Well, Ivylad had the morphine pump implanted on Wednesday. The surgery went well, but since it was so late in the afternoon they wanted to keep him overnight for observation, to make sure he came out of the anesthesia okay.
What happened after they wheeled him to the room was surreal.
I meet the nurse just as they’re taking him up, so I follow with his suitcase, my water jug and purse, keys, cell phone and knitting bag.
He got the bed by the window, so I dropped my burden on the couch and helped him get settled.
There was already another guy in the room, and I got a weird vibe from him right off. There’s also a nurse’s aide sitting in a chair right outside the room. Just sitting there.
Ivylad is feeling well, and wants me to go get Chik Fil A for him for dinner. We offer Other Hospital Guy a sandwich, and he thanks us at first, saying he couldn’t eat fried foods, but then said, “What the hell.”
I grab purse, water jug, knitting bag, and cell phone and head to the car. I got lost trying to get from floor 5 to where the car was parked.
I drive to Chik-Fil-A, order a Caesar Wrap pita for me, a combo meal for Ivylad, and a chargrilled sandwich for OHP because he’s concerned about fried food. That plus two root beers and a sweet tea in a carrier.
I leave water jug and knitting bag in the car, and go to the elevator to return to the 5th floor, heavy Chik-Fil-A bag and drink carrier in hand with purse and cell phone.
It’s after the door closes on the elevator that I realize that the South Elevators only go up to the 4th floor. I wearily exit the elevator, and wander around the maze before I find the North Elevators. A few wrong turns later and I finally get back to Ivylad’s room.
They’ve already served dinner, but he eats his combo meal and some of his hospital dinner. My Caesar wrap pita had no dressing and was rather dry. OHP appreciated the char-grilled sandwich. The waffle fries were undercooked.
After dinner, Ivylad walks around the floor twice, with me rolling his IV, and then he pees. Apparently, they’re very concerned that you pee after surgery, so I made him announce to the nurses at the nurse’s station that he was going to pee. They seemed pleased with the news.
He’s tired after that, so I get him settled in bed, kiss him goodbye, and go home.
I get him from the hospital the next day, and the Rest of the Story comes out.
Around 3am, the police come to arrest OHP. It seems he’s a homeless guy who was wanting to be Baker Acted so he could stay in the hospital for three days, getting free room and board. He seemed most upset that the police were coming, since by his calculations he had another 3 hours and 15 minutes before his 72 hours was up.
Ivylad’s next roomie was a 90-year-old man who was altered and incontinent. He’s fighting the nurses and yelling for his wife and his candy. The nurses tell him he has no candy, at which Ivylad struggles out of bed, rolls the IV with him, and pulls out the old man’s M&M’s from the nightstand and gives them to him. Later 90YOM soils himself, so Ivylad once again hauls himself out of bed, IV in tow, and goes to the nurse’s station to ask the nurses to clean him up since he’s rather odorous.
The nurses start arguing in front of Ivylad about who’s going to clean up 90YOM. It takes them an hour and a half before they get around to it.
During the night, Ivylad’s blood pressure is taken. The cuff is so tight it leaves bruises on his upper arm and forces his hand into a fist. Despite the fact that the reading is 198/112, they insist the machine is working correctly.
The next morning, Ivylad is released. The doctor has not come to see him. The nurse asks him if he’s ready to leave, at which point Ivylad says the IV is still in his arm. The nurse disappears and returns with gauze, and has Ivylad remove his own IV. No instructions are given to incision care or when to change the bandages. The nurses shrug and say to ask his pain doctor. His pain doctor, by the way, did not perform the surgery.
I know that not all hospitals operate this way. Perhaps it was the full moon.
) not a good thing. It was probably not a correct measurement but they should have repeated it (with a manual cuff if possible) and called someone to come see him.