Or: Didn't we just do this?
This is the first full week of summer break. I hate summer break. I am a strong proponent for year round school. The first couple of weeks are always tough as we try to find a routine to fall into. Meanwhile I am really happy I don't have to wake up at 6 anymore. Yay! Not a morning person, not at all. But that's not really the this we are doing again.
So Monday DH tells me that he is having an anxious day. OK, it happens. He can't settle into a book or TV. Still, whatever, it happens. Then he decided to call the crisis line at 8:45 pm. They tell him they will have someone out to evaluate him but not until 11 pm. OK. So that time comes and goes. He calls them back, oh wait they won't have anyone until 1 am at the earliest. He told them he would call back in the morning.
Tuesday morning he calls back because he isn't feeling any better. So they come and evaluate him. First they tell him that they have a bed in a crisis house about 25 miles away. That means a nice break for me. But wait! They have one here in town. That means he keeps pressuring me to visit him. I don't want to. I hate hospital visits and things like that. They only way I can manage the hospital is that they have WiFi and I have a laptop. He can watch TV and we really don't have to talk. It's all good. But at the crisis house we sit in a room where anyone can walk in and out and if other people have visitors they are there too. He sits and stares at me, which can I just say for the record how much I hate that? I have to talk to him and entertain him, or he just sits there and stares at me. I don't think I emphasized before exactly how much I hate that. So, I keep having excuses why I can't go visit him a mile away. Because I think if I tell him I just really don't want to that it will hurt him. OK, he gets a break, so I get a break.
On the plus side this little break convinced him that ECT is good and he's going to go back to taking it in August. Good.
Meanwhile he hasn't gotten a go home date from the crisis house. They are a short term facility. No more than 7 days, and 3-5 is their usual. His time will be up Tuesday. If they don't think he should go home then we are looking at another hospital stay. Then we really will be back where we were.
Fun times. Fun. Times.
Monday I am going to go see what is wrong with my left shoulder. That ought to be interesting
Showing posts with label hospitalization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hospitalization. Show all posts
Friday, June 24, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
This week in recap
This has been a long and stressful week. This last 2 months have been long, and while this has been hell week, it's actually the week that is the turning point.
Six weeks ago my husband's depression was so crippling that he couldn't leave the house, or go to family parties. He missed Christmas with my mom and step-dad. This week was the end of 3x/week ECT. Starting Wednesday of next week he will be getting them once a week for the next couple of months. He has responded to them wonderfully. I honestly do not know what was going to happen if these didn't work. He was taking 3 different anti-depressants, plus another med that has mood stabilizing effect. And yet, he had a month that he couldn't leave the house. In the end, the depression would have torn our marriage apart. I know this from experience.
Seven years ago my husband was in a severe car accident. He had a seizure behind the wheel. He woke up in the hospital over a week later. Both of his feet and knees were all kinds of messed up. Since 1/08 he has had 3 surgeries, including one on Thursday, trying to deal with the aftermath. The first 2 were a fusion. The first fusion was done wrong, and it never healed right. October of last year his ankle broke, because of this. His heel was put back in wrong, so it finally just cracked the bone. This surgery the doctor broke the heel again and put it together right, as well as doing other stuff. He was actively in surgery for about 6 hours. All in all I spent 10 hours at the hospital on Thursday. I've been there everyday since Monday except for Tuesday.
The chairs are uncomfortable. I've got a bad back, my tail bone is all messed up and I have degenerative disc disorder. Yeah. So, I've been sitting in horrible chairs every day, for hours on end. Today I hurt. I have a lovely painkiller that I have taken, and has just kicked in. Right now I feel pretty good. I have a heating pad.
I didn't spend as much time at the hospital today as I wanted to, because of my back. We thought my husband would be able to come home yesterday, but they can't control his pain and he is very wobbly on his foot. He has to be non-weight bearing on the operated on foot, so he needs to be steady. He's still there. And I will go up and spend time with him after church tomorrow.
But, once we get through this it will be better. If nothing else, he will be in less constant pain. He will probably be more mobile. This is great.
For good news, 2 weeks ago I submitted an article that I wrote to Associated Content. I have written for another site for almost a year, but none of that is under my name. Now, this is in my name. On Monday it got approved and published. I also put it up on another site, called Hubpages. Go check them both out. Read them both, rate them put comments on them. I put a lot of work on it. I'm in the middle of writing a new one. I like this writing thing.
http://hubpages.com/hub/ECT-an-Alternative-Treatment-for-Depression
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7726538/electroconvulsion_therapy_is_an_alternative.html?cat=5
So, that's been my week. Now my meds have kicked in, and I am going to go to sleep. Tomorrow comes around way too early.
