(no subject)
Clearly, my family hasn't used up its hospital cred for the year.
That's right: last week, my stepdad broke his hip. He was trying to clean the gutters, and he was on the scary old wood ladder that we have had literally longer than I can remember. It's rickety and wobbly and I've always been afraid of climbing on it. Neither my mom nor I would get on it for anything, but Bill wanted to keep it.
And look what happened. He fell and broke his right hip. All things considered, though, it could've been worse. It was a clean break right at the base of the neck of the femur. He was hurt for like four hours though, before he got to a phone to call me. I'd been at work, and I'd stayed late to help a friend with her final exam practice. :/ So I feel awful about it; I'd been planning to stop by the house anyway, but he had to crawl into the house to call me.
I went home and called 911, and they got him situated pretty easily. He'd only fallen some three feet, and it was right on the hip--no unconsciousness or dizziness or anything like that. They took him off to the ER, and I followed, all worried and scared.
Turns out, yup: broken bone. But the nurses and doctors there were pretty nice, and they took him up to his room long after I had to leave. I was house sitting last week, after all, and I had to get back to this stupid cat--but that's another story.
Anyway, he had surgery Wednesday morning, and while he was in there, I went to visit Mom's ward, when she was there the last time. All her nurses remember me. :) That was kind of awesome, though they were all surprised to see me again. But it was still pretty nice. I got hugs from all of them while Bill was there. Even from Nick and Brian, who were two that really went out of their way to keep me comfortable. So that was a nice thing.
They kept him awake during the surgery, and they screwed him together all nice and easy. While we were in the OR Recovery room, it was interesting. See, I'd never been in there before, so watching everyone in there was kind of neat. Except the old dude next to our bed ... I don't know what's wrong with him, but he was allowed to walk out though his catheter was full of what looked like fruit punch. I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure pee isn't supposed to be red. :/ Anyway, we get back up to his room, and his roommate is there. He's always there. I don't know what happened to him, but there was some sort of brain injury. He was being physically turned every two hours and tube fed. He had people coming in to check his progress, and it was awesome--the day Bill got out of there, the guy was actually responding to the doctors for the first time in weeks! <3 So I hope he's okay over there.
Also, some dude was there who liked to talk on the phone outside our room for no discernable reason. Whoever he was there fore had been hit in the face with something, hard enough to shatter the bones surrounding their eye and actually squish the eye to the point that they likely won't be able to save it. But he really fails at terminology: the occipital bone wasn't the one shattered, unless somehow the back of the patient's head is where their eye is housed (hint: it's not).
Bill came home Friday, after PT Thursday at the hospital--he was up and walking a bit. With a walker, but still.
He's home now, and totally able to fend for himself. He had his first in-home PT yesterday, and I don't know if I believe him that he's doing his exercises, but I can't prove that he isn't, since I'm not hovering over him all day.
But this is just nuts. We didn't need more hospital time. I'm so sick of hospitals.
That's right: last week, my stepdad broke his hip. He was trying to clean the gutters, and he was on the scary old wood ladder that we have had literally longer than I can remember. It's rickety and wobbly and I've always been afraid of climbing on it. Neither my mom nor I would get on it for anything, but Bill wanted to keep it.
And look what happened. He fell and broke his right hip. All things considered, though, it could've been worse. It was a clean break right at the base of the neck of the femur. He was hurt for like four hours though, before he got to a phone to call me. I'd been at work, and I'd stayed late to help a friend with her final exam practice. :/ So I feel awful about it; I'd been planning to stop by the house anyway, but he had to crawl into the house to call me.
I went home and called 911, and they got him situated pretty easily. He'd only fallen some three feet, and it was right on the hip--no unconsciousness or dizziness or anything like that. They took him off to the ER, and I followed, all worried and scared.
Turns out, yup: broken bone. But the nurses and doctors there were pretty nice, and they took him up to his room long after I had to leave. I was house sitting last week, after all, and I had to get back to this stupid cat--but that's another story.
Anyway, he had surgery Wednesday morning, and while he was in there, I went to visit Mom's ward, when she was there the last time. All her nurses remember me. :) That was kind of awesome, though they were all surprised to see me again. But it was still pretty nice. I got hugs from all of them while Bill was there. Even from Nick and Brian, who were two that really went out of their way to keep me comfortable. So that was a nice thing.
They kept him awake during the surgery, and they screwed him together all nice and easy. While we were in the OR Recovery room, it was interesting. See, I'd never been in there before, so watching everyone in there was kind of neat. Except the old dude next to our bed ... I don't know what's wrong with him, but he was allowed to walk out though his catheter was full of what looked like fruit punch. I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure pee isn't supposed to be red. :/ Anyway, we get back up to his room, and his roommate is there. He's always there. I don't know what happened to him, but there was some sort of brain injury. He was being physically turned every two hours and tube fed. He had people coming in to check his progress, and it was awesome--the day Bill got out of there, the guy was actually responding to the doctors for the first time in weeks! <3 So I hope he's okay over there.
Also, some dude was there who liked to talk on the phone outside our room for no discernable reason. Whoever he was there fore had been hit in the face with something, hard enough to shatter the bones surrounding their eye and actually squish the eye to the point that they likely won't be able to save it. But he really fails at terminology: the occipital bone wasn't the one shattered, unless somehow the back of the patient's head is where their eye is housed (hint: it's not).
Bill came home Friday, after PT Thursday at the hospital--he was up and walking a bit. With a walker, but still.
He's home now, and totally able to fend for himself. He had his first in-home PT yesterday, and I don't know if I believe him that he's doing his exercises, but I can't prove that he isn't, since I'm not hovering over him all day.
But this is just nuts. We didn't need more hospital time. I'm so sick of hospitals.