Dave’s been in two hospitals in Albuquerque for his bile duct problem: the first was Presbyterian (where they tried unsuccessfully to place a stent) and the second was the University of New Mexico hospital, which is evidently the best place to be for bile duct problems.
In the first hospital, his doctor came in the room while Dave and I were in the phone, and he was very nice (and by that I mean he reassured Dave that no one was going to let him die), and that I should feel free to call him if I had any questions.
I didn’t call him. I was tempted to, because Dave isn’t a reliable source. But the trade-off is that if Dave thought I had access to the doctor he would never talk to his doctor again. I would be conscripted as the go-between.
For example, when he changed hospitals he didn’t pick up his phone for a day, so I eventually navigated the UNM phone system to talk to the nurse’s station. When Dave heard I had spoken with nurses on his floor, we had this conversation:
“I asked for ice chips twenty minutes ago. Jesus. How long does it take to get ice chips?”
“They aren’t waitresses, Dave. People are probably dying in the other rooms.”
“I could die of thirst.”
“You won’t die of thirst. That takes days.”
“Call them and tell them I need ice chips.”
“You want me to place a call from Saint Louis to the nurse’s station down your hall in Albuquerque saying you need ice chips.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Hell no. I’m on his side, but it would never end. I would be the new call button.
I’m sure he eventually got ice chips, since he did not die, and in fact the next time I spoke with him (after he hung up the phone, enraged) he was back at home and eating popsicles.
8 responses to “Getting In Between”
Ah. The out-of-state call button…
I got pretty cranky when in hospital and they wouldn’t let me get out of bed unassisted (fall risk) and the nurses were just at their station talking about *purses* and they didn’t come anywhere near promptly to my “please take me to the bathroom” call. Yes, if there are emergencies on the floor, by all means, do not worry about getting me to the bathroom, make sure peoples’ lives are saved, etc. But talking about what purses you’d like to buy: NOT AN EMERGENCY please come and extricate me from this IV tangle and turn off the bed alarm and get me to the bathroom and let me pee!
(most of the time they were either reasonably prompt or they had good reason to not be prompt. But there was one nurse who just did not grasp that her social life should maybe be interrupted when patients needed to go to the bathroom.)
KC – my brother had that fall risk issue too. I thought he should just pee over the side of the bed.
I suspect that would be substantially easier for males than for females, but yes, I think I would endorse that solution as a Last Resort, although one would want to warn incoming staff so they don’t slip and fall…
KC – they eventually moved him to another hospital, where he stayed for one day before they sent him home.
One day. They moved him to a different hospital for *one day*? Please tell me that was for testing or another doctor’s expertise or something rather than just rando.
KC – it’s because the surgery at hospital A failed, and hospital B is the best at that surgery in the area. It was a good thing.
OH GOOD. Okay, yes, that is an excellent reason to plop someone in a different hospital for just one say. I was envisioning the post-surgical hospital stay just being… broken up?… with medical transport and all that in between, just for them to move him to another hospital for kicks. 🙂
KC – no, it was a good thing. Evidently the place they moved him to is #1 for that type of cancer and they got his bile duct opened up.