Six weeks ago my husband's depression was so crippling that he couldn't leave the house, or go to family parties. He missed Christmas with my mom and step-dad. This week was the end of 3x/week ECT. Starting Wednesday of next week he will be getting them once a week for the next couple of months. He has responded to them wonderfully. I honestly do not know what was going to happen if these didn't work. He was taking 3 different anti-depressants, plus another med that has mood stabilizing effect. And yet, he had a month that he couldn't leave the house. In the end, the depression would have torn our marriage apart. I know this from experience.
Seven years ago my husband was in a severe car accident. He had a seizure behind the wheel. He woke up in the hospital over a week later. Both of his feet and knees were all kinds of messed up. Since 1/08 he has had 3 surgeries, including one on Thursday, trying to deal with the aftermath. The first 2 were a fusion. The first fusion was done wrong, and it never healed right. October of last year his ankle broke, because of this. His heel was put back in wrong, so it finally just cracked the bone. This surgery the doctor broke the heel again and put it together right, as well as doing other stuff. He was actively in surgery for about 6 hours. All in all I spent 10 hours at the hospital on Thursday. I've been there everyday since Monday except for Tuesday.
The chairs are uncomfortable. I've got a bad back, my tail bone is all messed up and I have degenerative disc disorder. Yeah. So, I've been sitting in horrible chairs every day, for hours on end. Today I hurt. I have a lovely painkiller that I have taken, and has just kicked in. Right now I feel pretty good. I have a heating pad.
I didn't spend as much time at the hospital today as I wanted to, because of my back. We thought my husband would be able to come home yesterday, but they can't control his pain and he is very wobbly on his foot. He has to be non-weight bearing on the operated on foot, so he needs to be steady. He's still there. And I will go up and spend time with him after church tomorrow.
But, once we get through this it will be better. If nothing else, he will be in less constant pain. He will probably be more mobile. This is great.
For good news, 2 weeks ago I submitted an article that I wrote to Associated Content. I have written for another site for almost a year, but none of that is under my name. Now, this is in my name. On Monday it got approved and published. I also put it up on another site, called Hubpages. Go check them both out. Read them both, rate them put comments on them. I put a lot of work on it. I'm in the middle of writing a new one. I like this writing thing.
http://hubpages.com/hub/ECT-an-Alternative-Treatment-for-Depression
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7726538/electroconvulsion_therapy_is_an_alternative.html?cat=5
So, that's been my week. Now my meds have kicked in, and I am going to go to sleep. Tomorrow comes around way too early.
Thursday, February 03, 2011
Civility and Customer Service
The important part of this story is that my husband is home.
He came home today. His doctor wanted to send him home Monday, but snomageddon happened and we weren't sure that we would be able to get him to the hospital yesterday(more on that later). So, they kept him until today.
We don't have a car, and while I had been borrowing my parents' car, they needed it back so I gave it back Monday. This figures prominently in this story. The case manager at the hospital said they would give him a taxi voucher and send him home in a cab. Sounded good me. He's perfectly coherent, and there was nothing to stop him from being able to do it himself.
Now, there are 3 cab services in our smallish town. There is one that we use on a regular basis. We have never had any problems with them. They have had long waits sometimes, but they always warn us. We use them so often I have their number memorized. In fact, we'll be using them later today, and we already have a time call for tomorrow morning with them. That's not the company they called.
The one they called is one that we have never dealt with, mostly because they are more expensive. The nurse called them, let's call them Elite, to not protect the guilty. The original call went in at 10:45. Elite told the nurse they would be there at 11:15. DH called me at 10:57 to tell me that he would be home soon, he was just waiting for the cab. So, he stayed on the floor until close to 11:15 then he went down to wait. Now, my DH is disabled. He has a hard time walking due to some damage done by a car accident. He can't stand for very long. So, he waited outside. The temp was in the high teens, which actually is warmer than it has been.
11:15 came, and went. 11:30 came, and went. Around 11:45 he called Elite and they told him 5-10 minutes. That came, and went. He called them again, and was told 5-10 minutes. Again, that came and went. Finally, at 12:20, by the cab's clock and by the time from the dispatcher, the cab showed up.
Now, if you ask me, 10:45-12:20 is over 90 minutes. 11:15-12:20 is over an hour. Anyway you want to count it he waited for over an hour. Waiting outside, since the door he was waiting at didn't have anywhere to be inside and still see the cab.
