Hold On..........This Might Be A Long One!

Debbie is my cousin/sister. I don't have any sisters but I call Debbie and her sister Livvy my sisters because our Dads were brothers and our Moms are sisters. I think that is the coolest thing! (hope you aren't confused). When I was a kid, I could never figure out why my other cousins (those who are born to my moms other sister) had a different Grandma. I assumed that "Grandma Pearson" was my Grandma too. I always called her Grandma, she never seemed to mind. :o).

But getting back to Debbie. She underwent knee replacement surgery a week ago today. She was to be discharged on Friday of last week and sent to a nursing center for rehab. Turns out that the original choice for rehab wouldn't take her insurance even though arrangements were made 2 weeks prior to her admittance. She didn't find this out until the day she was discharged, which happened to be a day earlier than planned. So she needed to find a new place to go. I should explain that Deb's insurance did not cover in home therapy hence the need for the nursing home rehab. She decides on a new nursing facility and is admitted on Thursday. Sandi and I visit her on Friday afternoon. We notice that she has a big red spot on the inside of her thigh. Deb asks the nurse if it looked ok to her. The nurse assures her that ther is nothing wrong, that it could just be red from the way the knee was positioned during surgery. Sandi on the other hand is not happy with the way it looks and she suspects colitis. (sp) Turns out that Debbie did have an infection and is taken back to the hospital that evening for iv antibiotics. She is in the hospital until Sunday and then taken back to the nursing home.

This is where it gets a little crazy..........................................

Debbie has not gotten alot of sleep at the home due to her room mate who is suffering from cancer. The poor lady is getting treatment that makes her dry heave all night and she also keeps the tv constantly on the Cartoon Network at a very LOUD volume.
Deb manages to get to sleep late sunday when she gets awakened by a nurse at 12:30 a.m. to have a T.B. test.................okay, kind of confused by the timing of that but whatever............back to sleep when she gets awakened again by a nurse who wants to take her staples out of her knee. Debbie, not quite awake and brain half functioning, asks "are you sure?" the nurse replies that she was. Debbie asks again "are you sure" the nurse again says yes, that she was sent in by "Cathy" who told her to take the staples out. The nurse proceeds to do what she was told and takes the staples out of the knee, she then asks Debbie to let her see the ones on her hip...............WTF..............she doesn't have any staples in her hip!!!!!!!!! When the nurse was told this she said, "Oh my" and left the room. Seconds later a different nurse comes in and informs Debbie that a mistake was made and that she was the wrong patient!!!!!!...............WTF!!!!!!!

Now, this all took place at approximately 3:30 a.m. I've never heard of procedures like that being done in the middle of the night! I can understand vitals, blood work, etc. But staple removal?????

The nurses put a few steri-strips on the knee to keep it closed. It doesn't look to bad really, but the staples were NOT to be removed until this coming Friday, and by the surgeon himself!!

The staff is bending over backwards to help Deb. She immediatly wanted to be discharged and to just go home and try to rehab herself, but that was a knee-jerk (forgive the bad play on words)
reaction. As soon as I found out about all of this, I went up to the home. When I got there, her good friend Linda was already there and had calmed her down enough to think what the next step should be. Linda and I were both furious, but we wanted to make sure that the best was done for Debbie. Minutes after I arrived, the admin. staff comes in and apolgizes profusely, saying that nothing like this has ever happened there before and that they were investigating and that it had been reported to the state.........blah........blah.........blah. They offered Debbie a private room and treated her like royalty. At this time, we were in one of the lounges where there is a recliner and tv and a couch. We were sitting in there talking and waiting for the next step, when they wheel in a tea cart with freshly baked peanut butter cookies and coffee and tea and hot chocolate.............like that's going to make up for it! (although, I did partake). ;~)

The staff had notified her doctor and had placed calls and faxes to his office. We were waiting to hear from him, when another friend who just happened to stop in to visit and was unaware of the situation before she got there, mentions that she knows the office manager of the doctors office and that she would call her. Turns out that Debbie's surgeon is on vacation until Friday! Go figure!!!!! Another doctor came in and looked at it and said that they don't think that there should be any problem with it healing properly, but she needs to take it easy during therapy.
So that's where we are now, her attending physician is to look at it and then her surgeon will see her as planned on Friday. Something tells me that he's going to be PISSED when he hears this one!!

That's all for now, I'll keep you posted. I've got to get moving, lots to do today!