2011 |
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| 5 SEPTEMBER - MONDAY I'm off to the hospital again in an hour and I'm not looking forward to it!
I got there at 6pm last night, already took the 2 pills to help the antibiotic work through my blood, checked in with Triage telling them I was there for an infusion and dressing change. It would have taken a doctor 5 minutes to set up the drip... leave me for an hour while it infused, then 10 minutes to have someone change my dressing. Did that happen... NO!
At 10pm I went back to Triage, a different nurse, and told her that I was going home. I had called Jason to come and collect me. I told her the time I arrived, how long it would have taken to set me up BUT every person that came in after me has been attended to and I've been left sitting for 4 hours! I was in tears. She told me to wait while she checked to see why I had waited so long. She came back in a couple of minutes and said I was next on the list anyway... bull****!!! Of course I got an Indian doctor, female, who hadn't a bl**dy clue! The drip was only going to take half an hour.... then why did it take over an hour the night before???? I couldn't understand half of what she was saying and I didn't try to understand. I kept saying "what????" In the end she got an Aussie nurse to help her out with the translating... grrrrrrrr! I asked her about the Home Assist nurse that the doctor was organising the night before..... didn't know anything about the Home Assist! The drip stopped dripping after about 20 minutes.... so she fiddled with it and the burning pain in my hand had me screaming and crying. My guess is there was such a long delay between me taking the pills and getting the antibiotic that the pills didn't have any effect any more. Of course she never mentioned my taking the pills before getting the infusion to check if I had taken any or even offer any.
So she stopped the infusion... I only got half of the dose though she insisted I had received most of it. She must have thought I was blind since the bag was still half full !!!
The nurse went off to check on the Home Assist and told me they couldn't organise it over the weekend. I would have to come back tomorrow since it can only be organised on a weekday. She was too nice for me to get stroppy so I shut up until she finished telling me the deal. Then I asked why, the last time it was organised on a Sunday and the nurse turned up on the following Monday morning at my home??? She didn't know. She changed my dressing and was really gentle doing it.
My first task when I get home today is to write or phone the hospital Administrator. I'm sick of being messed around and getting different stories depending on the doctor I see. Why don't all the doctors know about the home nursing??????
If I get an Indian doctor today I'll scream the place down!!!!
Jason's just arrived to deliver me to Hell... gotta go...
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| 7 SEPTEMBER 2011 - WEDNESDAY OK... I went to the hospital on Monday, arrived at around 9am. Saw the Triage nurse and during our conversation I said "I hope I don't get a repeat of yesterday....." She asked what happened... she was understanding... hallelujah !! She said Leanne (the nurse who came to my home) was in the hospital and she'd get her to see me. I told her I don't want an Indian doctor because they don't have a clue!!
She obliged... I got a handsome young man about my son's age, originally from Peru... I asked because I detected an accent. He spoke perfect English and thank God.. knew what he was doing! He put in a new cannula in my right hand this time.got it in first try. Then he got hold of Leanne and she took care of the antibiotic and the dressing.
As far as I'm concerned all the Indian doctors should work in Call Centres... at least then I could hang up on them! We had one here recently who was conducting operations he wasn't qualified to do... patients died!! He's in prison. It's the fault of our system, total lack of checking qualifications thoroughly before employing them.
Anyway... back to Monday... the doctor also organised for Leanne to come to my home for further antibiotic infusions yesterday (Tuesday) and today. She's coming at noon today.
