writegirl
Work in Progress
My post op went well. Saw the nurse practitioner and found out there was a note in my file from my surgeon specifying that I should progress to food (soft) immediately if I reported no issues. So, yeah, I nodded and smiled and didn't mention that I've been eating food since 6 days PO.
Where it got interesting: The NP asked me about pain and I said I've been off the meds since my first full day home after discharge, but I added that I did experience an issue during my hospital stay with a nurse who refused to give me pain meds, told me how people get addicted to them, and would leave me 6, 7, and one time 10 hours (on my day of discharge) which made me leave the hospital in pain and without any medicine at all. I also gave her the name of the nurse.
The entire time I was talking her eyes went all wide and her brows were arched practically into her hairline. Then she interjected with, "Oh no, no, no. You are the second patient this week who has told me about this nurse refusing pain medication. She then whipped out her cellphone and said she was texting Dr. Boyce to let him know that this is happening. As she was typing she told me: There was another patient earlier this week who said that this same nurse treated her like she was a drug addict every time she asked for pain medication and that she twice refused or delayed delivery of that medication. I didn't think much of it until you just said the same thing. Two patients making that exact claim in a week's time--that is a problem. I'm letting Dr. Boyce know that there is an issue developing here and I know he will follow up with this right away. I'm also going to ask the other nurse practitioner if she's had any patient say anything like this recently."
I told her I was hesitant to say anything because I didn't want to get anyone in trouble, but at the same time, I was one of the fortunate patients who was having a very smooth recovery post op and I was able to literally drag myself out of bed and walk down the hall to the nurse's station and corner her a few times to bring me my medicine but that I worried for the patients who were not recovering as well and who maybe could not speak out or felt less empowered to do so. I also told her that twice this nurse indicated to me that she had no idea about what kind of surgery I had--that I actually put her on the spot and asked her "Do you know what procedure I had?" and when she quipped "Yeah, a BPD" I asked her "Do you know what that surgery entails? Because I feel like you think I had a gastric sleeve or something."
After she texted Boyce she said to me "I'm sure Dr. Boyce will deal with this right away, especially with two patients with the same complaint. That is not acceptable."
Now, I am going to check with a few other patients I know of myself who were in the hospital at the same time as I was. I am really curious about whether or not they had similar experiences. If so, I will urge them to call the office.
Where it got interesting: The NP asked me about pain and I said I've been off the meds since my first full day home after discharge, but I added that I did experience an issue during my hospital stay with a nurse who refused to give me pain meds, told me how people get addicted to them, and would leave me 6, 7, and one time 10 hours (on my day of discharge) which made me leave the hospital in pain and without any medicine at all. I also gave her the name of the nurse.
The entire time I was talking her eyes went all wide and her brows were arched practically into her hairline. Then she interjected with, "Oh no, no, no. You are the second patient this week who has told me about this nurse refusing pain medication. She then whipped out her cellphone and said she was texting Dr. Boyce to let him know that this is happening. As she was typing she told me: There was another patient earlier this week who said that this same nurse treated her like she was a drug addict every time she asked for pain medication and that she twice refused or delayed delivery of that medication. I didn't think much of it until you just said the same thing. Two patients making that exact claim in a week's time--that is a problem. I'm letting Dr. Boyce know that there is an issue developing here and I know he will follow up with this right away. I'm also going to ask the other nurse practitioner if she's had any patient say anything like this recently."
I told her I was hesitant to say anything because I didn't want to get anyone in trouble, but at the same time, I was one of the fortunate patients who was having a very smooth recovery post op and I was able to literally drag myself out of bed and walk down the hall to the nurse's station and corner her a few times to bring me my medicine but that I worried for the patients who were not recovering as well and who maybe could not speak out or felt less empowered to do so. I also told her that twice this nurse indicated to me that she had no idea about what kind of surgery I had--that I actually put her on the spot and asked her "Do you know what procedure I had?" and when she quipped "Yeah, a BPD" I asked her "Do you know what that surgery entails? Because I feel like you think I had a gastric sleeve or something."
After she texted Boyce she said to me "I'm sure Dr. Boyce will deal with this right away, especially with two patients with the same complaint. That is not acceptable."
Now, I am going to check with a few other patients I know of myself who were in the hospital at the same time as I was. I am really curious about whether or not they had similar experiences. If so, I will urge them to call the office.
