Hospital Life April 24, 2010 - A Typical Day On The Floor - Not With Me Around

She turned pail as a sheet, her expression from joy to glum in a moment. Suddenly she was not quite so attractive. ‘Oh oh’ she said. ‘What’s up?’ I asked. ‘I’m afraid we have infiltration’ was her reply. ‘Is that bad?’. ‘Very bad, the Vancomycin destroys tissue. Keep it elevated, I have to get some gauze. I will be right back.’ What followed late Saturday under the harshness of all the room lights, a Chinese fire drill. The IV was set by a nurse in a very bad mood, and when she flushed some of it got into the tissue. A doctor later recommended that I never allow an angry nurse to set an IV. Good advise for all to follow. At the end of the evening I received 5 shallow injections around the site of a reversal agent, and kept the arm elevated for the next 24 hours with heat packs constantly applied. It now appears I am out of the woods and plastic surgery will not be required. A very close call and disaster averted. How a chemical agent can help me in the blood and kill me in a spill is paradoxical to say the least.
Monday April 25 started with a visit from a woman doctor. She congratulated me on getting my stints put in today. My reaction was a dumbfounded look. ‘Didn’t anyone talk to you this weekend?’ she asked. ‘No, what kind of stints?’ She then started to explain two stints that would be installed and pausing for a moment said ‘I have the wrong patient, I am sorry.’ ‘Quite alright’ was my response. She then asked about the infiltration and exited as gracefully as possible. Moments later a male nurse with an obvious limp came in. ‘My job is to help you with continuing your treatment after release’ he said. But he could not tell me when I would get released, only he was there because ‘this piece of paper told me to.’ He too left in short order. Then the equivalent of House and his team appeared. Dr. L examined me and many medical terms were tossed about, a language I did not understand. Shortly after Dr. A from infectious disease came in for a full examination. Promising to come back, he did later with his boss Doctor G, who repeated the exam and repeated exactly what Dr A had said. ‘That is exactly what he said’ I told him. ‘Oh no’ Dr. G said, I have to give him a grade this month, are you telling me I have to pass him?’ I smiled and nodded affirmation. At 10:30 P Dr. E showed up from urology and the inspection was repeated again. ‘We concur and agree with this treatment’ he said. Tonight I visited with Paul, Rex and Dan. Now it is 11:30P. My next IV will be 1 AM. I am able to extend my pain medicine interval to 5 hours with minimal discomfort.