Monday, September 30, 2013

When will I get back to work???

That's the $1 000 000 000 question!

Had my follow-up with the surgeon today. Finally. I SHOULD have gone to him 2 weeks after surgery (2 weeks ago) but I didn't call his office right away. I was angry that the anesthesiologist screwed up my throat and the fact that the surgeon didn't call my hubby to update him after surgery or talk to me after the surgery. Good thing he apologized today for that (about his part anyways) and tried to answer questions about my throat.

I told him why I waited so long - about the infection - and that I was in major pain and I wasn't about to go to him and have him prodding around my bum when it hurts so much. Then he asked me why I didn't call him - well I did, I even told his secretary about the fact that I was having complications and she wouldn't give me an earlier appointment than today (he didn't address that) then asked me why I didn't go to the ER and have him paged!!! YA RIGHT!!!!

What surgeon do YOU know who wants to me PAGED when there are NOT on call???!!! I don't know a single one.

Either way, surgeon said that I'm off work til Nov 1st and more than likely another month after that but after Nov 1st he wants to take it week by week. He knows that I'm a nurse and considering walking exacerbates the pain, he figures it would be too difficult to go back. So I'm off for a bit longer.

The up side of this is that I can focus on my school work and make sure I get the best grades I can. Unfortunately it means no paycheck.

He wants to see me weekly to start tightening the seton and told me to pre medicate myself because it WILL hurt.... damn that's going to suck!!!

On a happy note - I just got back my pediatric assessment paper back and I got 99% - missed it by 0.5 of a mark because I forgot the birthdate - UGH! Stupid mistake. So far I'm 87% for one course and 93% for the other.





Thursday, September 26, 2013

Call me confused

Got the rough draft of one of my APA papers (have I mentioned how much I HATE APA???) but made sure that I did my paper VERY specific to APA. So much so that the comments that my teacher tells me that I don't have to do it so specific - WHAT???!!! I was told not to reference within a reference (although it's supposed to be that way).

Then when I'm FINALLY able to see the paper and check out the comments made on the paper, they don't even reference ANY of the comments she made separately from the comments on the paper. Ya, call me confused on the entire matter!

So ya, I have very little that I have to change on my paper - YAY, less work that I have to do. Though there's certainly more to be done.

Specifically I have a care plan that has to be done, I'll post more about this in another post.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Infectionized

I know the title isn't an actual word but I went to the Dr today and found out that I have THREE infections going on down there - no wonder I'm in so much pain!!!!

I took the dilaudid today because I was almost in tears - I haven't made it to fill my morphine script because my BIL hit two people and wrecked the extra car and hubby's working til 8pm this weekend. Ya not sure that was the best cuz I ended up being sooooooooo incredibly nauseous even with maxeran on board that I had to go have a nap for 3 hours. UGH!

Now I'm on two different antibiotics and hopefully I'll start to feel better in a couple of days - I sure hope so anyways!!!

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Trying to catch up

Being behind in school work has really stressed me out. This week I have a med test due by sunday, a SOAP note - minus the AP - so it just includes the subjective and objective aspects of an assessment. I also have an APA paper due that I'm not QUITE sure what I should be writing. I understand that the prof is just trying to ensure that we have APA under control and that we understand it but I just don't know what I should be writing. Therefore I'm slightly bullshitting and hoping that I hit the bullseye.

I got one of my papers back - one of the ones due the weekend of my surgery - the prof assistant only deducted 1.5 marks and if she hadn't, I would have gotten perfect. YAY!!!!!!!!! Hoping this next assignment - that I have finished and due sunday - that I get perfect for that one. It wasn't as indepth as the other one but it's certainly long enough - 20+ pages of questions that I have to ask a mother about her child's development. I used hubby's cousin whom I have know for over 5 yrs and I knew most of the answers so I just had to verify alot of the information.

I have pharmacology this semester as well - I'm pretty behind on that course. Trying my best to catch up. Alot of reading for that course and subsequent testing of the information. Good thing is is that I have to dispense quite a bit of meds and a variety at that at work and so it's not to bad to "learn" it.

Now to get back to this stupid paper...

Oh and the Doc called me today, wants to see me tomorrow to discuss the results of the swab that he took on Tues - I'm sure that I'll be started on antibiotics tomorrow.


Wednesday, September 18, 2013

I may be behind in school work but damn am I getting good grades

Since I had the surgery it has put me MAJORLY behind for school work. I've been TRYING to keep up, but damn do these teachers load the work and readings for each week.

I had been having major pain and irritation to the site - not sure how normal this is. As of yesterday the discharge has turned purulent and smelly. Went to my GP and he swabbed the area and sent it off for testing. I should know more Thurs. He didn't want to put me on anymore antibiotics since I've been on quite a bit lately. All good in my book since we are at least doing testing.

