About a can, a hospital and other not so fun things II

Continued from part one
The mystery door kept opening and closing with people coming and going. I was not keeping track, as I figured they would call me when its my turn.

The clan come back with some sandwiches and water for me. I am in healing mode and need my liquids even more.
After about an hour my name was called and I went in. Finally I can have some answers and see how long we will need to stick around.

The nurse takes me to one of the curtain areas without a bed, but a chair and I sit. She asks me some questions, like what is my pain like on a scale from 1 to 10 ( I said 1) and says the doctor will be over shortly. I wait. My spot is right next to their station and I get to listen to what they are talking about. They are discussing some case, when the nurse asks this tiny, soft spoken indian young woman if she prescribed a patient Panadene…pause…hummm…she did. The patient has an allergy to it apparently, so they are quickly making calls to somewhere to speak to someone to warn the patient not to take it. The woman that looks like a school girl and is now frazzled and is trying to excuse her mistake, turns out is one of the doctors. Throughout this soap opera, I am only hoping she is not the one that will be looking after me. She really seems like she will have trouble tying  her shoes if the laces are not quite lined up right.

One of the nurses if off for a tea break…she comes back. The rest of them chat around and stand mostly without much to do. I wonder why they cant clean my cuts, they are surely qualified for that. Eventually the doc comes to me.

Dr: Hi.
Me: Hi.
Dr: So, what happened?
Me: I opened a can of chickpeas.
Dr: Ouch. Lets have a look.

He peeks and goes off to get some stuff to wash the wounds. He turns out to be from Romania. Here with his family since last year. Pleasant person, although I didnt appreciate whatever he was swooshing through my cut. It stung darn it. But  hey, at least something was happening.
He didnt like the tingling in my thumb as well and said that he will have someone from “plastics” to come and have a look as well. Later on I heard him making the call.

The wait continues.
An elderly person in the next cubicle with his son are chatting to the doctor. Only the younger guy speaks English and is translating for his dad. Something about gall stones and urine samples and blood in the  urine. Follow up with the GP and whatnot.

Another guy came in with a cut in his hand. He was waiting for the “plastics” consult too.  His girlfriend was with him and chatting on the phone.

I am walking around my cubicle area, as I just cant sit in one place. Around and around. Change direction and continue.

The nurse comes over with something in her hands and gets this pad and starts wiping my upper arm. I am taken aback.

-  What is this? – I ask puzzled.
-  Your tetanus shot – she says while continuing to fiddle with the things she brought.
-  Ahumm… – my brain starts racing, I am trying to think of what I know about this…not much is coming up to the surface. Ask questions, my gut is telling me, better than just go with it. I know something is not quite right in this situation.
– What if I dont have the shot? – I ask while moving away from her.
– You will DIE! – says she with as much conviction as you can imagine.
I am taken a back and look at her with a mixture of a smirk and disbelief.
– I will DIE?
– Well…yes, if you have it, you will die.
– What are the chances I will get tetanus?
– Good, there is a chance… – (crap) she is getting frustrated with me.
I dont much care, as she is starting to make me even more concerned about the shot.
– What are the side effects? – I ask
– None!…well, you may get a bit of a sore spot where the injection is given – (crap!)
– What are the ingredients? Does it have any mercury, aluminum or formaldehyde, for example?
– No, nothing like that. Just the tetanus – (crap)
– Just the Tetanus?
– Maybe in some saline (crap)- she is really not liking me right now. How dare I, ask such simple questions about what she is proposing at injecting in my bloodstream? Horrible, horrible patient.
By now I am certain of her lack of any reliable knowledge on the issue and it was easy to answer her next question.
– Do you want the shot or not!
– No, I feel I need more information before I agree to it.
– Fine! – and grabs her stuff and walks away.

My mind is still running around trying to remember something about the shot. I know for sure, that I dont want to burden my system with anything unnecessary right now, as I have these cuts to deal with, especially if I have nerve damage.

I continue walking around. My heart rate is up and I just want to get away from there, go home and take care of myself. Started wondering why I never learned how to stitch ;)

The nurses keep on hanging around, while the doctors seem to be quite busy. I hear my nurse behind their separator, high on her drunk on ignorance horse:

– I told her she could die!

Time is dragging. Eventually, Mr.Blab brings the kids around as baby Blab needs a feed. Oh, its like a breath of fresh air to see them. The hugs and kisses warm me up.

