a long hospital stay

[ohiofarmer 3,161]

Coming back home has been a long time coming. I have always enjoyed living a pretty active life for my age. Starting out on a farm and going into construction gives you strength but sometimes at the cost of aches anId pains. I was just doing normal stuff on August 10 if normal stuff is pulling hard on a three foot pipe wrench.The next day my back was sore so I took it easy, and the day after that my back froze soild and I got a fever.

  I was afraid of meningitis and I hurt so bad we had to call for an ambulance. We did the ER trip and they discovered staph in my blood. All kinds of questions about cuts and scratches did no good and a MRI found that it was in my spine.  The first antibiotic did no good so testing the blood and taking cultures found one that helped. The first hospital I was in the ER and when they figured some stuff out I was transformed to a bigger affiliate and found out that I needed surgery on my spine to remove the source of infection..I got very frightened when I learned this was life threatening and had to endure 70 minuntes flat on my back in a MRI machine without painkillers after being assured that my nurse was coming to give them to me. All this took ten days from arrival until I finally got surgery. Thankfully I do not have steel rods in my spine but they did have to remove bone to clean out the infection.That surgeon is a rock star ..the bright spot of the entire hospital

   After surgery was pure pain again as the staff seemed dedicated to the fact that I needed to be able to take care of myself almost immediately. Wait times for assistance were unbearable and to get them to come I found that setting off the bed alarm was the only way I could avoid messing in the bed. I also had some nurses not properly sanitizing my IV line before administering the antibiotics that are necessary in my treatment. I am not the only one who feels this way. There are signs all over the hospital warning you to not threaten thIe nursing staff..Not everything was bad as some of the staff helped me talk to the right people, but I watched them very carefully to make sure they flushed the IV line before and after to keep it sanitary.I left there seventeen days later not even able to go to the medical rehab center except on a stretcher This was caused by a physical therapist who missed his calling as a bar bouncer..

   Putting that behind me,I arrived at a live in therapy nursing facility. Their main function remained to administer the IV antibiotic three times a day and physical therapy so I could take care of myself at home. Thank goodness I am on medicare plus supplemental to pay for most of this. My room gets cleaned once a day in contrast to the hospital room not at all.except between patients.. The food is great and if the meal that is coming is stuff you dont like, you can choose from the always available menu items. I have been here a month and the antibiotic injections end tomorrow. Physical therapy is a collaboration and I walked at a fast pace 4000 yards yesterday..If something they do hurts, they come up with an alternative that has a good result with less pain.

  I have learned a lot having survived and lived through this.. The most important is to understand what is proper and not accept what is not . For example, understanding that the MRI had located the infected tissue on my spine narrowly averted me having an exploratory proceedure that was at first considered but was then cancelled. I knew that my surgeon had what he needed and when I saw another surgeon in scrubs and gloves coming at me, he called the main spinal surgeon to check out my story and everybody suddenly left and they transported me back to my room. They were gonna poke a hole in my chest and insert an endoscope behind my heart to do the same thing the MRI was for.  A lot of failed communication for sure..

  I will be home in two days...a long time from Aug 12 to Oct 4

Edited October 2, 2023 by ohiofarmer

[Ed Kennell 36,087]

Wow, sorry to hear you had to endure this.    Sure glad it's almost over and hope all goes well once you get home.

[SylvanLakeWH 24,302]

Wow...

 

Good cautionary tale for all of us...

 

Glad to hear you are on the mend. 

[Treepep 455]

MAN,

 

I am glad that you are feeling better and home soon.  I have a lot of family that I wish I could clone in that field.  I have visited family/friends enduring different things in the hospital and I can say I would not give a passing grade.  I takes quite special people that give a damn in that field to be successful and it involves all parties.  I have a lot of love and respect for nurses.  Those that are knowledgeable and care are priceless.  

 

One example... Dad was in the trauma E.R.  Stable ish.  Nurse /Phleb. came in to take blood samples.  I am very knowledgeable in this field however I am the least qualified (not my field).  She prepped a vein below the I.V.  I told her that was a nursing 101 NO NO.  Luckily my Sister (P.H.D. Nurse) and Aunt retired E.R. nurse returned and corrected.

 

Huge deal, NO.  Its just details.  If you intend to do things half ass choose a field that doesn't involve lives.

 

Sorry to Hi jack.  I am happy for you and hope for a speedy recovery.  Keep doing the great work and get better soon!

