Getting out of the hospital is a lot like resigning from a book club. You’re not out of it until the computer says you’re out of it.
Erma Bombeck
I got up at 5:05 AM. Fed and watered the cats. I overfilled the bowls just incase. Today is the day I finally get tests done.
5:58 AM I gave Gracie a drink of gas, she needs that as much as I do my morning coffee to get her started. Garage doors closed a quick prayer for the cats and the house another for safety on my trip and we are rolling down the highway.
Halfway there my GPS is telling me I will be early. An hour early.
On arrival, I park the old girl and head into the hospital. I don a fresh face mask they are handing out at the A&W and head on in. At the front door, I am met by the usual COVID questions. I passed the exam after I mention that I was wearing a brand-new face mask.
Then onto the registration desk. I answer the questions there, tell the long sad story about my health care card. I got a letter from AHS stating I needed to present ID to get my card. So I show the letter at the hospital, after three supervisors came out and told me, we don’t do that here. You will have to go to registries to present ID. I go there, and they say oh no you have to go to the hospital for that. So I ask why dont they just put that information on the back of my driver’s license like other provinces do.
No answer. So I did that. I have a post-it note stuck to the back of my driver’s license with my healthcare number on it. Since I don’t have my flimsy paper card anymore i am required to show my driver’s license. So I can show that to get into the hospital but I can’t show it here to get a copy of my health care card. Bureaucracy at is best.
The nice woman asked what I was here for, I tell her CT Scan and gastroscopy. Somehow the appointments were mixed up. She told me to go to outpatients and let them sort it out. They sent me back over to registration saying I needed to go to CT.
So now I am on way there. Best I leave out this section. It just suffices to say the technician was up to my normal experiences and expectations here at QE II. I will leave it at that. That scan gets done. Onto the next thing.
I meet Nancy the RN who will insert an IV insertion point. I tell her about the 9 attempts to do the same Friday at the other hospital. Those were painful. I thought for a moment it was some kind of retribution, don’t laugh it has happened before Read the post my health.
It turns out Nancy missed the first attempt vindicating the nurses at the other hospital. I guess now I have bad veins. On the second attempt no problem. I am ready to sit and wait. So that is what I am doing. Spine hurting, dizzy and a mean headache either caused by my lack of coffee or my forehead meeting a nasty board with a nail sticking out of it on Saturday. It was a concussion level event. I thought if it got worse I would be at the hospital today anyways.
Getting here early didn’t help. I am thankful that they managed to get me in here. My appointment time has come and gone. The chair is not very comfortable, a few minutes ago I was offered a less comfortable chair. I wondered why a nurse made it a big deal to point out to another patient that these chairs are meant for IV patients. This where I was told to wait.
OMG, the chairs are empty. One other has shown up in the last hour. I can see three empty chairs from where I sit.
I thought I would write as much as I can now, I am told that the sedation drug causes amnesia.
Well, it turns out I didn’t get amnesia. I was asleep for a while. Now I am in nurses jail I am not allowed to leave here. I caused a panic when I got up to look for a bathroom. I am not allowed to go downstairs to get a meal or coffee.
I wanted to go downstairs to the emergency but I am not allowed. A friend has to drive an hour after work to sign a paper, so I can leave. She does t finish work till later.
So I was told I can’t stay that long but I can’t leave here either.
Apparently nothing was found but some biopsies were taken. I was also told that my throat was dilated, I learned that means stretched out. That much was obvious by the blood on my pillow and bedsheet. The results of those will arrive in a couple of weeks. And sounds like nothing found in the CT scans.
So no answers today. I am thankful for the people today that were friendly. As for the few I met today, I hope they can find a better way
12 hours have passed since I woke up. I am still here at the hospital. I was not allowed to leave the hospital without a friend. I only have one friend, and she was kind enough to come out after she finished work.she had to drive for an hour to get here. I found a motel paid my hundred dollars deposit. And settled in.
I noticed a hole punched in the wall. I walked over to the office and reported it. I noticed a young girl pretending to light a cigarette standing in the center of the parking lot. I say pretend because there was no smoke. I was being watched. Interesting.
4:42 AM I wake up a girl screaming in the parking lot of the Silver Crest Lodge then a frantic knock at my door. Followed by some guy growling at my door. Why my door why not any of the others. Because I was watched earlier. There were only 5 vehicles in the parking lot. An obvious attempt to rob or scam. The interesting thing will be to see if the motel is involved or not. I will see at checkout if they try to stick me with a hole in the wall.
Next exciting thing will be to get to Gracie my old van. I had to leave her in the parking lot at the hospital. I pray she is alright. I won’t find out for a few hours the whole reason I am here is that I am technically impaired from the surgery I had yesterday. I am fine but my friend signed a waiver. So if anything happens she is responsible. So I wait in the crazy motel.
