Injuries, illness and hospital stays

[JunkieGirl]

Have you ever broken a limb? Had surgery? Stayed overnight (or longer) in the hospital? Been in a car crash where you were injured?

Nope, never have broken a limb. Been in 3 minor car accidents; all with the same driver. But I have spent more time in a hospital than I've wanted to twice.

My wisdom teeth were all impacted so that was done under general anethesia. In/out same day. Same with a couple of other procedures to do with my stomach. The weirdest one was swallowing an awful tasting liquid and maybe xrays taken? The weird thing was the fact they wouldn't let me leave the floor until someone came and got me. Yet, I was allowed to leave on my own after an endoscopy. I even took the bus home.

I spent almost a week in the hospital prior to my son's birth because of my douchebag OB/GYN. He wanted my son delivered on HIS schedule because his moving day was the 1st of the month. I spent the first two days there from 7am-7pm being induced twice a day. I got the next day off (moving day) and finally delivered my son on the Friday after being induced once again. Even typing about this makes me livid after all these years!! What should have been something beautiful and memorable turned into one big fiasco.

About 3 years ago I got an abcess behind my tonsil along with another pr!ck of a doctor. I had to stay in the hospital for 4 days being pumped full of antibiotics. The doctor wanted the swelling to go down so he could take out my tonsils. WTF? I'd never had one single issue with my tonsils and I wasn't going to let this beast anywhere near me. I went to the follow up but didn't make an appt for surgery. Another ENT in our city doesn't necessarily remove tonsils/adenoids unless they are causing issues frequently. Plus, I'd also read that tonsillectomies are much more difficult for adults and recovery time is much longer than for children.

Couple of weeks ago, thought I was having a heart attack. My blood pressure was off the charts. They gave me some meds to bring it down and gave me the option of staying overnight. My blood pressure was normal by that point and nothing of significance on the echocardiogram. I said hell no! I will follow up with my family doctor, tyvm.

I'm not a good patient and I bet the nurses who were treating me were happy to see me leave! LOL

[Tilden]

Okay, I'd never stayed in a hospital other than when I was born, and once, when I was eighteen months old, for pneumonia. I'd never broken a bone. I'd never had surgery. Then this past May, I stupidly tripped over a crack in the sidewalk, face planted (fortunately I fell sideways into grass), dislocated my shoulder as badly as a person can and cracked my humerus. They hoped the humerus would mend on its own. Instead, by the time the orthopedist saw it, the fracture had slipped, and I had to have a partial replacement of my shoulder (the ball, but not the socket) and a rod put in my arm, because while my bone health was fine, the break was now at such a peculiar angle that they didn't think they could get it to heal correctly without putting the rod in to stabilize it. So, in about thirty seconds, I had my first dislocation and my first broken bone, which then led to my first surgery and first hospital stay that I could remember.

I got very tired of telling people in the ER, and then in the hospital, that no, I hadn't been in an ambulance or in surgery before. No, I hadn't broken a bone before either or had a hospital stay I could remember. No, I hadn't been under anesthesia either. And yes, I'm not on any prescription drugs. While I was in the hospital, they had someone come to my room to double check my health history, because they figured it had to be incomplete (I didn't have any of the normal childhood diseases like measles, chicken pox or mumps either). I couldn't understand why they appeared to be upset that I was that healthy. I mean, it was like they were excited when they found out that there was a history of heart attacks on my father's side of the family, so at least they had something to write down (but really, some of those could be attributed to weight problems, smoking etc. too).

But let me tell you, I'm exceedingly glad that fall happened at work during an event I was supposed to be attending, because that means worker's comp had to cover everything--and the two pre-surgical exams, the three day, two night hospital stay, and the surgery were $56,000. I've never been so glad to see a bill marked you owe $0.00 at the end of it. So, my advice is, if you must fall down and hurt yourself, do it at work. By the time workers comp ends up paying for everything, including all the physical therapy, the sling, the physical therapy home equipment, the bathtub safety rail, the continuous ex-rays and post-surgical checks etc., it would have been cheaper to just pay me to stay home from work for a year. Certainly I would have preferred that.

I can't say the hospital food was bad at all. I mean, it wasn't four star restaurant quality, but I didn't mind it. Oddly, the best things were the baked goods. They had a really nice heart healthy banana bread (served warm too) and the chocolate pie was very nice (clearly I wasn't on a restricted diet after the first day). You could order up a snack or whatever at any time in addition to the meals, provided you weren't on a restricted diet, too. I never did that, because, frankly, I wasn't all that hungry, and eating with my left hand (I'm a righty) was kind of challenging anyway, especially when trying to eat in bed. After I had the salmon with the rice pilaf, the nurse had to take off my sling for some reason, and rice spilled out all over the place. I didn't even know it had fallen in there. The nurses were also nice about getting me things like toast, soda, crackers, and a fan (the orthopedic wing was awfully warm, because most of their patients were elderly recipients of hip replacements etc.; I kept being told I was unusually young to have done what I did--I could never figure out if that was insulting or not).

Oh, and the hospital had its own movie channel too, which was kind of nice, except that every time I chose a movie and started watching it, I'd fall asleep. So I ended up seeing the first third and last thirds of The Help and Moneyball.

My favorite hospital thing was the Kodiak therapeutic ice machine, which pumps ice water continuously into a pad you place on your shoulder. Considering that it's been ungodly hot all summer, it not only helped with the pain but it kept me cooler too.