[953 nut 52,227]

1 hour ago, ohiofarmer said:

Physical therapy is a collaboration and I walked at a fast pace 4000 yards yesterday..If something they do hurts, they come up with an alternative that has a good result with less pain

Glad to hear that you are on the road to recovery.

Your story seems a lot like my stroke rehab. While at the inpatient rehab the nurses and therapists took great care of me and the doctor always made sure I understood what was being done and why.

Walking the way you are is a great indicator, it has been four months since the stroke and for the first few weeks I was in bed getting no exercise. Amazing how much muscle loss can take place and how long it takes to rebuild what you had.

[Ed Kennell 36,087]

40 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

. Amazing how much muscle loss can take place and how long it takes to rebuild what you had.

It's been 5 weeks since my 98 yo MIL  (who lives with us) fell and broke her hip.       

The surgical team said , we can let it heal naturally which will take 6 weeks before she can put weight on it and she will probably never walk again due to the muscle loss.

Or, If she can handle the surgery, we can pin the fermur and she can walk in a few days.   The medical team reviewed her medical history and agreed to allow the surgery.

She spent one week in the hospital due to low blood pressure, then two weeks at a PT hospital, then two weeks of PT at home by the VNA.

She is now walking with a cane and this morning we are headed to the Delaware Bay for a week of crabbing.

[ohiofarmer 3,161]

3 hours ago, Treepep said:

MAN,

 

I am glad that you are feeling better and home soon.  I have a lot of family that I wish I could clone in that field.  I have visited family/friends enduring different things in the hospital and I can say I would not give a passing grade.  I takes quite special people that give a damn in that field to be successful and it involves all parties.  I have a lot of love and respect for nurses.  Those that are knowledgeable and care are priceless.  

 

One example... Dad was in the trauma E.R.  Stable ish.  Nurse /Phleb. came in to take blood samples.  I am very knowledgeable in this field however I am the least qualified (not my field).  She prepped a vein below the I.V.  I told her that was a nursing 101 NO NO.  Luckily my Sister (P.H.D. Nurse) and Aunt retired E.R. nurse returned and corrected.

 

Huge deal, NO.  Its just details.  If you intend to do things half ass choose a field that doesn't involve lives.

 

Sorry to Hi jack.  I am happy for you and hope for a speedy recovery.  Keep doing the great work and get better soon!

 

[ohiofarmer 3,161]

Exactly your point made. I had a LPN try to argue the point that they did not need to inject saline to keep the line clear. What followed was a leak that lost precious life saving antibiotics. If she had injected the cleansing saline first,the leak would have been revealed.

  I raised a big stink about it and she was banned from coming back. 

   You never saw the same person for more than two days straight. Care ranged from Florence Nightingale to Nurse Ratchet. 

   The patients I feel sorry for are the ones so infirm that they cannot advocate for themselves. 

  You did not hijack this thread. It's not about me but is to alert anyone else who might expect that perfect care is gonna happen anymore. 

[ACman 7,561]

Glad to hear and I always have this fear from my accident 13 years ago . Last November I was in the hospital for a week for a cyst that was right below my c3/4 vertebrae . Even though I’m a quadriplegic I can move my limbs but when this hit me I couldn’t move anything like the first few months of my injury . Super high dose of iv steroids over 4 days and I regained what I’d lost . You are very lucky as the patient in the room next to me had the same issues you had but he didn’t make it home . I am never alone if I have to be admitted into a hospital and they are always watching them . I learned this from the first couple days of my stay in the 4 months I lived there . 

Edited October 2, 2023 by ACman

[oliver2-44 8,920]

Good to hear your on the mend, God is good!

[R Scheer 499]

Glad you're getting better.

[Treepep 455]

On 10/2/2023 at 12:29 PM, ohiofarmer said:

 

 

 

Get out of there sir and do your best not to return... Unless you bring your own qualified people  I am personally not shy about redirecting lazy folk in pretty much any field.  In my field if you get complacent and relax you/others perish and possible career/business ending property damage.  Do it right or stand down!  Up and running in no time!

[D_Mac 8,310]

Wish you a speedy recovery. I know all to well about extended hospital stays. I know what it is like to rely on others to do  simple things for you that you can't do yourself.  In 2019 I went into the hospital at the end of February and finally came home in June. Home for a week, then back in for 10 days. No picnic. Amazing what your body and mind can endure. I wish you a speedy recovery.

