Retro Post

5/20/2006
Interesting hospital roommates...
Rundown of what transpired with Jim's hospital stay...

Monday - emergency room at 7:45 AM. Doctor on duty quickly orders EKG. Flurry of activity. Jim is in a lot of pain. He said on the hospital scale of 1-10 it was a 15.

A new patient arrives at the emergency room. She happens to be a nurse practitioner whose husband is a surgeon on staff at the hospital. Because everybody on duty in the emergency room know this couple, Jim is forgotten while they tend to her. She is in the same room as Jim with just a cot and a curtain between them so I could hear every word that was said. She has self diagnosed herself as having a kidney stone and her pain is a 4 - 5. I swear every one on call in the emergency room came and visited with her. I also noticed when she came in that she was not in so much pain that she forgot to put on her full makeup including eye shadow and mascara.

Finally the doctor orders a cat scan. He ordered the wrong one so Jim lay in agony while they finally ordered another one. In the meantime I remember that I can get aggressive when necessary and I go the the desk and tell them I want something for his pain ASAP. At least half an hour later they bring a morphine pump for him.

We arrive in his room at a little after 12PM. His roommate is an autioneer who is in for pneumonia. His wife and all of his visitors have bad colds and are hacking and coughing all of the while. (I now have a doozy of a cold, thanks to them) They are all very nice people, but why in the world would they visit someone in the hospital while they are sick? I guess they figure if the person they are visiting has pneumonia he can't catch a cold.

The autioneer goes home the next morning. Next roommate is not a good one and hollers all night long. Jim asks to be moved and he moves two doors down. This roommate is a super nice guy. He is a chemist who suffered a stroke several years ago and is in the hospital for chest pains. He is due to go to ST Louis for a colon resection after they determine if chest pain is heart related. He was great to talk to and he and Jim got along fine.

Next roommate.....enough said. I will just end by saying the this one made us glad we were going home!!!