Hello everyone!
So let's get down to the most important part of this blog.
Mike had his surgery on the 13th. The doctor was running about an hour to an hour and a half behind, but as Mike mentioned, he didn't mind because he would rather the doctor take his time, making sure all of his patients were well cared for and where they needed to be, before moving on with his next appointment. The doctor that we had operating on Mike was the best in town. After speaking with several nurses and PAs, Mike discovered that he had made the right decision about choosing this particular doctor. During the initial consultation with him, Mike had asked the doctor, about how long would it be after the procedure that he could be out skiing again. Without hesitating, the doctor replied with January. So Mike is holding him to that, and has already mentioned it on a few occasions to the doctor, in which the doctor just replies with a simple okay.
The day of the procedure was slow to begin, with the doctor being behind schedule, but Mike kept cracking jokes with the nurses, the doctors and even a pharmacist that he works with who had stopped by to check up on him before and after the procedure. When I was allowed back to the recovery room when it was over, Mike was very alert, sucking down water, Sprite and eating some crackers, all the while, still making jokes with the staff. The doctor had stopped by to tells us that things were a little more severe than he initially thought, but that it wouldn't slow down the recovery any. The tear was a little worse than he originally thought. The tear that Mike had was around the labrum muscle and cartilage. (I am most likely getting the muscles involved wrong, but this is what I remember, so forgive me if I clarify in another post later). Instead of having two screws or brackets placed inside his shoulder, there were three. One in front of the shoulder, one on top and the third in the back. They also shaved down some of the bone and scraped some off the back of the shoulder bone. When the nerve block finally wore off about two-three days later, he could feel where he was operated on, and is still in a lot of pain, but who can blame him? When I was being asked almost daily how Mike was doing, and with my responses being that he's in a lot of pain, and with each day that passes, it seems to be getting worse, I was asked why he was in such pain from this procedure...once I explained what all was involved, I got a message of wow. I related this story to Mike who then asked me what they thought was involved in surgery? But all I could do was shrug. It's hard to say what people think when they think surgery. Maybe somewhere along the line, there was a message of miscommunication or perhaps something got lost along the way. Either way, there it is.
Each day is different, however. Mike has had some good days, but then he has some rather bad ones, like yesterday and especially today. We were able to remove the bulk of the dressings off of his shoulder, after we went to his follow up appointment yesterday afternoon. When we got to the appointment, and as we were checking in, there was a typical "Scrubs" moment. There was another man who followed us into the office and stood behind us to check in. When the other receptionist brought him to the counter to help him, is where this whole funny story starts...
Receptionist: "I can help you here, sir!"
Man: "I was told to come here from the ER to see a Dr. Pack." (The doctors name is Pak. Sounds like Pawk)
Receptionist: "Okay, let me look in the system here..."
Man: "They said it was humerus but it's not humorous at all!"
Receptionist: "Did you make an appointment?"
Man: "No, they told me to come across the street and set one up...that's why I'm here."
Receptionist: "So you didn't call to set up your appointment?"
Man: "No. I'm a transfer from the ER."
Receptionist: "I'm sorry sir, but you will have to call us to set up the appointment."
Man: "I have to call you to make an appointment? So, I should just step out in the hall and use my cellphone?"
Receptionist: "There's a phone on the wall right over there that you can use. (Hands him a card) Call this number, and they can set up your appointment. We can't do it here because we don't have the program or the schedules."
At this point, Mike and I got sit in the waiting room, still chuckling about how stupid our health care system has become. The man and front desk are still in our line of sight, as the drama continues.
The man approached the desk and asked where the phone was for him to use. They point to the wall directly behind him, and he begins to pick it up as another woman rounds the corner with a piece of paper.
Woman: "Sir? You were trying to set up an appointment?"
Man: "Yes. That girl said I had to call her to set up my appointment, so I'm using your phone."
Woman: (hands him the card) Call this number. Ask for me, and I'll get you processed. Okay?"
The man takes the card and begins to dial.
Now, at this point, Mike and I are crying, we are laughing so hard, which I am sure that the other people on our side of the waiting room must have thought we were crazy or something. It also didn't help that there was some kids cartoon show that is directed towards toddlers that was playing and saying some ridiculous things, but mostly, it was this poor man trying to make an appointment. The thing that was so hilarious to us was how the people who do the scheduling, had come around the corner, and told them to call and ask for them, instead of bringing him around to their desk to set up his appointment. The whole ordeal was quite "humorous" as well as just ridiculously stupid that our health care has sunk this low...
So Mike had to order me to stop making him laugh, due to his pain, but he still thought the whole thing was funny...even today, as I write this, I still can't help but chuckle.
The doctor had come in to our room and showed Mike the pictures of his procedure, explaining where the screws/brackets were and where the tear was, as well as how far back it went. It was a rather quick visit, and we were out as soon as we got the new script for his pain meds. So across the street we went to Memorial Central, to get them filled. Mike waited in the car, as I went to the pharmacy, not the one that I worked at, but the outpatient side of things. It took them a while, longer than it should have for they were not busy, and I would know as I did do my rotation there when I was a student, and finally paid and began to leave. On my way back through the tunnels to get to my car, I ran into a former student of the Pharmacy Tech program that I helped teach. She is one of the new hires at Memorial, and I talked to her briefly...now here is my favorite part of yesterday. My old manager, who is no longer a manager due to restructure of the management in the pharmacy, happened to walk by as we were talking. She glared at me, and I very happily said," Hi Kathie!" She didn't stop walking past me, she didn't even say hello, but just grunted bitterly as she rounded the corner. I told Mike about this passing, and told him that I couldn't help but find the humor and quite frankly some closure by being so happy to run into that old miserable hag.
For those of you who don't fully know the story, Kathie was the reason that I wasn't able to stay at Memorial. She is the thorn in every one's side in the pharmacy, and she is a very bitter and difficult person. If she isn't writing you up for sneezing, then she isn't happy. She had told management when they were doing the rehiring of her position, that if she didn't get the job, then she would be quitting because she wouldn't step down to a lowly tech position...which she is a tech. So when the position went to someone else, someone with out the attitude and baggage, and quite frankly, someone who is much better qualified, Kathie ended up telling management that she would like to stay with Memorial and work as a tech. I had told Mike before this happened, that she was completely bluffing when she said that she wouldn't work as a tech, and as soon as management called her on it, she back-peddled and immediately accepted the tech position. From what I was told by the former student of mine, Kathie doesn't say a word to anyone, not even a hello, in which she has written people up for in the past, and she stays in corners of the Pharmacy trying not to be seen. But for the moment, I'm content enough to know that Karma has a way of getting back at people, and I found the whole confrontation to be very comforting. I found some closure...even in the smallest way.
So, today, Mike is not doing well, and I foresee the rest of the day being the same, and therefore, I am hoping to keep myself busy, not only in taking care of him, but hopefully to keep my mind off of any potential mood swings that may be caused to my over sensitivity to his mood. He seems fine in spirit and mood thus far, but I know that sometimes, too much pain, can be cause to a bad mood flare up. I am hoping that this is not the case, but you never can tell as each person is different.
Well, I can't write much more, as Mike is up from his nap, and I need to bring him some breakfast and coffee, but I am hoping to write another update soon.
Also, if you haven't gone to my website recently, please do and please comment on your favorites because that helps me out immensely! http://www.mfahey.smugmug.com/
Until next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment