First of all I want to say thank you for all the prayers and well wishes. My daughter's surgery went well.
However, I am a little upset. The nurses on the floor have been awesome. Can't say enough good things about them. But I am very unhappy with the surgical process. As I mentioned in my previous post, she went to pre-op holding at 4:15 pm. The whole procedure, including recovery should not have taken more than a couple of hours. However, at 8 pm, I still had not heard anything and neither had the nurses on the floor. I had them call PACU (Recovery Room) to see if she was there and we were told that she was still in surgery. Hmmm? 4 hours? No one in PACU could tell us what was going on. I then left her room and proceded over to the Surgical Waiting Room. I called recovery again and was told that she still was not there but that they would call the waiting room when she arrived.
At 9:15 (now 5 hours since she left her room) I called again. This time she was there. I asked the nurse why no one called me like they said they would. I just got the run around. They said she was walking to the bathroom (good sign) but I could come back to see her.
While I was waiting for her to get out of the bathroom, I asked the recovery room nurse if they had had any emergencies since it had been over 5 hours since she left the room. I was told they had been "Backed up."
Sarah told me that she kept getting "bumped" and that she was very upset about that. Apparently, according to Sarah, they even gave her something for her anxiety along with the pain meds. She said that they knew she was pissed about being in pre-op holding for hours.
Now, don't get me wrong. I am aware that things happen and sometimes things don't go according to schedule, but don't you think that someone could have picked up the phone and let the floor know that she had been backed up? Just to let the family know and put them at ease?
Being a nurse, I was so worried that she had met with some serious complication. No one made any attempt to let me know what was going on. Then to top it all off, the damn surgeon never even came to talk to me post-operatively. I had never met this guy until this morning when he rounded and talked to Sarah. He was the surgeon on call when she was in the emergency room. I feel that that was very unprofessional of him. Ignoring the family is no way to win brownie points.
I am planning on writing a letter to the CEO of this hospital and let him know that while the nurses on her floor were terrific, the surgical team left a lot to be desired.
Thanks for letting me vent. I have been at this hospital sice 5:30 this morning and I am a bit tired.
Once again, thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. Although she is in some post-op pain, she is fine...and you all helped!
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Comments: 42
Glad that Sarah is okay and on the road to recovery
I'm sorry for your frustrations!!
I'm glad she's ok. :::hugs:::
I did have a 3 hour operation that turned into a 5 hour operation. The dye test didn't show the full work that needed to be done on my jaw.
My husband had kidney stones and went through 2 years with er visits and procedures. They finally decided he needed surgery - a piece was lodged and they needed to operate to dislodge it. He felt every bump on the way there. I was driving too slow, he needed to get their fast and told me about it...but he felt every bump. When we got there and he was in the bed, he darn near broke the bed in pain. The nurses came in and the doctor decided to take him first. Anyone could see why, the man was in agony. When I went to the area to wait all I heard from the other people waiting was complaints about the man who had to go first. I sat there not saying one word. The anger was unbelievable that their loved ones got thrown off schedule. I almost started crying, but until they came to talk to me I sat and read. Had people saw the agony they might not have acted that way.
I was a little put out that they knew someone had to go first, but it wasn't by his insisting to, it was the apparent emergency he had become.
Who knows why you weren't told. It was really a wrong thing to do to you, but I can say on the flip side, it was no picnic for me. I understand they weren't allowed to give out details, but maybe if they had worded it better, the others would understand the person who had to go first, had to go first.
Sorry the people at the hospital were so upsetting
My sis is an RN like you and I see how understaffed hospitals are. St. Elizabeths here has a volunteer, usually a senior citizen who keeps everyone comfortable and informed while they're waiting. When my Mom had surgery that was the first time I'd seen anything like what they had...all kinds of refreshments, movies and most importantly updates and information!
Anyway, I hope that you and your daughter can get some rest.
Paying it forward!
My ex was an orderly in the Air Force and every injury he felt would go to the worst possible outcome. If I cut my finger, he was sure it would get infected, and so on. Being a nurse, that would be even worse. That had to know what kind of possibilities were going through your mind after all those hours. Someone really needs to rip that surgeon into reality.
Paying it forward for 11/23/08