A not so pleasant experience
For those not in the know, I have just returned home from spending a very exasperating 5 days in the hospital having my gall bladder removed. To say it was a pleasant experience would be a lie and I rue the day I was not in town when this happened to have my own doctors taking care of me.
I became, what apparently is called, an "add-on". Since I didn't have regular doctors, I was added on to other doctor's schedules of appointments and surgeries. The result of this was a screwed up surgery and test schedule that resulted in my not having anything to eat for 5 days. I was finally granted food on the day I left the hospital, whoopee, but only bland food. Every day brought new and unpleasant experiences with cocky doctors, untrained nurses and a hospital which was obviously operating on a shoestring budget.
There were a couple of bright spots. I did have several CNA's who were wonderful young men and women and genuinely cared about the patients and one who even was able to draw blood from me when everyone else, including the RN's failed. I had a surgeon who was young and enthusiastic, but needed some work on her bedside manner. I was poked and prodded and now have 4 stitched up holes in my stomach where my gall bladder was removed.
I believe the most comical thing which happened, if there was a funny side to this, was after surgery. Living in Sarasota for the past 28 years, I am used to suntans and naked skin being brown just about all year round. As I was laying in bed, a young, maybe 19 or 20 year old CNA came in the room to wash me up after surgery. As she was cleaning my incisions she made the remark the docotors must have used a ton of Betadine during surgery because she was having difficulty cleaning it off my skin.
As I glanced down at my stomach I realized there was no Betadine on my skin. It was simply brown skin which the CNA was attempting to scrub off. Although it hurt to laugh, I explained to the young woman that brown was my skin color, not Betadine and she could stop trying to scrub it off because it wasn't going anywhere.
It was the bright spot in the hospital stay.
I became, what apparently is called, an "add-on". Since I didn't have regular doctors, I was added on to other doctor's schedules of appointments and surgeries. The result of this was a screwed up surgery and test schedule that resulted in my not having anything to eat for 5 days. I was finally granted food on the day I left the hospital, whoopee, but only bland food. Every day brought new and unpleasant experiences with cocky doctors, untrained nurses and a hospital which was obviously operating on a shoestring budget.
There were a couple of bright spots. I did have several CNA's who were wonderful young men and women and genuinely cared about the patients and one who even was able to draw blood from me when everyone else, including the RN's failed. I had a surgeon who was young and enthusiastic, but needed some work on her bedside manner. I was poked and prodded and now have 4 stitched up holes in my stomach where my gall bladder was removed.
I believe the most comical thing which happened, if there was a funny side to this, was after surgery. Living in Sarasota for the past 28 years, I am used to suntans and naked skin being brown just about all year round. As I was laying in bed, a young, maybe 19 or 20 year old CNA came in the room to wash me up after surgery. As she was cleaning my incisions she made the remark the docotors must have used a ton of Betadine during surgery because she was having difficulty cleaning it off my skin.
As I glanced down at my stomach I realized there was no Betadine on my skin. It was simply brown skin which the CNA was attempting to scrub off. Although it hurt to laugh, I explained to the young woman that brown was my skin color, not Betadine and she could stop trying to scrub it off because it wasn't going anywhere.
It was the bright spot in the hospital stay.
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