I’m out!

Posted on February 27th, 2009 by Luke.
Categories: General, Surgery.

I’m finally out!!! Got home around 3pm. Bed is taking some time to get used to, but it’ll be just fine I’m sure.

Thanks to everyone who visited/called/IMed/texted/prayed/thought about me :)

I appreciate all of your help and support very very much.

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Release Date TBD

Posted on February 27th, 2009 by Luke.
Categories: General, Surgery.

I forgot to mention in my previous rant, that my release date from this hell hole is still unclear… I was supposed to be out this past Monday, and everyday it got extended. Now it stands at “maybe Friday or the weekend”, so I’ll keep that updated on here. Hopefully I won’t be here very long at all… I miss my mom, my sister, my uncle, and my dog!!! They’ve been visiting almost daily so it’s not so bad, but nothing is like being at home. My bed calls to me!!!

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I want to pull my hair out. ALL OF IT!

Posted on February 27th, 2009 by Luke.
Categories: General, Surgery.

I am really REALLY upset at my treatment and ‘care’ at this hospital (St. Vincent’s @ East 12th and 7th Ave)

I ask for so little, I’m the most polite one here - and i have no idea why I’m being treated so badly…

I only require my meds every 4 hours (because they NEVER remember, and if I get them too late I’m in a LOT of pain…), and maybe call them once in 2-3 days because something falls and I can’t get it. Also, no matter how much pain I’m in, I’m always polite. I ALWAYS say hello to everyone, always try to smile, and I definitely always remember to say thank you for every small thing.

And I get stepped on for it!…

The guy next to me in my room (who’s been here just as long as me) goes to the bathroom in his bed because he says he can’t control it (both #1 and #2). He does this many times a day. The nurses get irritated at it, but of course they do it because it’s their job. They aren’t happy about it though, and that’s visible and audible - who would be though? The thing is, this guy not ONCE has said thank you to any of them. Never a hello, or any kind word…

I don’t understand how a very low-maintenance patient like myself can be treated as bad and/or worse than this guy above… Not to compare, but COME ON! When I call the nurse because she forgot my meds at the 4 hour mark (I usually give like 15 minutes after the mark since they can get busy…), I get hung up on repeatedly when I press the ‘Call Nurse’ button… Sometimes the nurse comes in, tells me she’s busy and leaves for another 30-60 minutes… I’ve been left in my bed, crying in pain a good number of times this hospital stay… I’ve waited up to 2 hours for my pain meds, which I NEED to take religiously… When I remind them of the meds, I get a suspicious look like I’m a druggie just trying to get high. A few nurses also tried to change my meds up on me!!!… A few decided I shouldn’t take so much… a few said I should try something else… The first week here, I needed both percaset (oxycodone) every 4 hours and hydromorphone (dilaudid) in between if the percs didn’t help. I got SOOO much trouble from the staff when I asked for either of these…

A few hours ago, I called for pain meds, and the nurse came in saying ‘what NOW Mr. Ostrowski?’… as if I was inconveniencing her. Meanwhile, the entire time I am here all I hear is laughter, chit-chat and gossip outside my room from the nurses’ area…

About an hour ago, I wanted to bathe myself… I don’t do it regularly enough here (because I can’t move much), but I did and I asked the nurse and the aid if they could please change my sheets. They haven’t been changed in 3 days, and I sweat at night sometimes, especially when I’m in pain. (Though I don’t feel there needs to be an explanation as to why my bed sheets need changing - they got changed every day my first week here…) The aid gave me a death stare… The nurse had an amused look on her face, trying not to laugh it seems… Anyway, the aid said nodded and started getting up. I said thank you and went about my bath. I washed my face and hair, and upper body. I can’t do much more of anything else because I can’t wet my bandages… This took over 30 minutes. When I get out, feeling nice and fresh, I find my bed the exact same way. Actually, there was a difference - I had requested a new gown when I asked for the bed change, and this part of the request was fulfilled. Meaning someone took the time to come in, see the dirty bed, and put a gown on it… And leave it as it was. I sat in the chair waiting, perhaps maybe they were busy and there were other people in need? It’s possible. But no, all I heard was chattering, giggling and laughing. After 15 minutes of sitting in the chair, I used the ‘call nurse’ button. I was hung up on… Then I called out loud ‘Nurse!…’ ‘NURSE!!!!’. Someone came - another aid. I asked her if I could get my bed changed becuase I asked for it almost an hour go. She looked at the bed, nodded, and left… Then i waited another 10 minutes, for my main nurse to come by. She went to check on the patient next to me, and was about to walk away (as if she didn’t see me, and as if there was no problem…) when I said “Excuse me, Nurse? Can I talk for a sec?”. She came, and I asked her again (she’s the nurse I originally asked for the bed change, as well as that aid) about the bed change. Then I asked her if I was too demanding or not… if I asked for too much, and if I was too too rude to her or anyone else. Because I felt like I was being treated harshly, and I didn’t understand why. She said ‘Its not you’… That’s all she said. Then she left, without any explanation for her/their behavior, without any addressing of my concerns - nothing. 5 minutes later another aid came in and changed my bed.

