Once I was assigned to my room after surgery, I was at the mercy of the nursing staff. After surgery on 2/8 I was put in a room about 7:30PM with a woman who had already been there for 21 days, had her foot removed due to diabetes, and seemed to have many psychological issues. She screamed and shouted obscenities all the time she was in our room. I was reduced to tears and horribly upset, having just come out of surgery. After I talked to the charge nurse and insisted that I couldn't take it after several hours, she was finally moved to another room about noon the next day, and the charge nurse said they had had several complaints about her. (Why put new surgery patients with someone like that?)
BUT Shouter#1 was immediately replaced by Wailer#2. I don’t know what #2 was being treated for but she started out fairly mildly insisting on ice cream at lunch and was upset when it was melted. I ignored most of the discussions between her and the nurse, but they couldn’t get her to calm down, and she ended up wailing “I want my ice cream I want my ice cream I want my ice” and “nurse, nurse, nurse, nurse, nurse, nurse, nurse, nurse, nurse”, along with so many other phrases, I can’t remember – for HOURS. The nurses stopped coming in and I was ignored also. Again I was reduced to tears and couldn’t believe this was happening to me. It was a living nightmare. I talked to the charge nurse several times she said they didn’t have anywhere they could move me, but eventually about midnight I was move to an empty room, As soon as I was put in the room, a cleaning crew came in and for the next 45 minutes they mopped and cleaned and buffed the space next to me. After they left it was finally quiet except for the nurse checking my vitals.
But first thing in the morning 2/10. I realized that I couldn’t put any weight on my left foot. It was very sore the day before, but now was swollen, red, and couldn’t bear any weight. My surgeon and several doctors examined it and ordered x-rays to see if it was fractured. They said that the feet are braced against a board during surgery and somehow this might have caused an injury. This caused a huge dilemma because my catheter had to be removed and I was to start drinking my fluids in order to be released, but I couldn’t walk to the bathroom or even stand up to get to a commode. A physical therapist was called in and she showed me how to scoot from the bed to the commode and leverage myself, but this was very difficult due to the strain on my surgical sights – she said to be sure to have the nurse assist me.
I started to sip my water about 10AM and soon had to use the commode. I called for the nurse, but she never came, so after about 15 min I scooted, crawled, and leveraged off my one good foot onto the commode. I won’t go into the other details of no privacy (I was in the bed in the middle of the room with the curtain pushed back to the wall and I couldn’t reach it), no cleanliness (the commode was NEVER emptied before I left at 7:30PM).
My #3 roommate arrived about noon and was truly out of control from the minute she was wheeled in the room. She was hollering when they brought her in about 11AM. She seemed very agitated and would jump out of bed and walk to the door hollering and shouting. I couldn’t believe this was happening AGAIN! The nurses came in and tried to calm her down but she was uncontrollable. At one point they left and she jumped out of bed and came over to me and started hollering. I was afraid she might attack me and knew I couldn’t get out because I couldn’t walk.. She had a cigarette and lighter in her hand and I was afraid she’d start a fire. I pushed the call button for the nurse. The nurse said they couldn’t do anything about my roommate – I insisted on talking to the charge nurse – she said she couldn’t do anything, so I said to call my doctor because I feared for my safety. #3 was moved about 3PM.
I finally went to x-ray at 5PM. No fracture in my foot, so doctor determined it was badly bruised. When I was discharged at 7PM, there was no provision for a walker or cane to help me move about at home, and Rx for liquid Colace was never ordered, so had to be obtained later.
I fear ever having to be in the UC Davis hospital again.
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