A Patient Experience in Patience, Part 2

My gallbladder was so infected, it seemed to have made the surgeons a bit nervous. I think I was less concerned about the infection and more intrigued about this newfound wound I had. (I'm a bit nerdy that way.) If you've ever seen "Little Shop of Horrors", the scar reminded me of the lips of the alien plant...without the teeth.

After surgery, the circus began. The hospital I was in used to be the BEST in the city. Unfortunately, it has fallen into a pool of disrepair and lack of care. I experienced so many outlandish scenarios that I actually started taking pictures.

The roll of garbage bags that sat on the mousepad of the computer.

The hole in the blanket that I saw in the middle of the night and swore it was a bug.

The empty IV bag I found in my bathroom sink.

The splattered blood by a nurse who never bothered to get me another blanket and only said, "Oops."

My stained sheets that I had asked to be changed and it didn't happen until the next day.

Things I didn't get pictures to capture were:

-how a nurse used the top of the soiled sheet receptacle to hold her supplies as she attempted to draw my blood.

-how after having an accident in the bathroom (with the urine catcher "thingy"), I ended up having to clean it up myself (post-surgery) with the foam antibacterial spray and by using my foot to wipe up the floor with a towel. This was AFTER an assistant came in and used HER foot to clean it up with a towel and left. I cleaned it up again because it was sticky. Housekeeping eventually came in and cleaned it up but it was HOURS after the accident.

The grand finale of my hospital stay was when THEY FORGOT TO DISCHARGE ME! I waited from 9am until almost 3pm waiting to be discharged. The nurse kept saying, "There's nothing in the system." Finally, a nurse decided to dig a little deeper into why there was nothing in the system. I was LITERALLY forgotten. Whatever physician was responsible for initiating my release forgot to do it. In an effort to quickly resolve the issue, my discharge was finally complete...so I thought. A nurse came into my room with the discharge papers and immediately began to apologize. For someone being sent home with an open wound to care for, my discharge papers were extremely basic. There were no detailed instructions about how to care for my open wound. I got a crash course from the nurse (who was very sympathetic) on what to do, how to do it and the supplies I would need. 

I survived that hospital stay and vowed to never return for any other planned surgeries or procedures. If the hospital thinks they're getting good feedback from surveying their patients, I think they're asking ALL the wrong questions.