My Dad had his surgery last Friday. I've been in and out of the hospital. He's doing well. We've had some ups and downs. Its not at all what we expected. Its been so hard and stressful. I can't really say what we all expected, just not this. It's kind of both ways, some good some bad. For one, the incision is just sooo much bigger then we thought, not sure what we were thinking, probably blocking it from our minds. But I will not rest easy until he is home and healed (or unless I'm drugged, which has been needed to sleep).
I'm back at work but on call at all times if I am needed there for any reason, no questions asked. I am hopeful he will be home this weekend but we just don't know. I can say this, I think that taking my EMT classes before all of this has actually helped me through all of this. Knowing vital signs, oxygen levels, certain drug names, what they do, side effects, comfort positions, terminology etc. has helped me cope with what is going on and in return putting my family at ease (being able to explain and agree with the doctors & nurses and reassure them that they aren't bullshitting us or sugar coating stuff). If I didn't know all of this I'm sure I'd be a complete wreck.
I am also discouraged by what I see in the hospital with regard to nursing care. Some have been great and a handful have been terrible. Being lazy, not looking at his chart so missing doses of meds he needs and not ordering up treatments scheduled by the doctors, not coming in often to check status (once in a shift!), ignoring calls to come to the room for more then 20 minutes, handling him rough when he was super sensitive to pain etc. I can't imagine what it would be like to have what my Dad has had done and not have family or close friends there to pick up the slack from the nurses or to hunt them down for info or to remind them of what they are supposed to be doing or not doing.
I seriously doubt he would be at the level he is without OUR care. I understand there is a shortage for nurses but that shouldn't mean that any idiot can get a license to do it. These people are dealing with life and death situations post op. One missed does of a required needed med at a specific time can spiral a patient into a MCI (heart attack) or whatever. A patient dives into that, the machine starts to beep to alarm you but if you don't respond to it till 20 minutes later you're dead. It's very scary. The body is unpredictable. Stable one minute unstable the next for no apparent reason. I haven't wanted to leave my Dad's side for these simple facts. Thankfully we are able to do shifts.
Bottom line, we are very lucky so far. I have been wearing my lucky horseshoe charm every day and today actually picked up a shiny penny that I found heads up. I'll take and particiapte in anything that is said to bring good luck right now!
Now - even through all of this I can share one funny story. The day after the surgery we are bedside with the resident Doctor talking to us about whats going on. We were talking for about 5 minutes and the Dr said something that made me ask some sort of a medical question, something a nonmed person wouldn't ask. He looked directly at me for the first time and and asked "oh, are you in the medical field or a..." I interrupted and said I was just an EMT. He literally turned around to me, stuck out his hand and said "Hi my name is Ben, nice to me meet you." He basically spoke to me the rest of the time and seemed to be just a little more informative. Funny how those 3 little letters change things a bit....