When he got home and told me, I was pissed, especially since he had been given a time as to when they would be there. So, I called the cab company. The dispatcher yelled at me, lied to me, and hung up on me. Now, before I called her I checked my caller id. I knew exactly when DH called me. She told me that he couldn't have called be before 11 because they didn't get the call until after 11, and she told the nurse when they would be there, so there was no way he could have been waiting for 90 minutes. After saying that she hung up on me. So, she lied to me, she yelled at me, she said I was lying, and she hung up on me. I called her back, told her that she lost customers, she yelled at me that they were just a rinky dink cab company and to leave her the fuck alone. Then she, you guessed it, hung up on me.
I don't take well to being hung up on, let alone yelled at and cussed at, and lied to. So, to the Internet I turned. I posted a warning to everyone on my friends list on FB to avoid this company. Then I turned to Google. Now, there are review sites for companies all over the place. I wrote up a review listing what happened. Then I posted it on more than 5 review sites. I think the actual number was 7, but I lost track after 5. I've contacted the Better Business Bureau. Tomorrow we are going to the hospital, and I will be finding out who I have to talk to about letting them know about this company, and warn them about our treatment. I'm also debating writing a letter to the editor.
There is one thing that could have happened to avoid all this. If the dispatcher had said she was sorry, something came up, or given me a good reason, I wouldn't be writing this. Just 4 little words, I'm sorry that happened, that's all it would have taken. Instead, I'm complaining about them everywhere I can. I am going to actively encourage everyone I know who takes a cab to not use them.
I know the customer isn't always right. I've been on both sides of the counter. But, there was no need for her to yell at me, especially as I wasn't yelling at her. In fact, I was speaking in a nice conversational tone. That's the choice she made, and the consequence of her choice is that I am leaving negative reviews and talking to people I know about the poor service of the Elite Livery Taxi company.
He came home today. His doctor wanted to send him home Monday, but snomageddon happened and we weren't sure that we would be able to get him to the hospital yesterday(more on that later). So, they kept him until today.
We don't have a car, and while I had been borrowing my parents' car, they needed it back so I gave it back Monday. This figures prominently in this story. The case manager at the hospital said they would give him a taxi voucher and send him home in a cab. Sounded good me. He's perfectly coherent, and there was nothing to stop him from being able to do it himself.
Now, there are 3 cab services in our smallish town. There is one that we use on a regular basis. We have never had any problems with them. They have had long waits sometimes, but they always warn us. We use them so often I have their number memorized. In fact, we'll be using them later today, and we already have a time call for tomorrow morning with them. That's not the company they called.
The one they called is one that we have never dealt with, mostly because they are more expensive. The nurse called them, let's call them Elite, to not protect the guilty. The original call went in at 10:45. Elite told the nurse they would be there at 11:15. DH called me at 10:57 to tell me that he would be home soon, he was just waiting for the cab. So, he stayed on the floor until close to 11:15 then he went down to wait. Now, my DH is disabled. He has a hard time walking due to some damage done by a car accident. He can't stand for very long. So, he waited outside. The temp was in the high teens, which actually is warmer than it has been.
11:15 came, and went. 11:30 came, and went. Around 11:45 he called Elite and they told him 5-10 minutes. That came, and went. He called them again, and was told 5-10 minutes. Again, that came and went. Finally, at 12:20, by the cab's clock and by the time from the dispatcher, the cab showed up.
Now, if you ask me, 10:45-12:20 is over 90 minutes. 11:15-12:20 is over an hour. Anyway you want to count it he waited for over an hour. Waiting outside, since the door he was waiting at didn't have anywhere to be inside and still see the cab.
When he got home and told me, I was pissed, especially since he had been given a time as to when they would be there. So, I called the cab company. The dispatcher yelled at me, lied to me, and hung up on me. Now, before I called her I checked my caller id. I knew exactly when DH called me. She told me that he couldn't have called be before 11 because they didn't get the call until after 11, and she told the nurse when they would be there, so there was no way he could have been waiting for 90 minutes. After saying that she hung up on me. So, she lied to me, she yelled at me, she said I was lying, and she hung up on me. I called her back, told her that she lost customers, she yelled at me that they were just a rinky dink cab company and to leave her the fuck alone. Then she, you guessed it, hung up on me.
