Welcome home Pam - I just had my one week visit with Dr. R and I didn't get into the hospital thing with him - I don't know why - I just didn't have the energy to get into it - but I will make it a point to tell him when I see him next week. He took the drain out - like others have said before me - it is not painful just a little crampy ache for a very short time - nothing for you to worry about. He wants me to go to a gym and walk on a treadmill starting this week.... I'll do the best I can - he is very strict about doing things his way. Considering his military background the best thing to say is yes - it's an easier appointment that way. He was pleased that I got the 4 shakes in and told me to try to do 5 - I don't know if I'll be able to - I think 4 is pretty good - I'm getting 112 grams of protein (unjury 20 + 8 from the milk).... I'm just so thankful to have the drain out!

Sorry you had issues with the staff at St. Francis - you know Pam if I was able to leave on Saturday morning I would have left that hospital thinnking it was one of the best in the country - the nurse I had on Friday evening (Kathy) and the CNA (Bernice) were just OUTSTANDING - the nurse on the last day (Nicole) was just as awesome - these people are so head and shoulders above the others it is just pitiful! There was another CNA that was there who was wonderful too -his name was Andrew - he was great. The rest of the CNA's I encountered had chips on their shoulders and were a poor example of people who should be working in the health care field - terrible, terrible, terrible attitudes and attention to detail - one of the CNA's came to unplug me so I could go to the bathroom and left before I got off the bed - well I started walking and was still plugged into the wall - I had to call again - you'd think since her only purpose for coming in my room was to unplug me she could had gotten it right for goodness sake! My drain was leaking and it left a trail of blood through the room and on the bathroom floor - I mentioned it to the nurse and the stuff was still on the floor over 24 hours later - that was so nasty! Also instead of the nurse finding the root cause of my port leak she just put more dressing ontop of it and of course it kept leaking - I asked another nurse walking by to please remove all the dressing and check it - she said that the dressing was so full that whenever I moved it was like a very full sponge being squeezed - she completely redressed it and that fixed the problem. Anyway - enough about the bad - it's over- can't dwell -

Hope you have a great recovery!

Please let Dr. R or Andrea know how bad your experience was in the hospital. Tell them to look on this site and read the posts. He will not be happy and heads will roll. Rightfully so.
glad to hear that you are home and doing well now that the pain meds are kicking in. Remamber to walk and sip.
Kathy

Hey Tammy,
I was thinking about you. I had it pretty rough in the hospital. Both PCA medications made me nausous so all they could give me was tylenol suppositories until Dr. R checked my upper GI series for leaks. Then I started roxicet (THANK GOODnESS).

I had issues with the nurses coming to help me get up to walk, so I never got up the first night, which I know Dr R wants us to do. They came and sat me up after asking for 30 minutes (pleasantly I might add). Then I asked them to come back to get me standing, and no one showed for 45 minutes, and by that time the tylenol was not working quite so well so I just had them put me back to bed.
 
Same thing happened the next day, except once I had the roxicet in me, I unpluged the moniters, grabbed the foley bag and my boyfriend and started walking. They never came to check, even though I had unplugged the cardiac monitors.When the nurse finally came in she said that was fine, but I will let Dr. R know when I see him on Monday that service was definately lacking.

I hope yours was better. Please Let me know how you are doing.

Pam

I am sorry to hear that you are feeling poorly right now and even sadder and, quite frankly, madder that you got such crappy treatment at the hands of a nurse. As a nurse, it really ****** me off to hear how any of my colleauges can find it in themselves to treat someone feeling miserable, and *****ally needs them, so badly.  I agree with Kathy's post- be sure to mention that treatment to your doctor. Medical staff with sucky attitudes give the rest of us a bad name and all the patients a bad time. Sending you positive thoughts and healing energy! 

Hi Tammy darlin' - every day will get better. I am disturbed to read of how you were treated in the hospital. Your hospital stay is a reflection on the surgeon so you must tell Dr. (can't ever remember his name!!) about this, ok? If you have a frank conversation with him, he will most likely look into this and you may well prevent the same thing from happening to another patient. Please take good care of yourself and rest, rest, rest! I will look forward to a cheery update very soon! Maureen