And why is it they only need to take your blood at 4:30 in the morning?

One other thing: the doors on the elevator that took me to the room where they took care of all the pre-surgical stuff closed so quickly that they snapped shut on my shoulder as I was walking through them--and I wasn't moving particularly slowly. The nurse who was beside me was really furious. Apparently she'd complained about the elevator doors a lot, because of that, but they'd never actually hit a patient in front of her before. Later, a chatty janitor who cleaned my room told me the elevator doors have shut on his cart before too. Seriously, wouldn't you think a hospital would have elevator doors with sensors that prevented them from closing if something was in their path? Or at least have doors that closed slowly?

[AZChristian]

Oh - and one thing I recommend (and it's something that came in handy when I had my TGA episode). Always keep a list of your current meds and supplements, as well as past hospitalizations, on your smartphone. My husband had NO idea how to work my Blackberry, but he knew I had a notepad with that info on it. When the intake clerk asked if he knew anything about my meds, he handed the guy my Blackberry and said, "It's on here." The (young) man found it within 30 seconds and told my husband, "I wish EVERYONE would do that!"

I'm sorry for everyone here who has had hospital experiences . . . but aren't we all grateful that we have good medical care available!?!

[norealityhere]

I'm sorry for everyone here who has had hospital experiences . . . but aren't we all grateful that we have good medical care available!?![/QUOTE]

I can only speak for myself here, but I would find it a lot better if we had universal care for all. It seems morally wrong to me that for-profit insurance companies control the fates of those they profit so much from.

[Ellen]

Umm...not everyone — at least in the U.S. where I live — has good healthcare available or accessible to them. For some, there's a huge worry that a prostate cancer diagnosis or breakdown of a 25-year kidney transplant, for example, will be a painful death sentence, even though lifesaving treatment exists and is routinely successful for those with the means to buy said treatmentt. Just sayin'.

[AZChristian]

I didn't mean for my comment to be political. My intent was to convey something like, "back in the 1700s, we didn't have the medical KNOWLEDGE we have today, so folks had few treatment options." I try to avoid political discussions!

[pikachu]

That's really spooky, AZ. I'm glad everything turned out ok, aside from you losing the memory of 5 hours of your life. Any chance you were kidnapped by aliens and returned to Earth after an alien medical exam? j/k! It's fortunate you were around other people when it happened so they could keep you safe and get you to the hospital.

[AZChristian]

That's really spooky, AZ. I'm glad everything turned out ok, aside from you losing the memory of 5 hours of your life. Any chance you were kidnapped by aliens and returned to Earth after an alien medical exam? j/k! It's fortunate you were around other people when it happened so they could keep you safe and get you to the hospital.

LOL. I'd be bummed if anything that exciting had happened and I couldn't remember it.

One thing for sure - after this happened, hubby and I had several conversations about what I'd prefer to have him do if this ever happens again.

(1) STAY ON THE PHONE WITH ME. Don't keep saying, "I'm on my way," then hanging up - especially after the first 10 calls when you know I don't remember talking to you.

(2) If I'm away from home, have me take the phone to someone else so they can make me stay there until you get there, rather than allowing me to drive myself home.

After this happened, I was afraid to leave the house by myself for a couple of months, for fear that it would happen again. It wasn't until I felt sure that HE would know what to do that I felt safe leaving home.

[Ellen]

I didn't mean for my comment to be political. My intent was to convey something like, "back in the 1700s, we didn't have the medical KNOWLEDGE we have today, so folks had few treatment options." I try to avoid political discussions!

And I'm sorry for the too-quick knee-jerk response. I should have taken more time to think.
But, yes, thank goodness for modern medical knowledge — and that the hospital, doctors, etc. were able to sort things out so quickly and so well. And that you've come out of it healthy!
Good advice, BTW, about carrying the medical info. Hubby and I don't have smart phones (just marginally clever ones), but we do carry med/supplement/existing conditions info on cards in our wallets — for ourselves and each other. But I'm sure there's a place for notes in the "Tools" section. Gonna have to check that out ASAP.

[echo226]

Oh - and one thing I recommend (and it's something that came in handy when I had my TGA episode). Always keep a list of your current meds and supplements, as well as past hospitalizations, on your smartphone. My husband had NO idea how to work my Blackberry, but he knew I had a notepad with that info on it. When the intake clerk asked if he knew anything about my meds, he handed the guy my Blackberry and said, "It's on here." The (young) man found it within 30 seconds and told my husband, "I wish EVERYONE would do that!"

I'm sorry for everyone here who has had hospital experiences . . . but aren't we all grateful that we have good medical care available!?!

The smart phone is a good idea ... but if you have a stupid phone ... always keep a list with you somewhere on your person ... and also at home.

Years ago when caring for my Dad, I kept a sheet of paper with his Name, DOB, Allergies, Meds and hospitalizations in reverse chronological order that I kept completely up-to-date. The several times that I had to call an ambulance for my Dad and they would start asking me those questions ... I just handed them the paper and could give reassurance to my Dad instead of having to answer all those questions. I always had several copies so I would take one to the hospital ER as well so the Dr. and staff would have info and history. Pretty much the only questions I had to answer as his advocate were what meds he had taken that day ... and "what happened" to necessitate calling 911.

Rule of thumb is to plan that if you need medical attention, plan as if you will be unconscious and have no advocate beside you.