I don't take well to being hung up on, let alone yelled at and cussed at, and lied to. So, to the Internet I turned. I posted a warning to everyone on my friends list on FB to avoid this company. Then I turned to Google. Now, there are review sites for companies all over the place. I wrote up a review listing what happened. Then I posted it on more than 5 review sites. I think the actual number was 7, but I lost track after 5. I've contacted the Better Business Bureau. Tomorrow we are going to the hospital, and I will be finding out who I have to talk to about letting them know about this company, and warn them about our treatment. I'm also debating writing a letter to the editor.
There is one thing that could have happened to avoid all this. If the dispatcher had said she was sorry, something came up, or given me a good reason, I wouldn't be writing this. Just 4 little words, I'm sorry that happened, that's all it would have taken. Instead, I'm complaining about them everywhere I can. I am going to actively encourage everyone I know who takes a cab to not use them.
I know the customer isn't always right. I've been on both sides of the counter. But, there was no need for her to yell at me, especially as I wasn't yelling at her. In fact, I was speaking in a nice conversational tone. That's the choice she made, and the consequence of her choice is that I am leaving negative reviews and talking to people I know about the poor service of the Elite Livery Taxi company.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
On Loneliness and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
As I write this it has been one week and one day since my husband went into a crisis support unit here in town. It was snowing the night that he got evaluated so he didn't get taken to the unit that night. They came and helped transport him the next day. This is a good thing. My husband has severe depression. Severe enough that he has several suicide attempts under his belt and several hospitalizations.
Four days after that he went into the hospital. Again, a good thing. I fought for him to get that. His psychiatrist, who I think is a smarmy bastard, hadn't even contacted the csu to find out how he was until I called and complained about it. I shouldn't have been surprised, since this is the same man who changed my husband's meds and then scheduled an appointment for 2.5 months. Seriously? Who does that?
For 18 months we have been trying to get my husband ECT. We saw this same doctor over the summer. He said that my husband wasn't a good candidate, which, in my non-medical opinion, was utter bullshit. Three separate doctors, including 2 other psychiatrists, said that he was a good candidate. The only problem with them was the fact they didn't prescribe it. Dr. McSmarmy is the only doctor in our town to do that. The next nearest are an hour away, in separate directions.
He ended up with this doctor as his psychiatrist because our previous doctor's office closed. This guy was the only person in town to take my husband's insurance. Again, the next nearest one who had any openings was an hour away. We don't have a car, and that is just too far. We do have medical transportation, but still.
Anyhow, back to Tuesday. We went to the doctor's office, again it was snowing. We live in what I lovingly call the Great White North. I love it, but winters are long and snowy and cold. Tuesday was both. I went in loaded for elephant, and wanted to get him in the hospital for closer observation. I would have been happy for med adjustment, even though no meds work, or don't work for long. We have tried them all. Miracle of miracles, his doctor suggested the ECT.
He had his first treatment today. He will have around 10 treatments in the next 3 weeks. After than he will start going out towards a maintenance treatment. That's once every month, but we will build up to that point. This is a good thing. After 18 months, clearance from a cardiologist, which included a heart catheterization a year ago, another cold day. There were also the 2 different neurologists we saw. Hours of driving all over the state, hours of tests and procedures, only to get told no. It was frustrating. I could see my husband just collapse onto himself. And finally, finally, we have succeeded. I can't help but think about how different our lives would have been if he had this done 18 months ago. We are both hoping that this will be very successful and that our lives will be different. I have known this man for 17 years. For most of them he has been depressed, sometimes more than others.
I was at the hospital this morning after his treatment. He was coherent and no short term memory loss, which can occur. This isn't your daddy's shock treatment. There have been huge strides. He won't end up like McMurphy from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, great movie, see it if you haven't.
That is a lot of exposition to get to the actual meat of this post, and if you have read this far I owe you cookies. That is actually loneliness. The first few days of him being gone I got some space. Our apartment is tiny. There is no space for the three of us to get away from each other. Since we have to walk to get anywhere and my husband and I both have physical limitations we don't go a lot of places in the winter. We have had entirely too much togetherness. I enjoyed the hours to myself while our 15 year old went to school. He has been a clingon while his dad was gone. But today, I realized that the house was too quiet. It's already been too quiet at nights without his CPAP machine. I didn't sleep well the first few nights, and now I've gotten somewhat used to it, but it is still too quiet at 3 am.
I realized last night that I miss having him next to me in the middle of the night. Don't get me wrong, having the entire bed to myself, well myself and the three cats who own us, is nice. But, reaching out in the middle of the night and touching him is reassuring. I miss that when he is gone.
