My latest hospital stay.
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      14 years
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My latest hospital stay.
Lasted 9 excruciatingly painful days. Bottom line, severe Cellulitis of my lower right leg and a bad E coli infection in my bloodstream.
Back story. About a couple weeks ago I was awakened by a very strong pain I hadn’t felt before, and I have felt many. This was like my lower right leg wanted to explode, literally explode. So I contact my doctor, send a couple photos, explain my symptoms and he tells me get to the ER I may have a clot or sepsis.
So off we go to the nightmare called the ER at a local hospital. With so many hospitals closed and staff very much overwhelmed and understaffed calling this experience a nightmare is being kind. So after about 9 hours I finally get better than a triage exam and it’s decided I need to be admitted. Add a couple more hours and I get to a shared room and settle in for the ride. (I had moved to 3 different rooms during the stay, 2 good roomies and one that talked loudly in his sleep)
Once there, in a lot of pain, agitated, and emotionally drained I start to lose my patience with everything. First they hook you up with a portable heart monitor but it just dangles so every time I get up to pee the damn thing slides out from under the gown and takes a few of the leads with it. At one point I was in so much pain and pissed off I just unplugged the damn thing and tossed it on the high-priced not worth a damn bed so I could pee without performing a ballerina move of not putting any weight on the bad leg while standing on the other and peeing while holding the freaking monitor. This got a great response from the nursing crew, who up until this point would say I’ll be right back only to come back a few hours later, 8 or 9 of them stormed the room thinking I died. I was not being nice at this point and one of them threatened to shock me, even though I have clearly not lost consciousness. Turns out they have a pouch for that thing with a clip on it to attach to the gown. Why giving one of those isn’t automatic is beyond me.
I have had way way more than my fair share of hospital stays and I always say ‘next time I’m bringing a tape recorder’ so I can tape and play back the whole saga for the 3004 people that want to hear how I ended up in the hospital. Well I forgot, maybe next time.
So how did I end up in the hospital? About 8 or 9 months ago I was playing with my dogs and one of them had nicked my leg, a small cut. Because of the condition of my legs a simple cut can take 4 or 5 times longer to heal that most folks would. It did take a while but it did heal, scabbed over nicely and all. However, one day in the shower I had knocked the damn scab off and it never did heal again.
The wound was about the size of a cigarette burn, a little crater like thing. I kept it clean, used an ointment and bandaged daily for quite some time. It didn’t get worse but didn’t get better either.
So one day I’m at a dermatologist’s office for an unrelated issue on my back but I seek advice on how I might get this leg under control. They gave me an antibiotic cream to try for a couple months with a visit back to see if it helped, it didn’t, didn’t get worse either. The Phys. Asst. I had been seeing goes off to consult a colleague, returned and I am told to buy a specific type of bandage, it’s called Hydrocolloid, give that a shot. Well a couple weeks in and my leg got worse, the crater enlarged to the size of a nickel, was puss filled, and painful.
Now normally I do not just blindly use/take something without extensive research, sadly I did not this time, or I would have read on the side of the box “Do not use (among a few other things) if you are diabetic with poor circulation.
Every doctor I see is made fully aware of all my health issues so that this kind of crap doesn’t happen, I would have thought the dermatology person would not have recommend this.
The infectious disease doc at the hospital would not confirm this as the source of my problems, but, to me, it’s the only thing that makes sense.
Anyway, I am back home, although not out of the woods yet. I was given a month’s worth of 4 times a day strong antibiotic and still have some pain, but I’m apparently heading in the right direction.
smart phone?
I have had way way more than my fair share of hospital stays and I always say ‘next time I’m bringing a tape recorder’ so I can tape and play back the whole saga for the 3004 people that want to hear how I ended up in the hospital.
You could probably use your phone as a field expedient substitute for the recorder.
personal GPS user since 1992
I probably could
I have had way way more than my fair share of hospital stays and I always say ‘next time I’m bringing a tape recorder’ so I can tape and play back the whole saga for the 3004 people that want to hear how I ended up in the hospital.
You could probably use your phone as a field expedient substitute for the recorder.
