May 1, 2006
Today’s stream:
(Warning: This one is going to be very disjointed, as I ran out of time to organize it.)
Part of Donne’s response to Gary telling his family to hold off until he can talk: “As he requested, I am waiting to visit until he can talk and gets out of ICU. So tell him to start talking and get out of ICU.”
LOL. I can hardly wait for the above myself. It’ll be nice to hear his voice again.
BTW, I occasionally throw in some “netspeak,” so I’d better explain the few terms I use (I don’t know many). BTW = “by the way.” LOL = “laugh out loud.” TTYL = “talk to you later.” IMHO = “in my humble opinion.” Some of you may want to use IMNSHO, which I’m sure you can figure out (I won’t mention for which mathematicians or critique group members this phrase is the better fit).
My neurotic need to be first in line at the door to the ICU unit (we wait in the hallway until a nurse comes and opens the door and lets us in) has its dangers: I get blamed for others’ actions. Some people get impatient because the nurses hardly ever open the doors on time – I think some of those nurses are sadists – and these impatient people push the call button. The nurse always replies to hold on, they’re not ready for us. A few days ago when this happened, the nurse eventually came to the door to let us in, and as I passed, she whacked me with the stack of papers in her hand, telling me (but with a smile on her face) to quit pushing the call button. I told her, hey, just because I’m first in line doesn’t mean I do those dastardly deeds. The woman who HAD pushed the call button that time shrank guiltily against the wall. Then yesterday the doors opened for no discernible reason (and I have learned that that doesn’t mean you can come in – if you do you get yelled at), and again I got blamed for pushing against the door. I pleaded innocence and the woman behind me backed me up. I still have old Catholic guilts that prevents me from doing what I “shouldn’t.” Well, most of the time it prevents me. Sometimes I just suffer the guilt. :-)
Speaking of nurses, I have found most of them very nice and helpful, but there is always one. Gary told me at the 2:30 visit a couple of days ago that they had put the IV needle in a place where it ended just where the wrist bends in the back, and it hurt. I asked the nurse if they could put it in somewhere else, and she said she would do it when she had time. When I came back at 5:30, it still hadn’t been moved. She said she hadn’t had time. Finally when I came back at 8:30 it had just been moved. Maybe she really hadn’t been able to do it before, but it seems like somebody could have done it in all that time. I mean, he has enough to put up with without the extra discomforts.
I’ve also noticed most nurses stay available closeby, but others seem to disappear. I was trying to find something for Gary the other day, I forget what, and I eventually gave up on seeing his nurse and went out into the hallway to find someone who could help me. I got chastised for coming out of Gary’s room in my “lemon yellows” – the gowns everyone who enters the room has to wear (along with gloves). I wasn’t in a good mood at the time and snapped, “Well, I wouldn’t have had to come out if I his nurse had put in an appearance some time during the visiting half hour.” They then took care of whatever task it was that Gary had requested.
Gary has mentioned on several occasions that time passes slowly in ICU. I remember the first few days, at the beginning of every visit he asked me for the date and time. He felt like he’d been there weeks when it had only been a day or two. I felt the same way. Now he is bored, and the suggestions I offer for when I am gone – watch a DVD, listen to tapes or CDs doesn’t seem to be what he wants. He has mentioned wanting to write with his right hand, which he can’t do because of the cast, or to be able to turn magazine pages. I’ve tried slipping a magazine behind a rubberband on the laptop holder so he can read the page, but it’s still a big rigamarole to try to turn the page with one hand in a cast and the other full of tubes. If anyone thinks of something to try (short of cutting the cast off him), let me know. Of course, the problem is time-limited.
They gave him something to help him sleep last night, and he did feel he rested better, but he was still sleepy during the 10:30 am visit. He didn’t know if that was from whatever they gave him (I think it was Halcyon?) or if things were just catching up. His back is healing well, for the most part. The skin where the bottom staple is didn’t completely close up, so down the road they will put some kind of cream on it to help debrade it. He also has a bed sore, and they are keeping an eye on it, not letting him lay on his back, making sure to turn him every two hours, all to keep the pressure off it. The nurse I probably like the best smiled as she said Gary won’t let them forget to turn him, a reference to how he keeps his eye on the clock and issues the instruction at the appropriate time. On several occasions when it has been time to leave and I ask him if there’s anything else I can do for him before I go, he’s said, “Tell the nurses to turn me.” :-) They are going to try him at 8 hours on the trache collar today, alternated with 4 hours on the ventilator. I hope he does well. He now likes the collar better than the ventilator, because the ventilator does enforce its own rhythm.