The doctor from “plastics” shows up, just as was chatting to my doctor. He goes first to the other cut guy. Then he came to me. I sent the kids away with daddy, as I know my big girl will not take it lightly and will get quite concerned about me.

The doc sits and pulls the little table around. Asks  me a few of the regular questions and looks at the wounds. Decides that he needs a better look and goes to get some local.
Warns me it will hurt and starts to inject the anesthesia. It hurts! Feels like he is digging around my cut with a shovel. I am grinding my teeth and he says:

– Yeah, I told you it will hurt. We are almost done.

Afterwords he starts to look and dig through my wound. I am not really looking.

– I cant find the other end, but yes, I think you have cut a nerve and will need surgery. We will admit you tonight, put you on IV antibiotics and do that tomorrow.

– I would rather go home tonight and come back tomorrow. Cant really be away from my baby if I can avoid it and really, whats the point in staying here now. – I definitely dont want to stay there.

– I understand… – pause, thinking – I guess you can  come back tomorrow…but then we have the problem with the antibiotics we would be giving you here.

– Why do I need the antibiotics? – I ask.

– To prevent an infection.

– Well, I dont want to take them profilactically anyway. I am breastfeeding, so if I can save on any drugs, I would do it. If I get a fever or any indication of infection, I will take it, but not “just in case”

– … I understand…well then.. give me a minute and we will see what we can do. – he walks away and my finger is left to bleed amongst the gauze and sizzors. Good, more cleaning of my cut ;)

He gives directions about what needs to happen and then lets me know that all will be sorted, but he needs to run to another patient.

My  original doctor comes around and asks me why I didnt want the tetanus shot. I explained and while I was going it, it came to me!
– And will this shot do anything for this cut? Arent they ineffective if given now?
– Yes. But it will help for any future injury.
– Ok, I will do some research at home and I can always go to my GP and get it, right?
– Right. – he says, smiling.

The mess on the table next to me is sitting, while I can hear the nurse say it again:
– I told her, she could DIE!

I am starting to feel sorry for her. What a one track mind. She would be more useful if she came around and cleaned up all the bloody instruments and pads from that table of mine.

The wait is continuing. I was told at some point that my bed is reserved and how I should come tomorrow morning to get ready for the surgery. Great! Now I wanna get out!

After another  half an hour I go out to see how my people are doing. The kids are tired and Mr.Blab suggest taking them to the car and waiting for me there. I agree.

Doc “plastics” shows up and asks me if everything is sorted. I told him what I was told and how there was some confusion of what to do next. He explains that they usually dont do this (letting patients go home), so its probably causing some issues because of that. He checks and makes sure all is good and asks the nurse to bandage my hand.

She slaps two pieces of nonstick something and wraps losely the bandage. No cleaning the blood or anything really. I am done though, I will redo it later at home. Grab my stuff and get ready to leave.

One of the nurses stops me and asks me if I had the x-ray. No…I didnt know I needed one. (*&%($*!
Yes, apparently I do and the doctors need to be sure no bones are damaged or whatever. Fine, where do I go? And how long will it take?

I go to the door of the x-ray place, thankfully right accross the room I was in. A woman comes out and tell me how I will need to wait, because you see, its 10 min to midnight and if they take me now it will cause them all that trouble with the time change and whatnot… I look at her blankly, as I cannot believe what she is saying.
– I have my kids sleeping in the car, after more than 4 hours waiting around, isnt there a way to take me in now?

Rumbling around. The door closes…I wait…very impatientley. If I was an angry person I would have exploded by now. 4 hours to see one person that knew whats going on and to tell me to come back.

Door opens by another woman. She is smiling and gets me in. She is the radiologist and is very understanding of my situation. We need to take my wonderful bandage off and she gets ready to take the x-rays. I ask for lead cover, she happily obliges and is curious if I am pregnant. Negative ;)
Takes her shots and offers to help me with the wrapping. I let her know I will do it back home myself if they just give me some more of those nonstick pads.

I get them and fly out of the building. Drunen idiots are shouting outside the hospital, its Saturday night after all. I hurry to the car and the kids are sleeping.

Home sweet home. Its dark and late and we are all exhausted. The kids go to bed and I go to wash my hand and bandage it properly.

After some research on the drugs the doc said they will give me after the surgery I go to bed too. Feels good.

Not looking forward to the morning…

CONTINUED part III