So much of my hospital stay is a blur. But there are distinct points that I remember that were very clear to me that God was in control.
The wound care doctor was at Tomball Regional Medical Center. My original surgery was in Houston. I had returned twice to my original surgeon expressing concern over my wound and he was nothing short of apathetic. No plan and no concern was expressed. The wound care doc in Tomball took one look and admitted me to the hospital.
After I was admitted to Tomball by the wound care doctor, I was coincidentally discussing the plan with the Tomball surgeon at the exact same time Babe was talking to the original surgeon in Houston. In the two hours I was allowed to get a bag, my mind was racing as to what we were supposed to do. This was a HUGE decision.
1-Do we return to the original apathetic surgeon in Houston? This is a long drive for my family. He got me where I am. His communication is terrible. He released me from the hospital with temperature spikes and high white blood cell count with no concern. BUT....Houston is the MECCA for health care.
2-Do we stay in Tomball? The surgeon was extremely thorough, had a plan, excellent communicator. And you better believe I asked every nurse, aide, and tech what they thought about him and not one person said anything but praiseworthy things about this surgeon. One doctor even said, "He's the trifecta. He is wise, skilled and has good bedside manner to boot." My kids and family are close. But this is Tomball, Texas? Population: small!
I called Babe immediately. He told the Houston surgeon that I was covered up in infection and my wound wasn't healing. He said the Houston doctor said, "I guess you should just transfer her down here." And that was it. I told Babe that I had prayed so hard in those two hours and I had an overwhelming peace about staying in Tomball after talking to my doctors. BUT....I wanted it to be a decision we made together. I needed confirmation of my peace. Babe was in total agreement.
Our decision to stay in Tomball was confirmed over and over again. Praise the LORD for that overwhelming peace I had about staying in Tomball. My surgeon was exactly what I had been told: The Trifecta. He had a nurse practitioner that worked very closely with him in surgeries and patient care. Their time with us was never rushed. Between me and my family members we had hundreds of questions and they just took a seat. Their confidence and communication was exceptional. We had to talk thru a lot of surgeries, difficult choices and potential issues. Their time was ours. We felt the same about my assigned Infection Disease doc, as well as my Gastroenterologist.
I had many different nurses on three different floors and every single one of them was amazing. Not only were they compassionate, but skilled. Two nurses that I remember specifically caught some very potentially dangerous issues....one that sent me to surgery for the 4th time just as they were considering releasing me. Praise GOD she caught the leak I had thru my drain. I had so many antibiotics going that I had two IV poles. I was a difficult patient simply for all the meds that I needed every shift. For the most part, I had a nurse in my room all the time for all the work they had to do for me. I can count at least 5 nurses that either prayed with me or told me they were praying for me. This was not a Christian hospital. They were just amazing on their own.
Even the anesthesiologists were wonderful. Having gone to surgery a total of four times at TRMC, I became a "regular" in the operating room. By the second surgery, they all greeted me and waited on me hand and foot. I don't think I was an exception. I think they just took that great of care of their patients. For my last surgery, that was simply a closing of my incision (it was open and with a wound vac the entire time I was in the hospital) and pulling of a drain, they all high-fived me that I was on my way to healing. Of course, it wasn't until the last surgery that they each expressed how sick I was, how far I had come and how great I looked. I have one more surgery to go and I know they will take as great of care of me as they did then.
After a short 48 hour stint at a neighboring hospital that insurance forced upon us, I was grateful to be returned to TRMC. Our experience at that interim hospital was not good and we are all in agreement that I would either be even more seriously sick or dead had we stayed there. We don't want to re-hash that time. When we returned to TRMC, I was being readmitted by the nurse when she needed to call my surgeon for orders. She returned to my new room and said, "Dr. Harkins wants to move you to another room just around the corner." My first thought was that it was higher level for telemetry or closer to nurses station...something pertaining to the increased level of care I needed. When they rolled me into my new room, our jaws dropped. I liked to refer to it as the George and Laura suite. We had a living room and a kitchen in addition to extra square footage and the regular hospital room. My surgeon came to visit and said that I deserved it for what I was going through and this way my kids could come up and comfortably spend time with me. Who does that for a patient? The extra mile...amazing. I was in tears.
Of course....ask anyone. I was in tears every day.
No comments:
Post a Comment