Standard Of Care Defined

Wireless and Ready

‘Can I tape this conversation?’ I asked.  Dr K was in at 8 am sharp.  He smiled and replied ‘what do you want me to say?’  ‘Well, it’s ok to say what you have to say, it’s just my Wife will kill me and this way she can be part of the meeting as well.’

So I hit the red button on the little recorder.  Our previous experience with my hospital stays included difficulty getting Vanessa in on the conversations with the key players.  It’s Monday morning at 6AM and I am digging the recorder out of my man bag (it’s not a purse) and making it accessible.  The nurse just came in and told me the urologists were running behind because they were entering their own medical orders.  I doubted that Dr. K or his resident would keep me in waiting until some late morning visit.  I just knew they would be in before Van.  Kudo’s to me on packing for this stay. 

‘Want to go home?’ Dr. K asked.  ‘I’m ready’ I replied.  After he left I hit the stop button and set it on the tray, grinning with the self satisfaction that can only come after decades of marriage that I did something really right for Vanessa.  In the quiet I hit the button and started to doze, only to wild click.  ‘This is Bea, may I help you?’  The question came in stereo from both sides of the bed and the hand held device that I could not find but obviously once again butt calling the nurse.  ‘Sorry Bea, wild click'  ‘OK’ she said cheerily. I must have wild clicked ten times a day.  Every time a patient and understanding reply.  I thought about my last few days, which in spite of my difficulty moving went by pretty fast.  Vanessa ever at my side and Jocelyn each day boosting our spirits and providing her Mother the kind of support only a loving Daughter can deliver.  My Surgeon or his Resident or both every morning, a check in from the chief nurse in charge on nursing care, housekeeping twice a day, ten to twenty IV alarms a day and visiting with my Nurse or her helper (PCA which I believe is Patient Care Assistant) plus the wonder of student nurses and frequent walks around the halls a veritable hiccup engine.  I shall always remember walking with Vanessa and the beautiful and graceful K (who was a masseuse and is now only a couple of semesters from becoming a great nurse according to another nurse that always volunteers more information than I really need.  Must be my inviting face is the only thing I can figure).  Students working very hard, strict protocols, nurse assistants and students walking 7 or 8 miles each shift, Nurses often called upon to change beds with workstations all about are hovered over their monitors if not their patients.   

Through it all an epidural in place and a happy button made it easy for me to greet every visitor with a smile and thank every visitor when they left.  Patient responsibilities begin with thankfulness and civility, period. 

I might be sick and helpless, but I have a responsibility to those who are caring for me to make their job as easy as possible.  The standard of care given me throughout my association with IU and Clarian has been nothing less than excellent.  My stay this time was marked by delays as new software was implemented.  No more post it notes or notes buried in charts.  Request for treatment and order for same will be digital.  Like any thing computer, the best way to learn it is to do it, which is like stepping of a cliff for a lot of people. 

With the hiccups throughout my stay except for sleep and brief periods during the day and of course the pain management I got to laugh a lot, they did not hurt but certainly made conversations challenging, and I am a talker.  When they started Dr. K dryly advised that the gas had to come out the other end before I would eat and I just laughed.  Wrong end, but it was a start.  I learned a lot about those who cared for me, their families, our shared interests, their work and life.  I shared freely with them as well.  We were all a smoothly operating team aimed at me firing out the door never to be seen again if the goal is met.  Smiling is an infectious thing and is easier than a frown, I checked it on snopes after Vanessa and I disagreed on the topic, she of course was right, so I tried to start it from wake up to the end of the day, another reason to just say yes to the epidural.  In the beginning Dr. E smiled and said it is part of the process as he explained the steps and order in which they will be taken.  He scrawled it out on a piece of scrap paper and gave it to me with a caring and sad look in his eyes.  The outcome is what it is and so we go on to the next step.  In spite of the long odds I got the chance to try for the cure and my caregivers put concern for me and my quality of life first every step of the way.  And that was how it was on this step in the process.