Hi Everyone
I am in Masada Hospital arrived here yesterday after transferring from Knox. My first post was from ICU the nurses were fantastic and my care was superb. The whole being nursed at no higher than 30degrees seemed to cause confusion with a couple of the nurses wanting to sit me up...I refused to go above 30 but in the end I was at their mercy. I was not allowed to do anything for myself but was assisted with everything..brilliant
Things started to go wrong after getting back to the ward where the next 24-48hrs were nothing short of hell. I will give a couple of examples but just bare in mind that these are indicative of the overall care.
I was feeling so good that I didnt really care what the nurses were doing but 48hrs after leaving ICU I had still not even been offered a face washer. I had to ask for some water to clean my dentures in which was still sitting there on my tray 16hrs later. I hope you get the idea. There a number of things but bottom line it was very poor....Obvious question...Why not complain? I did once a few years ago and this got the nurses off side and my remaining time in hospital was hell. Considering the level of care I was getting I was concerned this was going to happen again.
The other thing (I am sure any of the girls who have had GCS will know what I mean) I just felt so great, content beyond my expectations, I'm me!! So I didn't really care that much initially. Eventually I had no choice the care was so appalling I began to get uncomfortable...but the less I said the less care I got. I was so uncomfortable that I just stopped communicating and began to withdraw...as a result my medication use went through the roof...when Asked, I simply said...I had to get comfortable and I used the medication to do it....I had no significant pain really from about day 2.5....
Yesterday morning after having high pitched IV and PCA alarms ringing at me for 15minutes and then escalating to a single loud tone(8 mins)...the nurse came in and said sorry have to wait till after handover(another 15- 20 min)...she had to raise her voice significantly to be heard over the noise Of the alarm...I then begged her to just turn off the machine until it could be fixed..she wouldn't so I told her unless she did I was going to rip the IV and catheter out and waddle up the corridor on my own to get away from it...she turned it off...They came back 30minutes later and fixed my IV's No one came near me again until the NUM turned up.
The Nursing Unit Manager sat down and we talked. Suffice to say that she was appalled at the care I had been given. At one point I thought she was going to cry. She then took over my care until discharge to Masada which was great.
The NUM was still apologising to me when the ambulance guys took me to Masada...I felt a bit sorry for her because after we talked I have no doubt what a good nurse she was.
Masada is just so different..I can imagine had I been here in the first place the care would have been amazingly good.
Mr Ives has been brilliant and will also follow up....there is no reason there should be any confusion about how I am to be cared for.
How do I feel?
Complete...Me...Liz...like it should always have been that way....I can only assume that for most people you feel a certain familiarity with yourself and know that you are you....for us none of this quite fits that well, a bit like trying to put the lid on a container that is to big to take it. Hard to put you finger on...its like that internal argument has finally been settled...deep down where we all live.
Take care Everyone
Liz
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