Hospital Stay

There were some problems with Mr. Fixit’s recent hospitalization. They were disturbing to say the least.

Sunday night after moving to the large hospital, Mr. Fixit woke about 3:00 am. The heart monitor that was in his pocket slipped out. I helped him find it in the bed linens and put it back into the pocket of his gown. Apparently, there was no interruption of the data being sent to the people monitoring him because no one came to see if there was a problem.

After waking, he said that he was experiencing that indigestion feeling he had Thursday night. (That’s when we suspect he had the actual heart attack.) He pushed the button to call the nurse. They answered quickly and ask his about his problem. He explained and they said they would send a nurse to his room.

After about 10 minutes, the discomfort had lessened, but the nurse hadn’t come to check on him. In 20 minutes the discomfort had completely disappeared. I stayed awake from 3 am to 7 am and not one nurse so much as stuck her head in the door. I have a feeling that she thought I was asleep because I didn’t turn on the overhead light. I was reading using my reader.

We didn’t know whether to mention it or not. When you are in a vulnerable position as we were, you think twice before making waves.

During the course of the morning when the day shift started making rounds, a nurse asked if he had any problems during the night. I then explained that he had some discomfort but that it disappeared. I then told her that we had asked for a nurse, but no one checked on him.

I went to sleep about midnight and slept until he woke me at 3:00 so I suppose someone could have checked on him between those hours, but no one came to check on him after he reported his discomfort.

The next night we had a different nurse, and they seemed to be very solicitous. The fact of the matter is that we don’t know if the nurse ignored him or if the person who answered his call neglected to notify the nurse.

The next day there were problems with the cardiologist who was to do the heart cath. More to follow tomorrow.