sunshine0221's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Night Nurse is Under the Covers in a Coma The Night Nurse is Under the Covers in a Coma Mom had to be admitted to the hospital on Wednesday. She had her fall on Tuesday. I got her to the emergency room, she was x-rayed and examined, prescribed pain pills, and sent home. Laura, our wonderful neighbor across the street brought over homeopathic remedies and loaned us a bed so mom wouldn�t have to go up stairs. Mom did okay the first night, I made her soup, we watched Whose Line Is It Anyway which was actually a bad idea, because it made her laugh. I gave her two doses of her super pain pills, and it was tough for her to get up and down to go to the bathroom, but she could do it. The next day, Wednesday, things went downhill. She couldn�t keep anything down, including her pain pills. She was in too much pain to get out of bed. I went and got her some Depends (and muttered to myself at the checkout, �Not for me, no siree, still have bladder control� so that the checkout teenager wouldn�t think otherwise), so that mom wouldn�t have to get out of bed, but couldn�t get them on her because she couldn�t lift herself up. I spent most of the day Wednesday on the phone with doctors and the emergency room, listening to recommendations such as �Give her Tylenol if she can�t keep her pain pills down�. Tylenol, my ass. Finally in the early afternoon called an ambulance to take her back to the hospital. By the way, if you ever have to call an ambulance, give them really good directions. I�m not sure what part of �front, south door� wasn�t clear, but I watched them drive back and forth by the house three times before they finally figured out where to go. The ER doctor gave mom morphine, and after much deliberation decided that she needed to be admitted to the hospital. Her pain was much better almost immediately. The doctor apologized and said that if it was up to him she�d have been admitted for a week, but that they have to fight with the insurance companies, and they�d keep her as long as they could. I almost had a Terms of Endearment moment when mom was due for more morphine at 8:15, and it was 8:35, and no sign of the nurse anywhere. I finally found someone, made sure she got her medication, and left after she was sleeping. And mom is funny when she�s hopped up on morphine. This morning when I got the hospital, she very earnestly said, �I know what you mean about perky morning people being irritating. The night nurse is perky, and she�s under the covers, in a coma.� After checking to make sure that the night nurse was not indeed under the covers in a coma, I asked mom what she meant, and she wasn�t sure either. I am so glad that mom is in the hospital where she needs to be, and everyone has been very nice for the most part. The very cool morning nurse, Jerry was a doll about moving her bed to the proper Feng Shui direction, and even got her out of bed and into her chair. He was wearing a Santasourus hat, and had to show mom pictures of his grandbaby.The doctors are being kind and responsive. But holy cow is it like pulling teeth to get some things done. The doctors will say one thing, the nurses will say the doctors didn�t tell them, and that they�ll have to wait until the doctors come back. In six hours. Scheduled medication doesn�t seem to happen unless you physically go find someone. Mom wanted more IV fluids and they wouldn�t do it until the doctor came back and approved it, then still had to be reminded twice. I didn�t realize how much this was all getting to me until mom insisted I order supper, because she wanted me to have a nice meal, and I started to cry. And not because of the fat chance that the hospital would serve anything even resembling a �nice meal�, but because it as such a sweet, motherly thing to say. (FYI � no matter how careful you are about ordering food at a hospital, you are going to get something that looks �recycled�, and trust me on this, do not EVER order the beef stroganoff). 11:35 p.m. - December 11, 2003 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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