Sunday, September 12, 2010

Thoughts from the C4 Floor


McMurhpy I'm not! Nurse Ratched was my nurse again yesterday and the best way I felt to play it was to let her know that I knew that she was in total charge. I realized this when she came in first thing in the morning - 7:30 - this is almost earlier than if I were working. And it was a Saturday!! I'm never up at 7:30 on a Saturday - to get me into my chair - where I didn't want to go and give me my medicine including a shot of fragmin in my stomach where I didn't want to get it. I told her my arm but she refused to listed to what I wanted and since it didn't end up hurting in my stomach after all - well that just about took all fight out of me. She kept me up and in my chair for most of the day and I paid for it last night when I couldn't get my breathe enough and the late nurse called in a resperologist! The late night nurse (and all others) have been wonderful. I have a strong girl crush on Mary. She still does the most basic of things for me yet doesn't make me feel helpless as opposed to Nurse Ratched who makes me feel each and ever indignity there is to feel. That is one of the things I feel most helpless about - the inability to do almost a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. for myself. And the health care practitioners can have such an effect on this. Nurse Ratched puts all call buttons and things almost beyond my reach and refuses to pay any attention. Unfortunately she is my nurse again today and I'm determined to take it easy today. I will be working my ass off starting tomorrow and I want to rest up today and save energy. I'm sure this will be in direct opposite of what she has planned for me. I could tell I made her mad yesterday when she was on a break and I had another nurse help me back to bed. She would have preferred me up all day - but it's just too exhausting after a while. Plus, then my leg hangs down and my whole leg swells up.

Speaking of breaks - they gave me my xrays yesterday. I'm going to see if I can find someone to scan the pics and then post them 'cause, yep, just as I suspected, I really did a number. No *phhtt* mere sprain for this patient!

And other thoughts.

I happened to overhear my room mate and a nurse talking about Pride and Prejudice and how much they both loved it. Well, as you can only imagine, I could hardly wait until I had a chance to talk about a certain other well know British miniseries.

Well, when the opportunity arose, talk it up I did! I showed them a couple of the clips from YouTube. Marilyn, my roommate was so interested that when she was released from the hospital to go home, she was planning on stopping at a video store on the way home to get a copy. While she has something entirely different from me, she has a lot of time on her hands. One never knows when an opportunity to do some Crusading might come up and one must be prepared at all times.

And speaking of Crusaders, it entirely slipped my mind to mention our latest one. It's been a while now but author Julie James was smitten recently. I saw on Twitter she was watching it and then she blogged about North and South - and voila - Crusader.

And now the most bizarre thing of all. I think I may have just met a gentleman friend. Yesterday Marilyn, my room mate left and I was left on my own for a while. Then later last night, after spending quite sometime cleaning up the other side of the room, I was just nodding off and heard them moving someone else into the room. It didn't take long before I realized it was a male voice I was hearing. That kind of made me feel a bit odd I'll be honest and say. But he sounded very friendly from across the curtain. I heard the nurse asking him about himself and he said he was a widower; his wife passed away suddenly slightly over a year ago. I gathered that he was close in age to me.

Anyway, we've be chatting away quite a bit today - he's headed to the same rehab hospital I am in a few days. He is indeed a very nice man and speaks very lovingly of his wife and children. We seem to have an amazing amount similar in common.

And final thought. I'm going to need some stuff when I go to the rehab hospital. Unlike here, we will be getting showered and dressed first thing in the morning. And we are supposed to have slippers. But I don't really have a lot of casual, workout type clothes or slippers. And there was also other stuff I needed like soap and shampoo and socks and stuff. I knew Ryan would be useless at getting a lot of this so I asked him if he thought his girlfriend would mind. Good move Kristie! I think he was thrilled I would ask if she would, she was thrilled that I wanted her help and I was thrilled that I could bond with her over something so simple. So she came up to see me this afternoon to get a list of what I needed. I also asked her to bring up some books I had at home. Books that looked interesting to her since I would have been interCested in any of them at the time since I bought them :-)

So there we go - the latest report from the one legged romance reader

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kristie,

I am so sorry you are having to deal with all of this!! As far as Nurse Rached goes, if being honest with her won;t work, then you might want to ask to speak to the charge nurse of the nursing supervisor the next time you have trouble dealing with her. And if that fails, ask for patient relations. You should get very prompt service.

If you can summon the energy, please email me your address in rehab, to jessica@readreactreview.com.


So glad you have a friend next door as well. That can really help the long hours seem a little shorter.

Hang tight!!!


My very best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Jessica

nath said...

LOL, there you are injured, but still spreading the love!!

And wow, I don't know, but sounds like this injury is just opening doors! I hope something will happen with the gentleman friend :) and bonding with your son's girlfriend! That's good! :D

Hilcia said...

I was just going to post something similar to Nath's comment, Kristie. You seem to be making the best of the situation and all kinds of positive things are coming out of it. Now you just need to get to that rehab center so you can ditch Nurse Ratched for good!

Take care!

Tracy said...

As I've said before - that nurse needs a serious attitude adjustment. What a wench!

How nice of you to take your crusading with you! lol I'm sure your old roommate will love it.

I think it's great that you've met a nice man and have so much in common. He sounds lovely.

Keep feeling better!

Joanna Chambers said...

What a star! Your dedication to your crusade does you proud!

Anonymous said...

Actually if you rest to much before a big event or something that will be really strenuous makes it a lot harder on you. Even when suffering from an injury. It is better to put a little effort into something to build up energy. Energy builds on itself instead of the other way around so your idea of resting to do more is wrong. To take proper care of yourself you work harder not take it easy. May you work harder to heal quicker. Good luck Kristie

Pamela Clare said...

Aw, Kristie, I'm so sorry you're stuck with an unsympathetic nurse. I don't know why people like that go into the nursing profession. I had the best nurse in the world when I had my spinal surgery, so I know it can make such a big difference in how you feel.

Huge ((((HUGS))). I hope the therapy is going well.

When you get a chance, I've turned my blog into a get well card for you, complete with a little treat from a certain BBC series that you convinced me to watch. :-)

http://tinyurl.com/3x8bwtr

Please take care! And know you're in my prayers.

Pamela

orannia said...

Plus, then my leg hangs down and my whole leg swells up.

See, that doesn't sound good at all. I'm with Jessica - maybe a patient advocate could help? Because it's hard to focus on getting better if you're stressed out by your nurse!

And great idea to ask Ryan girlfriend to help. Oh, just had a thought - perhaps Ryan could take some photos of the cats to bring in? That way you have them with you at the rehab hospital?

All the best!

JennJ said...

Oh honey I'm so so sorry to hear about your accident! And even more sorry to hear about you having a nurse like that ughhhh why do people like that even go into the medical profession it's suppose to be to help people but many are in it strickly for the money. I am thinking about you and praying for you honey I hope you are better soon. BIG HUGS

I made a comment on Pamela Clare's blog that in her post to you I hope you take a look at it! I am going to be rewatching North and South tonight in your honor! :)

MsM (Elizabeth Jules Mason) said...

Oh Kristie I am so sorry to hear about you injury but happy you are recovering. I haven't been blogging much in the last several weeks and just now I am playing 'catch up' with the blogs I follow.
I hope you continue to feel better and are back on both feet very soon!

Blodeuedd said...

Good for you to get another crusader in the midst of all this. Did you ever hear if she liked the show?