Dr. McSmarmy is talking about sending DH home on Monday after his next treatment. DH and I talked about it after his treatment today. We would both like him to stay in the hospital for another week. Dr. McSmarmy tried to blow off DH's opinion. Oh hell to the no. That won't happen when I am around. Maybe I will start going to all his appointments with the doctor now that I have seen how DH is treated. Although he tries to condescend to me. Yeah, keep that up and I will shove Dr. McSmarmy's overly whitened teeth down his throat. Politely of course, since DH asked me to be polite.
It isn't that I don't want him to come home or that he doesn't want to come home. He's bored out of his mind. We are just worried about him and his well-being. And when he comes home, I will be happy, at least until we spend too much time with each other again.
Four days after that he went into the hospital. Again, a good thing. I fought for him to get that. His psychiatrist, who I think is a smarmy bastard, hadn't even contacted the csu to find out how he was until I called and complained about it. I shouldn't have been surprised, since this is the same man who changed my husband's meds and then scheduled an appointment for 2.5 months. Seriously? Who does that?
For 18 months we have been trying to get my husband ECT. We saw this same doctor over the summer. He said that my husband wasn't a good candidate, which, in my non-medical opinion, was utter bullshit. Three separate doctors, including 2 other psychiatrists, said that he was a good candidate. The only problem with them was the fact they didn't prescribe it. Dr. McSmarmy is the only doctor in our town to do that. The next nearest are an hour away, in separate directions.
He ended up with this doctor as his psychiatrist because our previous doctor's office closed. This guy was the only person in town to take my husband's insurance. Again, the next nearest one who had any openings was an hour away. We don't have a car, and that is just too far. We do have medical transportation, but still.
Anyhow, back to Tuesday. We went to the doctor's office, again it was snowing. We live in what I lovingly call the Great White North. I love it, but winters are long and snowy and cold. Tuesday was both. I went in loaded for elephant, and wanted to get him in the hospital for closer observation. I would have been happy for med adjustment, even though no meds work, or don't work for long. We have tried them all. Miracle of miracles, his doctor suggested the ECT.
He had his first treatment today. He will have around 10 treatments in the next 3 weeks. After than he will start going out towards a maintenance treatment. That's once every month, but we will build up to that point. This is a good thing. After 18 months, clearance from a cardiologist, which included a heart catheterization a year ago, another cold day. There were also the 2 different neurologists we saw. Hours of driving all over the state, hours of tests and procedures, only to get told no. It was frustrating. I could see my husband just collapse onto himself. And finally, finally, we have succeeded. I can't help but think about how different our lives would have been if he had this done 18 months ago. We are both hoping that this will be very successful and that our lives will be different. I have known this man for 17 years. For most of them he has been depressed, sometimes more than others.
I was at the hospital this morning after his treatment. He was coherent and no short term memory loss, which can occur. This isn't your daddy's shock treatment. There have been huge strides. He won't end up like McMurphy from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, great movie, see it if you haven't.
That is a lot of exposition to get to the actual meat of this post, and if you have read this far I owe you cookies. That is actually loneliness. The first few days of him being gone I got some space. Our apartment is tiny. There is no space for the three of us to get away from each other. Since we have to walk to get anywhere and my husband and I both have physical limitations we don't go a lot of places in the winter. We have had entirely too much togetherness. I enjoyed the hours to myself while our 15 year old went to school. He has been a clingon while his dad was gone. But today, I realized that the house was too quiet. It's already been too quiet at nights without his CPAP machine. I didn't sleep well the first few nights, and now I've gotten somewhat used to it, but it is still too quiet at 3 am.
I realized last night that I miss having him next to me in the middle of the night. Don't get me wrong, having the entire bed to myself, well myself and the three cats who own us, is nice. But, reaching out in the middle of the night and touching him is reassuring. I miss that when he is gone.
Dr. McSmarmy is talking about sending DH home on Monday after his next treatment. DH and I talked about it after his treatment today. We would both like him to stay in the hospital for another week. Dr. McSmarmy tried to blow off DH's opinion. Oh hell to the no. That won't happen when I am around. Maybe I will start going to all his appointments with the doctor now that I have seen how DH is treated. Although he tries to condescend to me. Yeah, keep that up and I will shove Dr. McSmarmy's overly whitened teeth down his throat. Politely of course, since DH asked me to be polite.
It isn't that I don't want him to come home or that he doesn't want to come home. He's bored out of his mind. We are just worried about him and his well-being. And when he comes home, I will be happy, at least until we spend too much time with each other again.
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