Some people have asked about his view. Alas, all he can see is the curtains covering the wall-sized window that faces the inside of the building. It is impossible to turn him around, given the setup of the machinery in there, but even if they did, the view would mostly be of buildings, though there is a thin strip of trees on a mountain visible in the distance. On the TV there is a channel with nature sights and sounds, for those who have mentioned that that would be healing, and I have gone in there when he has had that on (though mostly it seems to be tuned to sports or CNN – not sure if anyone has done a study on the healing effects of those channels – oh, and by the way, they fixed the TV). I’m not sure about the fish suggestion, though. There doesn’t seem to be anywhere we could put them that he would be able to see them. Unless we could somehow hang them from the IV stand. :-) Gary says we would have to get two, so each of Blackjack and Tigger could have a treat when we get home.
I tell you, we’re going to need a U-Haul when it comes time to move him out of ICU, what with the books, papers, magazines, tape recorder, CD player, CDs, books-on-tape, shaver and other personal items, laptop holder, cards, etc., etc. :-)
One thing Gary asked me pretty much right after he found out he would be wheelchair-bound was if he could drive. I wasn’t sure why he thought I would know :-), but I said we had seen TV shows where people with such disabilities had vans they could drive using hand controls, and that we would have to look into that. Jo looked into that on her own and has discovered through a friend that there is a place in Sylacauga that converts vans for the disabled, so Gary perked up at that.
I will have to save the rest of today’s news for tomorrow – the chiropractor excursion, etc. Nothing new to report on Gary, except that they are going to try to get him a special bed to help with the bed sores problem, and that he made it all 8 hours on the trache tube without a problem. Yea!
Today’s stream:
(Warning: This one is going to be very disjointed, as I ran out of time to organize it.)
Part of Donne’s response to Gary telling his family to hold off until he can talk: “As he requested, I am waiting to visit until he can talk and gets out of ICU. So tell him to start talking and get out of ICU.”
LOL. I can hardly wait for the above myself. It’ll be nice to hear his voice again.
BTW, I occasionally throw in some “netspeak,” so I’d better explain the few terms I use (I don’t know many). BTW = “by the way.” LOL = “laugh out loud.” TTYL = “talk to you later.” IMHO = “in my humble opinion.” Some of you may want to use IMNSHO, which I’m sure you can figure out (I won’t mention for which mathematicians or critique group members this phrase is the better fit).
My neurotic need to be first in line at the door to the ICU unit (we wait in the hallway until a nurse comes and opens the door and lets us in) has its dangers: I get blamed for others’ actions. Some people get impatient because the nurses hardly ever open the doors on time – I think some of those nurses are sadists – and these impatient people push the call button. The nurse always replies to hold on, they’re not ready for us. A few days ago when this happened, the nurse eventually came to the door to let us in, and as I passed, she whacked me with the stack of papers in her hand, telling me (but with a smile on her face) to quit pushing the call button. I told her, hey, just because I’m first in line doesn’t mean I do those dastardly deeds. The woman who HAD pushed the call button that time shrank guiltily against the wall. Then yesterday the doors opened for no discernible reason (and I have learned that that doesn’t mean you can come in – if you do you get yelled at), and again I got blamed for pushing against the door. I pleaded innocence and the woman behind me backed me up. I still have old Catholic guilts that prevents me from doing what I “shouldn’t.” Well, most of the time it prevents me. Sometimes I just suffer the guilt. :-)
Speaking of nurses, I have found most of them very nice and helpful, but there is always one. Gary told me at the 2:30 visit a couple of days ago that they had put the IV needle in a place where it ended just where the wrist bends in the back, and it hurt. I asked the nurse if they could put it in somewhere else, and she said she would do it when she had time. When I came back at 5:30, it still hadn’t been moved. She said she hadn’t had time. Finally when I came back at 8:30 it had just been moved. Maybe she really hadn’t been able to do it before, but it seems like somebody could have done it in all that time. I mean, he has enough to put up with without the extra discomforts.