I really don’t understand. I feel horrendously treated. I am in a LOT of pain, and I have extremely low requirements!… I don’t want to be here any more than the next guy - I want to go home, I want to leave this place. I am never going to have anything to do with St. Vincent’s ever again.

2 comments.

Can’t sleep

Posted on February 25th, 2009 by Luke.
Categories: General, Surgery.

It’s Wednesday morning at almost 4AM, and I can’t sleep…
I WAS sleeping, until the nurse woke me up to give me pain meds????!??!??? what the hell! Why would I get woken up to be given pain meds whose sole purpose would be to put me back to sleep again? (They aren’t doing that by the way, heh)…

Aggravating.. Just aggravating!…

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Getting out..

Posted on February 23rd, 2009 by Luke.
Categories: General, Surgery.

I should be getting out of the hospital either tomorrow or the next day (monday or tuesday this week)… It’s been a pretty uneventful weekend so far. My family’s been visiting every day which is cool, a lot of nice quality time. A lot of junk food. A lot of talking..

I’m currently waiting for an ‘Infectious Disease’ doctor to look at whatever was inside of me that they took out. They are ‘cooking it’ and preparing a special antibiotic that will help destroy any remnant of the infection in the next 6 weeks. A nurse will administer this via IV, coming to my house twice a day.

I’m already going stir-crazy, and I haven’t even gotten out of the hospital yet… but there will be plenty of time for that I’m sure.

I’ll be leaving the hospital with no disk jelly material between my L4-L5 vertebrae, and the only thing keeping it from collapsing on itself is the ‘crust’ of the jelly donut, with the joints of the spinal column. The rods and screws will come later, in 6+ weeks hopefully… For now I need to be super cautious and not do ANYthing to hurt anything. So pretty much, I’ll be confined to laying in bed… and maybe getting on the computer once in a while - depending on how much of my job I’ll still be able/allowed to do

Will update again soon, goodnight for now.

1 comment.

What actually happened in surgery #3…

Posted on February 21st, 2009 by Luke.
Categories: General, Surgery.

I got out of surgery last night around 9:30PM, it took around 5 hours. They found that my disk space had been extremely infected, so much so that they couldn’t put any screws or rods in… They will need to clear the infection back there up (it was due to the broken disk), and I will need to stay at home for 6 weeks, with a nurse coming to my home twice a day to put in an IV.. I was extremely upset that the surgery didn’t go as planned, because I expected it to all be over with aready… now, I need to wait 6 weeks, and there is a 20% chance that my disk will naturally grow back… if not, there is an 80% chance that I will still need that rod+screw surgery, with the recovery time taking me out of commission for another 4+ weeks…

This is what my family told me the doc told them last night, before I woke up from the Anesthesia. I’m not sure if I understood everything completely, and I am going to be talking to the doctors today when they come in. I’ll let you know if any of the above is going to change, but my family seemed pretty confident in their explanation.

1 comment.

What I was expecting to happen in surgery #3…

Posted on February 21st, 2009 by Luke.
Categories: General, Surgery.

I had my MRI 2 nights ago after 2 days of eager waiting… And one of my doctors came in a yesterday and gave me the results…

The disk has re-herniated, came out, and is hitting my spinal nerve (causing the leg pain). Now, this being my 3rd herniation, there is almost no disk left in the disk space between the vertebrae (bones)…
So the disk space is collapsing, causing the horrible back pain from the bones grinding…

The general consensus is what’s called a ’spinal fusion’… where they clear out the remaining disk pieces, and put in a plastic shim to decompress the space, while putting in rods and screws to stabilize the area and the vertebrae. These rods will fuse with the bone eventually.

The recovery time is only slightly longer than the past 2 surgeries, around 4-6 weeks… The long term effects are slim, though I’m still researching that. There is a chance that in 10-15 years, the adjacent disks could become corrupt, but the Docs say that in that time, new technologies will come out making next fixes easier and less invasive..

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Funny thing I found surfing the net..

Posted on May 25th, 2008 by Luke.
Categories: General.

An atheist was walking through the woods when he heard a noise behind him. He turned to see a large bear charging at him and just about to strike. He shouted “OH MY GOD!” and time stopped. The bear froze and the forest fell silent. A voice boomed from the heavens “You deny my existence for all these years and yet expect me to help you now?” The atheist responded “It would be hypocritical to ask to be a Christian after all these years, but perhaps you could make the bear a Christian?” “Very well” was the response. The forest came to life, the bear kneeled down in front of the man, brought both of his front paws together and prayed “Dear Lord, thank you for this food which I am about to receive”

1 comment.

Let’s try this again.

Posted on March 8th, 2008 by Luke.
Categories: General.

Once in a while I just go on a deleting spree of all my previous posts, for various reasons. This time it was that they just didn’t sit right with me. It was just all too mopey.

Anywho, just got back from a full-day volleyball tourney, and man was it awesome! It felt like being back in high school, in the days of Tottenville. It was great, and the people were great. We ended up not getting the next round, but we had a lot of fun. Now we know what to expect for next time, since these tournaments happen every month.

Now its time to go soak in some hot water.

:)

1 comment.