Incarceration

Tues I ran temps for all morning and a bit in the afternoon again. I have had low grade temps off and on for several weeks. One of the lumens of my central line had a hole in it so I had an app't to get it replaced in SLC. As I thought about things, I decided it would be a good idea to check for an infection in my line and blood. I totally was not expecting a problem there. I had the cultures done at 6:00 Tues PM. I woke up Wed morning thinking I was feeling pretty good. And then ........................ I got a call from the dr office. They told me that I don't feel good. They told me that I have a blood infection and I need to go to the hospital and get going on IVs. I have done this before. I go in, they run in the 1st dose of antibiotic and send me home to continue with the antibiotic regimen. Shortly after I arrived at the ER, I was told that I was being admitted. Only 2 1/2 hrs later, I was in my room. Meanwhile I had a chest x-ray, and chest CT scan, 2 peripheral IVs placed and the old central line removed. And you can bet that I lobbied to be able to go home and treat myself. Obviously I lost that battle.

Last night was horrific. I didn't see my nurse from 8-11:00 and then she made up for it. I'm sure she was in my room at least once every hr ALL night long. And she had help. At 4:30 I rolled over to try to sleep and here came the lady to do a draw for labs. That ended up taking almost 1 hr. About 9:00 I was finally given some time to sleep.

My dr does not follow hospital patients. We now have 2 hospitalists and my PCP chose the one who would be caring for me.  She was my dr a few yrs ago and she took very good care of me. As she was driving to the hospital to treat me, she thought of a med student she recently had and is now working with another dr in town. Dr Durkin thought I would be a good opportunity for Sierra (med student) so she talked to Dr Greenhouse to make arrangements for Sierra to work with Dr Durkin on my case. Dr. Greenhouse agreed that it would be a good experience for Sierra and she said that she remembered me and would take on my case. It was "old home" week when I was met up with 2 of my old (former) drs. What a strange life I live.

This AM I was discussing with the dr about going home arrangements. I told her that we would have to make arrangements for my IV antibiotics to get shipped out today so I could have them for the week-end. I found out she was planning to send me home with oral antibiotics. I told her I usually get my 1st dose in the ER and then complete the rest of the course at home. So then she asked why I was hospitalized this time. I told her it wasn't my idea and I made it clear to everyone in the ER that I could take care of myself just fine.

I discussed with her some other issues that I had. OK, I told her about some unnecessary things that were being done and other changes that need to be made for my best interest.  Like, vitals 3 times during the night when they were always stable and running my hydration fluids too slow. She laughed at me and told me I was a very informed patient. She also told me that I should go to medical school. I told her that I have been going to med school for the past 25 yrs.

I also mentioned to her that one major problem I have is that I cannot write my own lab orders. I just want to be able to order certain labs when necessary. Then the dr can decide what to do with the results. She did not approve that YET. I am not done with her yet.

My plan was to be grumpy and mean so they would kick me out of here, but everyone just laughs at me. Now I'm begging for bail money. If we all pooled our money, I should be able to break out of here.

It looks like I will go home tomorrow. Tomorrow's project, besides escaping, is to finalize details with the cardiovascular surgeon for the line placement.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's adventures.