I’ve also noticed most nurses stay available closeby, but others seem to disappear. I was trying to find something for Gary the other day, I forget what, and I eventually gave up on seeing his nurse and went out into the hallway to find someone who could help me. I got chastised for coming out of Gary’s room in my “lemon yellows” – the gowns everyone who enters the room has to wear (along with gloves). I wasn’t in a good mood at the time and snapped, “Well, I wouldn’t have had to come out if I his nurse had put in an appearance some time during the visiting half hour.” They then took care of whatever task it was that Gary had requested.
Gary has mentioned on several occasions that time passes slowly in ICU. I remember the first few days, at the beginning of every visit he asked me for the date and time. He felt like he’d been there weeks when it had only been a day or two. I felt the same way. Now he is bored, and the suggestions I offer for when I am gone – watch a DVD, listen to tapes or CDs doesn’t seem to be what he wants. He has mentioned wanting to write with his right hand, which he can’t do because of the cast, or to be able to turn magazine pages. I’ve tried slipping a magazine behind a rubberband on the laptop holder so he can read the page, but it’s still a big rigamarole to try to turn the page with one hand in a cast and the other full of tubes. If anyone thinks of something to try (short of cutting the cast off him), let me know. Of course, the problem is time-limited.
They gave him something to help him sleep last night, and he did feel he rested better, but he was still sleepy during the 10:30 am visit. He didn’t know if that was from whatever they gave him (I think it was Halcyon?) or if things were just catching up. His back is healing well, for the most part. The skin where the bottom staple is didn’t completely close up, so down the road they will put some kind of cream on it to help debrade it. He also has a bed sore, and they are keeping an eye on it, not letting him lay on his back, making sure to turn him every two hours, all to keep the pressure off it. The nurse I probably like the best smiled as she said Gary won’t let them forget to turn him, a reference to how he keeps his eye on the clock and issues the instruction at the appropriate time. On several occasions when it has been time to leave and I ask him if there’s anything else I can do for him before I go, he’s said, “Tell the nurses to turn me.” :-) They are going to try him at 8 hours on the trache collar today, alternated with 4 hours on the ventilator. I hope he does well. He now likes the collar better than the ventilator, because the ventilator does enforce its own rhythm.
Some people have asked about his view. Alas, all he can see is the curtains covering the wall-sized window that faces the inside of the building. It is impossible to turn him around, given the setup of the machinery in there, but even if they did, the view would mostly be of buildings, though there is a thin strip of trees on a mountain visible in the distance. On the TV there is a channel with nature sights and sounds, for those who have mentioned that that would be healing, and I have gone in there when he has had that on (though mostly it seems to be tuned to sports or CNN – not sure if anyone has done a study on the healing effects of those channels – oh, and by the way, they fixed the TV). I’m not sure about the fish suggestion, though. There doesn’t seem to be anywhere we could put them that he would be able to see them. Unless we could somehow hang them from the IV stand. :-) Gary says we would have to get two, so each of Blackjack and Tigger could have a treat when we get home.
I tell you, we’re going to need a U-Haul when it comes time to move him out of ICU, what with the books, papers, magazines, tape recorder, CD player, CDs, books-on-tape, shaver and other personal items, laptop holder, cards, etc., etc. :-)
One thing Gary asked me pretty much right after he found out he would be wheelchair-bound was if he could drive. I wasn’t sure why he thought I would know :-), but I said we had seen TV shows where people with such disabilities had vans they could drive using hand controls, and that we would have to look into that. Jo looked into that on her own and has discovered through a friend that there is a place in Sylacauga that converts vans for the disabled, so Gary perked up at that.
I will have to save the rest of today’s news for tomorrow – the chiropractor excursion, etc. Nothing new to report on Gary, except that they are going to try to get him a special bed to help with the bed sores problem, and that he made it all 8 hours on the trache tube without a problem. Yea!
posted by Peg Daniels at 7:49 PM
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