Yeah, I probably could, it's just that it takes something severe to get me to even go to the hospital, thinking about recording doesn't happen with all that's going on until the 3rd or 4th nurse/doctors has asked. I wonder if they even allow it, but if you've ever been to the hospital as a patient you should know where I'm coming from.
. 2 Garmin DriveSmart 61 LMT-S, Nuvi 2689, 2 Nuvi 2460, Zumo 450, Uniden R3 radar detector with GPS built in, includes RLC info. Uconnect 430N Garmin based, built into my Jeep. .
Hospital Stay
Sorry to hear about your latest hospital stay going so poorly and the poor coordination of healthcare. Glad you are home and recovering. Thanks for sharing the update.
We are lucky where I live
We just had a new hospital go up close to where I live. It is a state of the art hospital with 60 beds. I hope I never have to find out just how state of the art it is.
"Everything I need can be found in the presence of God. Every. Single. Thing." Charley Hartmann 2/11/1956-6/11/2022
Now I get it
thinking about recording doesn't happen with all that's going on until the 3rd or 4th nurse/doctors has asked. I wonder if they even allow it, but if you've ever been to the hospital as a patient you should know where I'm coming from.
I failed to get your point before my initial response, but now think you were expressing boredom at being asked to repeat your story over and over again to various people.
I think the official name for that process is "taking history", and I doubt they'd view turning on a recording to play to them favorably.
As it happens my wife spent the first two months of 2024 in hospitals, reaching at the low point tracheotomy (so the machine could breathe for her) plus PEG tube (so the machine could feed her--not enough). I was only there about seven hours a day, but I do have some idea.
personal GPS user since 1992
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I failed to get your point before my initial response, but now think you were expressing boredom at being asked to repeat your story over and over again to various people.
I think the official name for that process is "taking history", and I doubt they'd view turning on a recording to play to them favorably.
~snip~
Yes, sort of, what I really was I was really tired of repeating it over and over again, most of it before any pain meds or anything else to actually address the issue.
. 2 Garmin DriveSmart 61 LMT-S, Nuvi 2689, 2 Nuvi 2460, Zumo 450, Uniden R3 radar detector with GPS built in, includes RLC info. Uconnect 430N Garmin based, built into my Jeep. .
sorry
To hear about this situation. It pains me to think that if we video'd an ordeal, that it would be shocking or revealing. We simply often assume we'd get good treatment if needed.
I was referred to a urologist last year, and it was as if calling for an appointment, I really was in that, "Oh please don't hang up mode." (desperate) I figured out that if I pressed new patient, it went to voicemail. If I pressed current patient, went right to a person. I'm exaggerating but it was like, we have an appointment Feb 12 at 5:30 AM, if you don't take it, the next appointment is March 2027 at 3 AM. One of those. And when I went it was full of elderly people. I guess medical treatment is overtaxed....
It truly seems as if one has to be an existing patient or there's no incentive nor ability to see someone new. Filling out forms online doesn't mean anything, it has to be done in person again, nuts.
My son being 11, will begin his orthodontic journey. He's late again, it's amazing how in this day and age, by 5th grade you'll know if you're this or your that etc. In my time, we could figure these things out along the way (my dad got his phd from a third tier school in Boston part time when he was about 30--that school now admits 5% of applicants. And this represents real life and limited resources).
Yikes
That's awful, sb. So Sorry about this ordeal. Sadly mistakes like the PA presribing Hydrocoloid to someone whose medical history should have ruled it out are all too common. Hoping things continue to progress and get better.
"141 could draw faster than he, but Irving was looking for 143..."
I've had both, but not at
I've had both, but not at the same time. I feel for you and the older you get the hatder it is to recover. Take care, get well.
Frank DriveSmart66 37.322760, -79.511267
hello
hello
Thanks to all who replied.
Thanks to all who replied. Leg still hurts but hopefully is on the mend as it doesn't hurt like it did in the hospital.
. 2 Garmin DriveSmart 61 LMT-S, Nuvi 2689, 2 Nuvi 2460, Zumo 450, Uniden R3 radar detector with GPS built in, includes RLC info. Uconnect 430N Garmin based, built into my Jeep. .