Recovering....

It's amazing how different things are around the house with Mark at home every day! It seems like I can't get anything done. If I get on the computer, I can almost count to 10 and he will walk in the room. I have good intentions, but I get sidetracked and never finish what I'm doing. When I started this update, I realized that I never finished describing the ordeal from the hospital. I'll try to finish and work up to today. Sorry if it's a long post. I haven't been out or talked on the phone much, so I'm likely to get carried away.

As I said in the last post, Mark's mood changed on Saturday and it was obvious it was the pain medication. Sunday morning, Dr. Blalock's partner came by a little before 7. When he came in, I was asleep (one of the few times)and he caught me off guard. I had not talked to Mark yet, so I wasn't aware of how he was doing. The doctor said that he had heard that he was determined to go home that day. I was over there shaking my head "no", but Mark started telling him how well he was doing. Mark told him that he had gone to the bathroom during the night and was talking to him just as sober as he could. He never looked at his incision and said he would release him but he might end up back. When he left, Mark got up to go to the bathroom and said "I've had to go but can't". It was obvious that the medicine was still doing the talking. When I questioned him, everything he said contradicted what he had just told the doctor! I realized that he had no idea what he was saying and that he had just talked his way into being discharged! The nurse the day before said that he would be lucky if he got out on Monday. That would give them time to make sure his bladder was functioning properly and for him to get off of the pain pump.

When the nurses changed shifts, the day shift nurse came in with his discharge papers.
I started trying to explain that Mark was not truthful with the doctor and the pain meds had him confused. I asked if she would call the doctor and tell him. She looked at me and said "he has been discharged and that isn't changing". She told him that she was going to show him how to change the dressing--change his own dressing that he can't even see, much less change the bandages or empty the drain! Our favorite nurse put a special bandage on him because the tape wasn't sticking to Mark's skin. Well, Miss Bad Attitude wouldn't listen to me when I tried to tell her. She totally ignored my presence and went over the discharge papers with Mark. She even went as far as pointing to the line where it says "person who is taking you home" and just pointed to the word "spouse". She asked him "is this your wife?" and never looked over at me. This whole time, Carla and I were sending text to each other. I was telling her what was going on and she was telling me to ask the nurse to call the doctor to have the discharge reversed. Nope, I think this woman just wanted one less patient to care for that day. She then began to remove Mark's IV, but first pushed the pain medication pump. Just what I needed...more meds to dope him up before releasing him to me!


After she finished giving him all of the instructions, she told him to sign it saying that he understood everything. Ok, that was it! I spoke up and told her that he had no idea what she just said and what he just signed. I also asked how can he change his bandage or empty the drain when he can't see it. She replied with some smart remark without looking at me and continued what she was doing. About that time, the charge nurse came to the door and asked if there was a problem. Carla had called up to the nurses station to tell her what was going on. I told her that the nurse wouldn't listen to my concerns and how she told Mark all of the instructions. I explained that Mark was having problems emptying his bladder, so she decided to bring in the scan machine to see how much urine was present. The scan showed that there wasn't much in his bladder. That was good news, but it also meant that Mark really had been going but just didn't remember. When we were leaving, the nurse who was so rude to me was sitting at her desk in the hall. I stopped and asked her name and she said "you should have listened to me when I came in the room and told you the first time". The charge nurse told her to tell me her name and she wouldn't say anything or turn around so I could see her badge. Finally, the charge nurse said "her name is Ms. Brown". I guess she knew that she had been rude and was afraid that I would file a complaint. I left St. Dominic's Hospital crying and knowing that he didn't need to go home.

After the aids helped to get him in the car, we headed home. First, I needed to get his medicine filled. When I stopped at the drug store, I looked over at his shirt and could see that his shirt had blood stains on it. When he lifted it up, the bandage was hanging off. Apparently, she didn't listen to me when I told her why he had a different kind of bandage. I guess she didn't want to take the time to go and find the kind that would stick and keep it covered like it needed to be. She had put a long piece of gauze and two pieces of tape on a 10 inch incision with a drain hole below. The tape came loose and everything was exposed.

After stopping at the store, we were on our way home when I decided that he didn't need to be around the kids in this frame of mind. It was as if he had drank a fifth of vodka-he had no idea he was in this world! He was talking crazy and nothing made sense. There was no way of reasoning with him. So, I called his parents and we decided it would be best if he stayed with them until the dilaudid was out of his system. I dropped him off at the Courtney's and then headed home to see the kids. A couple of hours later, he called me. I put him on speaker phone so my mom could hear him talk. I was feeling guilty for dropping him off, so I wanted her to hear the way he was talking. That afternoon he called again--my Mark was back. He sounded so much better! He was on pain medication, but it was obvious that the last shot of the pain pump (that the nurse administered before taking out his IV) was out of his system. She wasn't suppose to push the button anyway, especially right before he's released into my care. He went ahead and spent the night with his parents so I could get some sleep. Mr. C brought him home the next morning.

Dr. Blalock called Monday morning to check on him. He said that when he went to do his rounds, he found out that Mark had "skipped town" on him. He said that he called his partner to find out what was going on and he told him that Mark nagged and insisted that he was able to go home. When I told Dr. Blalock how Mark was doing, he said "sounds like he should still be in the hospital". His mind was better, but that's it. He told me if things got worse, to bring him in. Thankfully, it all worked itself out in a couple of days. He was in so much pain, but I could see improvement each day.

Thursday night, Leigh Ashley started throwing up. That was the last thing Mark needed to be doing. He cringes when he coughs, so I knew a stomach virus would not be good. I kept her away from him and used a can of Lysol throughout the house. I kept her home from school on Friday and Mr. Courtney took Mark to get his staples and drain removed. He came home feeling so much better. Finally, he was free of the drain that stuck out through a hole underneath his incision.

His pain is much better now. It's been a much harder recovery than we expected, but he's managing fine. He hasn't returned to work yet. The flu is everywhere and he needs to stay well, so he needs to stay in as much as possible. Yesterday was the first day he's shown any signs of being board. That's a good sign....it means he's felling better!