty much living at the nursing home and nursing not only my mother, but all the patients on her hall. Eventually, I just kidnapped my mother without the proper discharge papers and took her home because I couldn't reason with anyone in that place. All they cared about was collecting on insurance payments. They even tried to convince me that my mother was senile, when I knew her memory was sharper than mine.

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  2. Oh boy! What a lot for you all to face. Nursing homes are a scary word for a lot of folks, maybe that why they call it a transitional bed here,not acute care, but not home yet. Still I imagine your state of mind would only accept home as an option.I know I have only been in hospital for a very short time each time and even then was ready to crawl out a window

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  3. Nursing homes can be a serious blow to anyone's mental well being. I have been in a few, just making deliveries and damn if they aren't depressing! Even if they called them something else, I doubt the stigma would change or the reason behind it either.

    I'm glad you have Dave and could skip that option altogether. I never want to be in a nursing home even if that was the best or only place for me. Screw that! Just put me in the ground and be done with it.

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