Sue's Blog - Some assembly required.

Carry on regardless.....

Today it was off to the hospital to see what was new with Glenn.
He was not a happy bunny.
I arrived around 10am only to be informed that visiting in this ward was from 2pm - 8pm.
Hmmm.........I needed to know what it was all about.
Ask someone.........nope........they all walk past you very quickly.
I found out this was because no one actually wants to ask you if you are being dealt with because they then take on this responsibility.
To actually talk to someone you must aggressively stop a passing nurse and say you want to speak to someone about Glenn.
They then say they will find someone to talk to you.
They don't.
Glenn was upset as the doctor the previous night had said he needed antibiotics, painkillers and a sleeping pill.
None of these were forthcoming.
He asked a nurse.
The nurse said they would deal with it.
An hour passed.
He asked another nurse....who said she would deal with it.
Another hour passed.
This continued until he had a "Basil Fawlty Moment".
The current nurse was miffed and said he shouldn't get cross.
He told her he wouldn't get cross if someone would just keep him informed of what was going on.
I had the same problem today.
Ridiculous. No one would tell me what was happening.
He had a CT scan and was then moved to a different ward.
I immediately liked this place better. It was cleaner, tidier and the nurses genuinely seemed concerned about their patients.
The doctor turned up and told me and Glenn that he had a massive infection that needed sorting.
It could be something to do with the appendix, or not. It could be diverticulitus which would mean removing part of his bowel and also giving him a colostomy.
This was really bad.
In this case the bowel would not be able to be reconnected right away. It would mean living with a colostomy for 3 - 6 months and then they would try to reconnect the bowel.
He also said he would be saving his life.
This was a serious moment.
The floor fell away.
I asked when they would be doing this surgery. In five minutes the surgeon told us. They had bumped 2 people off the list to do Glenn.
Poor Glenn was shaking so much he could barely complete the consent form.
Within 2 minutes they wheeled him away and I was left watching him go.
The surgeon told me in the best case scenario the op would take 30 mins.
Worst case 3 hours.
After 2 hours I was fearing the worst. I asked at the nurses station. They hadn't heard anything.
It was 2 and three quarter hours before he was wheeled back.
I was distraught. It was obviously very bad news.
The doctor then told me that they had made 4+ incisions. One big one and 3 or 4 small.
They had found a massive abscess and had cleared it out.
They were also washing it out and he had a tube draining it all.
They are hopeful that this will solve the problem. I bloody hope so.
It was then that his dad, my former husband turned up and started making an arse of himself.
This is something he is good at.
Glenn, although heavily sedated, did know what was going on.
When the nurse said she would need to check on his catheter and started drawing the curtains around the bed....I left and waited outside. Dignity etc.
Glenn had already had a row with his father about this sort of thing the previous night.
To my dismay I saw that he had remained.
I, and all the ward, then heard Glenn, despite being drugged up to the eyeballs, state rather plainly to his father........"Look if she is going to start fiddling with my knob then I think you should leave".
His father then came out from behind the curtains.
What must the nurse have thought?
I bet she told all her mates tonight.
Poor Glenn............his father is such a pillock. There was more, which I won't go into.
I told Donna when I got home. She cracked up at Glenn but said her father is always a pillock and has no regard for anyone else's feelings. No respect.
I wonder if Glenn will remember any of this.

posted by Sue Banks @ 3:18 PM