Monday night I was screaming with pain, I got Jason to rip off the dressing and replace it with something that wouldn't burn. He was going to call an ambulance but I made him wait until I took a couple of Panadol to see if they helped. After about 20 minutes the pain subsided so I went to bed instead. I didn't want to go to the hospital..... Yesterday I told Leanne about the problem so this time she used a different dressing. She also had me dig out my assortment of pressure stockings I collected last year and put one on each leg after she changed the dressing. I got a decent nights' sleep, first time for a week. I have to go on oral antibiotics from tomorrow. The cannula is being removed today after the infusion. Leanne wants me to be checked by a Blue Nurse (they come to your home to help out... I had them come to give my husband showers when he was alive)... not sure what she's going to do.. will find out today. I also want a supply of dressings because when the pharmacies do have what I need they cost a small fortune. So I'll have to see if I can twist her arm. Will finish this later when she's been and gone and it will be easier for me to type when the cannula is gone. It's taken me ages to type this... *S* |
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12 SEPTEMBER 2011 - MONDAY
Things are looking up. Grandson Hayden is back with us. He accused his Dad of never being there for him. Jason told him some home truths.... like his mother took off for parts unknown when he was a baby (not yet 2) and Jared was 4. We had no idea where they were, but had our suspicions. They were gone for months and Jason missed both kids..... broke his heart. We went looking for them. We travelled 1400km (870 miles) north to Innisfail to find her. Saw her at the bank but lost her by the time we got to our car and tried to follow her. So we drove home and I hired a private investigator, since we had the make and model of car she was driving and the registration number.
We had her location 2 weeks later so headed back up again, turned up on her doorstep, she wasn't even surprised. She was pregnant to someone else, and Hayden and Jared were playing in the yard. Hayden didn't know his Dad... he was a stranger to him. Jason asked to bring Jared back for a couple of weeks since he missed him but Hayden was too young. She let Jared come with us... he had bowel problems and she'd not kept up his medication so we had to take care of that. After 2 months.... she rang to ask when Jason was taking Jared back... he said never.. and told her why.
She tried to take Jason to court but that didn't work out like she hoped... she was ordered back to Hervey Bay. So he told Hayden if it had been left to his mother he would never have known his father. BUT time heals all wounds and he has no animosity towards his mother.. life goes on and you get over the hurdles. We haven't held a grudge and we're friends with Helen again. Hayden apparently was crying when Jason told him this... he had thought all these years that his dad didn't care. So he's come home... hallelujah!! All we have to do is hope his need to feel responsible for the girlfriend wears off, Jason is working on it. We're back to being happy at home again.... thank God!
I have a Blue Care Nurse coming 3 times a week to attend to my dressing until the Wounds Therapist comes back from her holiday. Jason is taking care of it the other 4 days. I got a supply of dressings through her costing me about a third of what the normal retail cost would be. Funny thing... because I can't have medication for my RA while I'm on antibiotics, I've been taking Panadol and that seems to be working fine... no better or no worse than when I'm on RA medication..
I did eventually get the tutorial done that I was working on for last week... you'll be getting it this coming Thursday. *S* It took me a couple of days because I found it hard to concentrate. I pray that all goes well today in New York and the threat of terrorism is only just that... a threat.. and not an eventuality. Our September 11 has passed. We've had gatherings here all over the country, since Australians lost their lives when the twin towers were hit 10 years ago.
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| 19 SEPTEMBER 2011 JOKE OF THE YEAR! 'Finance Minister of the Year Award' from UK magazine Euromoney. It must be said the choice this year is rather limited, with early race favourites Greece, Italy and Spain falling, and the USA still struggling to avoid a double dip recession. But there's no doubt Australia is doing exceptionally well economically compared to the rest of the world. The question is: Is it anything to do with Swan, or is he just in the right place at the right time, in the middle of the biggest mining boom Australia has even seen? Certainly, Swan and Kevin Rudd did the right things back in 2008 by stimulating the economy when the GFC struck, but he's hardly dazzled since then. And the accolade comes as a shock to The Power Index, whose in-depth profile of Swan in our Top 10 Money Movers is published this week. One former Labor colleague assured us "he's hopeless". Others were not much kinder. Cheryl Kernot, who comes from Queensland and knows Swan well, told us: "People in Canberra don't think he's good, even on the Right. There's lots of mutterings behind the scene. And he's been appallingly weak in supporting Julia Gillard on the mining and carbon taxes." Mark Latham, the man who put Swan into the job, by making him shadow treasurer in 2004, has famously branded him "insipid", "unfamiliar with basic economic terminology", and beset by "nerves and anxiety". "Mr Swan has racked up $154 billion of deficits, he's yet to deliver a budget surplus and has turned $45 billion in the bank into a $110-billion-dollar credit card bill," he said in the statement. "The real recipient of this award should be Peter Costello, who laid the groundwork for Wayne Swan. "If it wasn't for the heavy lifting done by the previous government, the Australian economy wouldn't be in the position it's in today."