Because of the pain I was prescribed Dilaudid - I'm allergic to codeine, demerol and percocet - throat swells so ya, not having any of them. The unfortunate side effect is that I got MAJORLY dizzy from it. THEN I was getting nauseous from it (and gravol or maxeran weren't helping) and subsequently vomitting for an entire day. NOT good when i'm trying to make up all this stuff. Because of the dizziness I lost 4 days - finally I just had to stop taking the pills and deal with the agony in order to get SOME work done.

Pain's still pretty bad, especially after activity. So off I went to the GP yesterday to see if I can get morphine instead. I know it makes me nauseous but at least I know that maxeran will cover it and I SHOULD be ok.

I have a follow up with the surgeon on sept. 30 - looking forward to seeing him and hearing what he has to say about this entire mess.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Cut lip AND uvula from anesthesiologist - they messed me up good!

Had surgery yesterday... Got bumped by an emergency in the AM, was scheduled for 1330 hrs and was ALMOST cancelled - only reason they didn't was because I worked at the hospital (yay for small favors). Went in for surgery at 1730hrs and woke up in recovery at 2030hrs.

My throat was killing me when I woke up. wouldn't know what they did to me until I got home and looked in the mirror... little about that later - I have pics

The surgeon didn't even stay til I woke up to give me any information about my surgery, NOR did he call my hubby (which I indicated to do)... asked the nurse what they did, was told that the surgeon did a fistulectomy. Was surprised by this because surgeon told me that he couldn't do that because it was aimed at my vagina and the muscle there was too thin to do this. I also clarified with him about this prior to going into the theatre, asked him if he saw the CT scan I had a couple of weeks back. He said that he had, and that he thought that I also had a abcess but wouldn't know for sure until he got me knocked out and could peek around. So ya, the fistulectomy information came as a surprise. Also before going under I asked him to write a script for a pain killer seeing that I'm allergic to codeine, demerol and percocet and I didn't want him to "forget" about this and give me one of these and I would up the creek without a paddle and in tremendous amounts of pain. He gave me dilaudid which was good in my books.

When I got home and looked in the mirror - wondering why my throat was killing me so much, I found this...........




Pic # 1 - uvula from yesterday - the anesthesiologist CUT my uvula and damaged the tonsillar area (mine have been removed)

Pic # 2 - uvula from today - the bottom half is DYING!!!!!! Holy crap, and I have NO idea what to do about this!!!

Pic # 3 - the anesthesiologist cut my lip as well - at first when I felt it when I came out of my anesthsia I thought maybe I bit down on it - nope, that was from the ET tube.... what the hell was the anesthesiologist doing while I was asleep - was she as well?!

To say I'm pissed is an understatement. It's frustrating that I work there and get treated like this. No wonder my hospital is getting a SUPER bad rep. UGH!!! I don't want to have to fink on these HCPs but I certainly can't stand around and expect that they get away with this. Hello people, you dropped the ball and I don't want to have to pay for it.

I went to my family doc today because the original dilaudid the surgeon gave me wasn't enough to cover my pain (from either end actually) and even when I doubled the dose myself (explained that to the family doc as well) it STILL wasn't enough.

I told my doc that I felt bad for him that I'm always coming to him to fix other dr's mistakes - when I said that he said "hmmmm" and turned back to his computer. He couldn't BELIEVE that what's happened to me (for this whole ordeal since the end of June). He asked me if the doc put me on antibiotic - nope he sure didn't. So there's another script right there (we're up to 2)

I asked him for some numbing spray for my throat (so that I can swallow and maybe eat something) but he was a bit reluctant on that one - he relented a bit and gave me a script for xylocaine jelly so that I can put it on a Q-tip and apply it to the really painful areas in my mouth/throat. (script #3)

Last night was such a horrible night for sleep that even my sleeping pills weren't covering it and so while I was at the doc's I got him to give me a refill on my sleeping pills so hopefully tonite would be better (isn't so far but meh) = script # = 5

He said he wants to see me in a couple of days, already had an appointment with him on the 10th so hopefully I'll be in a better position than what I'm in right now.

I have a big ass assignment in school due Sunday @ 2300 hrs - ya, had to ask for an extension on that one. Hopefully they grant it. I'm not in ANY position to be doing it. Too doped up on dilaudid because of all the pain, I just want to sleep all the time (my body's way of coping with pain).

Oh, and I showed the Dr my derrier and he said that there's strings there - was surprised at that, because it means that the surgeon did a seton - I had talked to him about that just before going in for the surgery and he told me that he would likely be putting one in (for the one that goes towards my vagina) but when I asked him what kind it would be - tighting or not - he said he wasn't sure until he got in there and see how much muscle involvement there was.... still don't know which one I have but I DO know that I have strings.... guess I'll find out mroe in 2 weeks when I'm expected to have a follow-up appointment with the surgeon.