Edited October 4, 2023 by D_Mac

[ACman 7,561]

Just ask the charge nurse to call patient relations and most of the time they change their tune . As @Treepep said I learned early on to speak up and call them out on things that happen even if it’s a little mistake . During on night the nurse came in to turn me and when doing so my sheet fell off the bed . She picked it up and went to put it back on me and that’s when I called her out on what she was doing . I said you know what is on the floor and the reason you don’t wear your work shoes home go get me a new one . 

[midpack 813]

On 10/2/2023 at 9:34 AM, 953 nut said:

 Amazing how much muscle loss can take place and how long it takes to rebuild what you had.

 

It's been just over a year since surgery put me in hospital/rehab for 2 months. I had to learn how to stand and walk again.

still not nearly as strong as I was before surgery, but I'm alive... ❤😁 

[ohiofarmer 3,161]

Warning...long post. 

I am humbled by all your kind replies.

 I am home now and had to recover for a few days again from trying to get something off the floor . Stupid me. When my back spasms I can seem to recover if I immediately get up and walk it off. 

    My wife and I were talking about another mistake in that before surgery, the surgery team and I had settled how far the guy could go to clean out the garbage that had settled in my spine and were waiting for surgery the next day.

   Suddenly a transport team shows up unannounced and puts me on a separate gurney for transport to another floor of the hospital. A prep team shows up and soon a guy I did not know was in surgical scrubs ready to operate. I remembered hearing about an alternative method of confirmation that was deemed unnecessary after the  spinal surgeon had examined a second MRI that he talked me into doing after personally promising to get proper pain management for the process.

   It might seem incredible to not remember this incident, but with all the pain and worry it becomes the fog of war.

   So a communication snafu almost cost me an unnecessary endoscopic surgery. I informed the second surgeon that I was pretty confident the spinal surgeon was satisfied with the second MRI and that I was invoking the right of refusal until he consulted with the main surgery team.

  Three minutes later the surgeon waved off the prep team and they vanished without any explanation

 

   My wife and I were clueless to what had happened until the transport team showed up and took me back to my room.The surgery was inserting an endoscope through my chest and working it behind the heart and lungs to take a picture of the infected tissue on my spinal cord and sheath. 

    I might have forgotten this without my wife's help because of painkillers, but we pieced it back together last week

   I Am HOME now and with the help of God and my wife, we have figured out all the painkillers necessary and substituting lesser doses of over the counter instead of the higher power stuff that the recovery center and doctors gave out. This is in part to having a catheter inserted for almost a month because of painkillers.

    I am going to get the complete records of every person who billed my account and every aspirin I consumed. I am guessing a quarter to a half million  charged to Medicare but who  knows?The hospital did save my life and I definitely give them credit for that. Maybe I had a part in saving it as well as well as the people who prayed for me and helped keep the yard mowed even if the mower had a color other than red.

    So don't be shy about demanding safety and sanitation from the caregivers when you have to. Sorry about the length of this post

[midpack 813]

. I am guessing a quarter to a half million charged to Medicare

 

I had 2 line items on a 4 page document that were over one million dollars each 😵‍💫

[ohiofarmer 3,161]

2 hours ago, midpack said:

. I am guessing a quarter to a half million charged to Medicare

 

I had 2 line items on a 4 page document that were over one million dollars each 😵‍💫

   Just WOW. Quite a return on investment so long as you have supplemental insurance.  I paid double Social Security and medicare as self employed , but every time I see the same government that collects these taxes also allow salesmen to talk the populace into free groceries and stuff so the citizen gets *** coverage with all those deductibles......well

    As a cancer survivor, my choice was easy. 

Edited October 8, 2023 by ohiofarmer

[953 nut 52,227]

On 10/7/2023 at 8:46 PM, ohiofarmer said:

supplemental insurance.

A good supplemental insurance plan is so important. My brother had an "Advantage Plan" as a supplement and after he passed away I started paying the co-pay and out of network payments from seven weeks in the hospital and six weeks of "skilled nursing facility care" that wasn't covered by Medicare or his Advantage Plan. By the time all the bills had been paid it came to over $ 20,000 that I had to pay out of his estate. A good plan should have covered all of it but I guess he had saved enough on premiums over the fifteen years he had the plan to break even.         Pay me now or wish you had later.