Slide over and make room on the bench... I'm back!

I've been headed back here several times since getting home Saturday afternoon, but every time, somebody would walk in the door and I'd need a rest again, so I'm going to give it a try one more time! My surgery was uneventful EXCEPT for a HORRIFIC Recovery Room experience.  Several years ago when I had my hysterectomy, the morphine pump wouldn't work and I begged for HOURS to get a NEW one... we lost control of my pain management so I spoke extensively to the anesthesiologist about that issue and to PUH-LEAZE not let that happen to me there at Pitt.  He promised me that would not happen and I just kept begging him to make sure not.  Well, when I woke up, I was in dire pain.  There is a nurse/patient ratio of 1/2 and for a longgg time, I was this nurse’s ONLY patient.  I was begging her for something for pain AND nausea.  Her only concern was the fact that I had TWO charts with no orders on either one of them!  I told her I had never been there before in my life until that day and that was absurd, and to figure all that out later... GIVE ME SOMETHING!  She kept telling me she couldn't w/out order.  I asked for her supervisor. She said "OK" and went to find her, but she was in a QA meeting while I was watching the department, or part of it, fall into disarray and chaos.  I BEGGED for her to go get my sister so she could get up to Admin and find SOMEBODY/ANYBODY to H.E.L.P. me.  She said family wasn't allowed, although I saw some other family members come back.  I had no advocate for ME!  I decided my only recourse was to keep getting louder to disrupt the entire recovery room until somebody came to shut me up!  I was crying and BEGGING for ANYBODY who could hear my voice to come help me.  Over an hour of time had passed.  Then, this nurse, who was still trying to sort out why I had 2 charts, got a 2nd patient… an old man who was also begging for pain meds.  He was right beside me and already seeing what peril I was in. He started hollering "IS ANYBODY WORKING IN THIS PLACE?"  I was screaming for somebody to get me out of this place and find me help!  I don't know how long time passed before I was finally told there was a room ready for me and I was praising GOD.  When I got to my room, word had already got there about my horrendous experience so from then on I got royal treatment.  Two administrators from the Recovery Room (the ones that were in that QA meeting I kept asking for) showed up in my room with a bouquet of roses and BIG apologies.  I told them that although nice, roses weren't what I needed!  I told them I  wasn't in any mood to chat at that time but would the next day.  Apparently there have been other "issues" with my nurse so they REALLY wanted to talk to me. They said all she had to do was speak to the anesthesiologist to get and order for pain meds (since my doc was in surgery) and it would have been a quick fix and that the issue of the 2 medical records needn't have been an issue at that time.  I told them that is what I kept trying to tell that nurse! I do plan to get a copy of my MR to see just how long all that went on and just what was documented in comparison to what REALLY happened.  It was so totally unacceptable and exactly what I BEGGED not to happen. Needless to say the red carpet was rolled out for me after that.  My only other problem is burning skin. I told everybody along the way that I have allergic reaction to some bandage adhesives, but that little tidbit seemed to be overlooked too.  Thursday night, my primary "hole" was so HOT you could feel the heat through my gown.  It felt like (and still does) somebody laid a hot iron on my belly there (and a little in a few other places too).  We went through multiple ice packs overnight.  The next morning I told the nurse to look closer.  I had a low grade fever and was afraid it was infected.  It wasn't and is on my top layer of skin. When Dr. MacD came that evening, he said he wasn't all that "up" on dermatology and ordered a cream/salve to put on it.  It works, but for short spells of time.  It STILL (4 days later) is killing me).  It only stops burning when I'm sitting still or lying down in bed. As soon as I get up and start moving (which I need to be doing), the FIRE starts.  I screamed through my 3 minute shower/hair wash today and ran out of the shower dripping wet and laid down on the bed so it would STOP.  Of course the bed got all wet, but I didn't care.  I just needed the burning to cease!  Other than that pain, I'm doing great.  I've had no gas problems.   I'm drinking my protein drinks ((Isopure No Carb) I ordered online from The Vitamin Shoppe.  They have a variety pack of Apple Melon, Fruit Punch, Grape and one other flavor. I can't stand the shake thick things.  I had somebody get me some egg drop soup today and strain out the egg and it's SOOO good.  I'm hoping I'm getting some protein from that.  I'm sipping water, SF Popsicles, and good old SF jello.  I'm so ready to progress to some cream soups but not going to push that. Being a personal chef, I VERY fortunate to have several personal chef friends who are just begging to make stuff for me.  So I will have all sorts of tasty homemade cream soups and after then, yummy seasoned fresh cooked pureed foods a chef friend down the road is already making and freezing for me.  According to the scales today, I've dropped 9 lbs. since surgery on Thursday, but I know that's going to fluctuate for a while. Right now, my "crisis" is that I'm "TV-less."  The boy that cuts my grass bumped into my dish pole this afternoon and his girlfriend was visiting with me when we heard it.  The picture went out.  They shook it a few times and tried resetting and I called DirecTV and they said all looks OK on their end.  I got lucky and found a local fellow who can come in the morning for $69!  So I hope it's just an out-of-alignment issue. I did get to mosey down the hall to meet Alice Saturday morning before I left and she was looking Grrrreat!  I've had lots of folks dropping by and lots of phone calls so I'm well taken care of.  I think my biggest irritation over the past few days was LOSING THE GAME Saturday!  Dr. MacD made sure I got discharged in time to get home to watch it, and I'm glad I was on good drugs cause I might have busted a gut.  I'm from a Wolfpack family and they were here watching the game with me... so I was pretty pissed about that outcome. I appreciate all your well wishes, PMs and emails.  I look forward to getting to know you better here as time goes by.  I wish you all continued successes and speedy recoveries.  

Wendy -

I'm so very sorry to hear that you had such a difficult experience. I hope that the difficulties are behind you now and you will soon start to recover gently.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. They help us all as we travel our own journeys.

All the best,

Barb