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| 29 SEPTEMBER 2011 -THURSDAY I've been MIA since Tuesday because that's when I visited the Wounds Clinic after which I was good for nothing!I didn't see Teresa (who looked after me last year) but got this doctor (?), nurse (?), specialist (?). smart ass who had me screaming the roof off the place! He took a swab which started my crying (not yet screaming), then he told me he was going to do a "punch biopsy" and would need to give me a local anaesthetic first. "Will it hurt?" "Probably! But I don't want you screaming because we have OTHER patients here!" He inserted the needle in my leg, I tensed up, more tears, he moved it around,early stages screaming! A nurse asked if I wanted to hold her hand. I told her through the tears "No thanks... I'll break it..." THEN he did the "punch biopsy"... I was hysterical! He acted like I was a wimp.... made some smart assed comment... I yelled "You're not on THIS END of whatever you're doing!!!!!!!!!!!" It felt like he was taking hours even though it was only a couple of minutes of even more pressure in my ulcer. I wanted to kill him! OK, it was over. Took me 10 minutes to calm down and stop shaking. He put a different dressing on it... "Should last 2 - 3 days before needing changing... if it causes problems use whatever dressing you like it won't make any difference" (That made me feel better... NOT!) Then he handed me a couple of forms which I was to give to Reception on my way out. A nurse intervened.... she said THEY organise these things with reception, I don't have to do anything. I'll get a letter in the mail re an appointment for a couple Ultrasounds on my leg and anotherletter in the mail re my next appointment after the ultrasounds are done.(I'm looking forward to that like a hole in the head!) Jason came to collect me... asked how I went... I couldn't tell him, too busy shaking and close to more tears. You all know more than he does... I still haven't told him. Got a phone call this morning from the X-Ray Clinic (not at the hospital) I have to go Monday for the Ultrasound, have to fast for 6 hours beforehand. Next appointment is for the following Thursday afternoon. Apparently I have to stand for an hour while they prod, poke and check out whatever. I told the caller "Good luck on that!!!" She was really sweet (what a change) and said I should discuss it with whoever does theultrasound on Monday. If I'm not able to stand for an hour then the hospital will be out of luck. The Blue Nurse came on Wednesday morning, knew immediately something was wrong. Told her what happened the day before. She checked the dressing and showed me it wasn't absorbing anything, in fact it had started to leak.She said there's no way this dressing would last any longer than 1 day! Also.. they're expensive! So I showed her what the nurse who gives me the arthritis infusions suggested I get...'Flaminal Forte Gel' which kills bacteria in wounds. She spread that over the would and dressed it with the usual dressing. So here's hoping it helps. She'll be back tomorrow. She also suggested Manuka Honey which Jason has gone off to get for me right now. Maybe that will work better. I showed the smart ass at the hospital the Gel but he just tossed it aside... didn't want to know! So basically I've not been in the mood for emails, PSP or anything for that matter. As a result I don't have a tutorial for today from me BUT I'll be posting the other Thursday Activities shortly. I know you'll be disappointed but will forgive me. I'm starting to feel like I want to live again and what's more I am DETERMINED to have this ulcer starting to heal before I see the smart ass the next time.... just to prove he's not as clever as he thinks. I'll never forget his name.... JAMIE Roberts!! |
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30 SEPTEMBER 2011 -FRIDAY A Blue Care Nurse has been visiting 3 times a week since the 9th of this month... nothing seems to be improving and it's costing me $$$ for each visit. Makes me mad when I know if I had been admitted to hospital and given the same treatment as last year... the ulcer would be gone! |
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