Monday, December 1, 2008

Update...

So...I know I haven't written anything since Thanksgiving, but a lot has happened and I knew I would have tons to write about! Let me start off by saying that I am back in pediatrics and I have it straight from my doctor that I will NEVER be going to the 6th floor again! So here it goes...

Thursday night my husband dropped me off to my room (on the 6th floor) at 5:30pm and then he had to leave right away so he could go to his mom's house for their Thanksgiving (I had to be back for an abx so I couldn't go we just went to my mom's house to eat.)

So I get back to my room, I got up to use the rest room and to get my laptop out of the bag and plug it in when I was feeling a little short of breath so I sat on the bed. After a few minutes I still wasn't breathing easy so I bumped up the oxygen from 3 to 4 liters and that didn't help either.

At this point I decide to hit the call light so that I could get my nurse to help me and to call respiratory so that I could get a breathing treatment. This was at 5:45pm.

As I sit there and wait for someone to answer the call light I still can't catch my breath and at this point I am starting to really get scared because I just can't catch my breath. I start to get really light headed and start dripping beads of sweat off my face all while nobody is answering to help me! I start thinking of alternative ways to get someones attention from trying to open the room door and yelling to just pushing the code blue button which I know has everyone come running but I didn't...I just waited.

FINALLY, at 6:05...20 MINUTES later a CNA just happened to be walking in my room to see if I needed anything (not because my call light was on) by this time I am gasping for breath completely white with blue lips and I tell him I need my nurse and respiratory because obviously I am having trouble breathing. He runs and get a nurse and of course they rush in throw up the O2 as high as it can go and check my Sats which were 75/76 on the 4 liters I had put myself on! Respiratory comes in and starts my treatment and I start calming down almost right away. After 2 treatments I was back down to 3 liters of oxygen and breathing fine and thank goodness haven't had an issue since.

Both my doctor and my mother were LIVID at the thought that my breathing was allowed to get that out of hand because a call light was left unanswered that long. Luckily I was ok but it could have been much worse and that kind of care is unacceptable and that NEVER would have happened to me if I was left on pediatrics where I was. My mom is going to be writing a very lengthy letter on my behalf and my doc is going to be going to whoever he goes to, to make sure something like this never happens again.

I am feeling better now but not good enough to go home yet....in the mean time I have work I can do and 2 books my mom got me from the library to read.

1 comments:

Alicia said...

What a nightmare! Any idea what caused that unusual attack?