Sucky Patient (TMI Warning)

[HappyFun Ball]

Patient are basically hospital customers..


I had to have surgery on both my legs to remove deep abcesses, the surgery left deep, wide and very painful wounds that had to be packed (Sorry if TMI). Even though I have 2 health insurances, I got put in a semi private room because all the private ones were full. The first girl I shared the room with didn't cause me any trouble, it was the second lady that was a total bitch all the time.

She had been in the room for 3 hours when I called for my pain medicine. The nurse comes in about 20 minutes later and announces (As they always do what meds I'm getting)

Me: ME, hi!
N: Nurse
SP: Sucky Patient

N: Okay, I've got your Dilaudid and Phenergan (I'm allergic to Demerol and Morphine, so they have to give me the more potent Dilaudid.)

SP: Hey! How come I don't get no Dilaudid!

The nurse ignores her while she gives me the medicine but gets flagged down as she tries to leave

SP: Nurse! I want some Dilaudid!

N: You don't have any ordered, I can't give you any.. Are you hurting?

SP: (Long pause) Yes I am!

N: Where are you hurting?

SP: (Long pause) My chest! My chest hurt!

N: I can call your doctor and tell him, but I can't give you any medicine that has not been ordered

Later...

SP pushes the call bell and when a nurse answers

SP: It too cold in here!

N: I'm sorry?

SP: It too cold in here!

N: I'll be right there

Ok, I admit, I had the thermostat turned down to 65 because I was running a fever. Now the thermostat was near her bed but the vent with a on/off switch was next to my bed.

N: (Checking the thermostat) I'll turn it up to 70 degrees

I doze off and wake up later sweating pretty badly, heat blasting out of the vent, I get up to go to the bathroom when I see that the thermostat is at 85, I cut it down to 72 (SP is asleep).. An hour later heat is blasting out of the vent, she has cut it back up to 85.. We go back and forth changing the thermostat before I simply cut it off at the vent. The nurse comes in to check on us a while later.

SP: It still too cold in here!

N : It says it at 85 degrees.. That a bit high, remember you're not the only person in this room.

SP: I have asthma and it ain't gonna be cold in here!

N: I can get you another blanket.

SP: It ain't gonna be cold in here!

Later I have to have what's called "Pulse evac" where they shoot high pressured water into my wounds to clean them out.. Yeah, it's as painful as it sounds.

Me: Just be warned, I'm gonna scream

N: Okay, I'll try to do this as fast as possible

Nurse starts and I start screaming

SP: Hey! Be quite! I'm trying to sleep!!

Later that night about 8:30 I'm reading killing time until I can have more pain meds so I can sleep because my legs were killing me.

SP: Hey! Cut your light off! I'm trying to sleep!

Ok, trying to compromise as much as I can, I cut it off but cut the TV on.. I'm not ready to sleep at 8:30

SP: Cut your TV off!

Me: No!

SP calls the nurse, the nurse can't understand SP so she comes in.

SP: She won't cut her TV off!

N: I'm sorry, I can ask her to but I can't make her.

SP: I need to sleep!

That bitch slept all day.

The next day to my relief, her doctor said she could go home.. SP then starts to harass the nurse for Cokes and other free things. After a few hours she harass them about when she could leave.

[MaggieTheCat]

Holy wowzer, what a pain, especially when you're in the hospital trying to recover! Sorry you had to put up with that. Are you still in the hospital? If so, I hope your next roommate is much better and that you recover quickly so you can go home for the holidays!

[Seshat]

I'm so sorry for your injuries and your pain. I trust you recover soon.

And yeah, second patient was a bitch.

[HappyFun Ball]

This happened back in January.. I was in the hospital with the same thing last Christmas.

[Sapphire Silk]

Sorry to hear that happened.

Did the nurses pre-medicate you before they did the Pulse-Evac? It's always a good idea to pre-medicate with pain medication before any painful dressing procedure. Ask for this, if you have to go through this again, if they don't do it.

And that lady was a bitch. If you get stuck with a bad room mate like that, see if you can get them to change your room. Even another room mate in another semi private has GOT to be better than that hag.

[PepperElf]

o boy. nothing like being in pain in your leg
and getting a pain in the ass as well.

as for TMI eh, np here. especially since i know how they use to clean those out. (Maggots!)

[mariamousie1]

What? You mean there are OTHER people in the hospital trying to get better? That's just silly.

[BeeMused]

o boy. nothing like being in pain in your leg
and getting a pain in the ass as well.

as for TMI eh, np here. especially since i know how they use to clean those out. (Maggots!)

Oh they are still using those, for wound that heal badly, of course they are bred in a sterile environment. Apparently that's the only way to get some of those wound to heal.
I'm sure, though, I don't like neither of the methods... <shudder>

[PepperElf]

well they do only eat dead flesh.


mom's personally been lucky with hospital stays. they try to put her with quiet roommates. although her last stay involved being right by the nurse's desk, so their talking kept her awake.

[HappyFun Ball]

Yeah, they pre medicated me before pack changes and the pulse evac.. It helped with the packing changes, but didn't not touch the pulse evac..

I did ask them several times while SP was there if there was a private room available, they'd check, but the hospital was pretty full at that time.

[Sapphire Silk]

Yeah, they pre medicated me before pack changes and the pulse evac.. It helped with the packing changes, but didn't not touch the pulse evac..

I did ask them several times while SP was there if there was a private room available, they'd check, but the hospital was pretty full at that time.

Yeah, I'm not surprised about the pulse evac. I've used them to clean out deep wounds in the ER prior to suturing. We usually numb the wound first. That pulse evac really comes out hard!

Not surprised on the room either. They could have put her with another sucky patient tho: no reason why everyone else had to suffer!

[chainedbarista]

After a few hours she harass them about when she could leave.

not soon enough, i'm betting.

sure, i have a private room just for you, sc, in the basement, where no one can hear you scream.

[Seshat]

Not surprised on the room either. They could have put her with another sucky patient tho: no reason why everyone else had to suffer!

Here's a scary thought: maybe she was the least sucky of the sucky patients they had, and they had an odd number of suckies.

[Sapphire Silk]

Here's a scary thought: maybe she was the least sucky of the sucky patients they had, and they had an odd number of suckies.

Ack. I've had nights like that . . . .

[Captain Trips]

This is one of the reasons we use the hospital we do -- they have almost no double rooms, almost all are singles -- so there's no question about insurance covering them. (And since my wife has a latex allergy, they CAN'T put her in a double, even if the other bed is empty. Hospital policy - latex allergies ONLY get single rooms, to avoid cross-contamination.)

Of course, we use them for other reasons - they are the best in the county, and happen to be where they invented the arterial stent (which has helped avoid countless heart bypass operations.) In fact, the man that did so was my father's cardiologist, kept him alive for 10-15 years more than any other facility.