this is a story, all about how.....
well it's been an adventure. it's kinda sad when the biggest adventure in my life is trying to get into a frakkin hospital room. lol. I think I need a life....
but in the meantime, here is yesterday's crazy day. it started about 7 a.m. when JP and I packed up and headed to Gainesville. this was because I had started running a fever and was getting sick. and when I say sick...I mean SICK (but more about that later). so we drove 2 hours and proceeded to wait up in the pulmonary lab at Shands. this is about a 10X30 ft. lobby-like area with a mounted tv and maybe 16 chairs total. two and half hours of waiting and Dr. Baz comes out to tell us that it'll be another few hours and we should go get some lunch if we wanted. I didn't feel like leaving the hospital, so we headed down to the cafeteria area...where I ran into Amy!! I was so happy to see her...and pictures of baby Elle. now after about an hour of lunch and just sitting in the atrium listening to the piano, JP and I went back to the pulmonary lab....and waited some more.
the official word was that we were waiting for a patient to leave a room - dunno if we were waiting for a doctor to sign an order or that patient to actually have a ride. ...and we waited... after 7 hours total of waiting someone came out and told us that the patient was apparently not leaving. uuhhh...could this not have been determined BEFORE everyone started going home? so this poor woman was obviously terrified of us going off on her, but only by God's grace did we immediately go into business mode - getting together the dozens of medical supplies and oxygen that I didn't bring because I wasn't prepared to have to stay in a hotel. yes that's right ladies and gents...they were sending me and JP to a hotel for the night. and that wouldn't have a been a problem except for the fact that after a 2 hour drive and 7 hour wait I didn't have enough oyxgen left to last the whole night - especially being sick. not to mention the 6 breathing treatments I would have to do, insulin plus syringe, and half a dozen oral meds. thankfully and strangely enough...the oxygen was the least of my worries. having lived here for over a year, the G-ville branch of my oxygen company already had me in the records. I put in a warning call that I might need a concentrator for the night.
while I was on the phone with them, I was told to hang on because Dr. Baz was coming down - he might have found a room. so apparently after barking at somebody for screwing me over, in a completely jam packed hospital, my doctor had dug up a spot for me to sleep - without resorting to a hotel. sure...it was a semi-private room with a woman who yelled me out of the only sleep I got at 5 a.m. when they drew her bloodwork, but it was a spot to sleep and get the IVs started nonetheless. and thank God I wasn't in a hotel since my fever ended up spiking up to 102.something late last night. fun stuff right?
but wait...that's not the end. when I finally did get into a room, I really couldn't breath. the alubertol breathing treatment I do only lasts about 4 hours so I usually have to do it about 4 or 5 times a day (depending on when I wake up...heh). I did the first one yesterday when I woke up at 5 a.m., I did the second one at 1 p.m. but it really didn't help much, so by 5 p.m. when I got into a room I felt like a gorilla was sitting on my chest - couldn't talk, couldn't really sit up, and couldn't eat. so the nurse paged the respiratory department to come give me a breathing treatment....and they paged respiratory.....and they paged respiratory....and they paged respiratory....and 2 1/2 hours later respiratory finally showed up. well needless to say in between gasping for air, I let the guy know I wasn't happy. he was really apologetic, explaining that he had just come on shift. I told him "ok I understand the shift change, but that doesn't explain the 2 HOURS before then that nobody showed up". well for the rest of last night, whenever I had to page respiratory the guy was there within a few minutes. much better for me who is SICK here! lol.
I totally gotta say though. I thank God for the awesome people here around Shands that are always going to bat for me against the giant bureaucrats in an office somewhere - Dr. Baz, Dan, Becky - they're my heroes! and now I'm finally in my own room! :-)
but in the meantime, here is yesterday's crazy day. it started about 7 a.m. when JP and I packed up and headed to Gainesville. this was because I had started running a fever and was getting sick. and when I say sick...I mean SICK (but more about that later). so we drove 2 hours and proceeded to wait up in the pulmonary lab at Shands. this is about a 10X30 ft. lobby-like area with a mounted tv and maybe 16 chairs total. two and half hours of waiting and Dr. Baz comes out to tell us that it'll be another few hours and we should go get some lunch if we wanted. I didn't feel like leaving the hospital, so we headed down to the cafeteria area...where I ran into Amy!! I was so happy to see her...and pictures of baby Elle. now after about an hour of lunch and just sitting in the atrium listening to the piano, JP and I went back to the pulmonary lab....and waited some more.
the official word was that we were waiting for a patient to leave a room - dunno if we were waiting for a doctor to sign an order or that patient to actually have a ride. ...and we waited... after 7 hours total of waiting someone came out and told us that the patient was apparently not leaving. uuhhh...could this not have been determined BEFORE everyone started going home? so this poor woman was obviously terrified of us going off on her, but only by God's grace did we immediately go into business mode - getting together the dozens of medical supplies and oxygen that I didn't bring because I wasn't prepared to have to stay in a hotel. yes that's right ladies and gents...they were sending me and JP to a hotel for the night. and that wouldn't have a been a problem except for the fact that after a 2 hour drive and 7 hour wait I didn't have enough oyxgen left to last the whole night - especially being sick. not to mention the 6 breathing treatments I would have to do, insulin plus syringe, and half a dozen oral meds. thankfully and strangely enough...the oxygen was the least of my worries. having lived here for over a year, the G-ville branch of my oxygen company already had me in the records. I put in a warning call that I might need a concentrator for the night.
while I was on the phone with them, I was told to hang on because Dr. Baz was coming down - he might have found a room. so apparently after barking at somebody for screwing me over, in a completely jam packed hospital, my doctor had dug up a spot for me to sleep - without resorting to a hotel. sure...it was a semi-private room with a woman who yelled me out of the only sleep I got at 5 a.m. when they drew her bloodwork, but it was a spot to sleep and get the IVs started nonetheless. and thank God I wasn't in a hotel since my fever ended up spiking up to 102.something late last night. fun stuff right?
but wait...that's not the end. when I finally did get into a room, I really couldn't breath. the alubertol breathing treatment I do only lasts about 4 hours so I usually have to do it about 4 or 5 times a day (depending on when I wake up...heh). I did the first one yesterday when I woke up at 5 a.m., I did the second one at 1 p.m. but it really didn't help much, so by 5 p.m. when I got into a room I felt like a gorilla was sitting on my chest - couldn't talk, couldn't really sit up, and couldn't eat. so the nurse paged the respiratory department to come give me a breathing treatment....and they paged respiratory.....and they paged respiratory....and they paged respiratory....and 2 1/2 hours later respiratory finally showed up. well needless to say in between gasping for air, I let the guy know I wasn't happy. he was really apologetic, explaining that he had just come on shift. I told him "ok I understand the shift change, but that doesn't explain the 2 HOURS before then that nobody showed up". well for the rest of last night, whenever I had to page respiratory the guy was there within a few minutes. much better for me who is SICK here! lol.
I totally gotta say though. I thank God for the awesome people here around Shands that are always going to bat for me against the giant bureaucrats in an office somewhere - Dr. Baz, Dan, Becky - they're my heroes! and now I'm finally in my own room! :-)