So We Wait....Without Complaint!

So for those of you who are my friends on facebook....you will undoubtedly be aware that yesterday I was not a happy camper. David did not get his seizure meds for about 18 hours and from 12:30 a.m. yesterday until about 11 last night he threw numerous seizures. One even happened while he was in the process of eating. Now the seizures before say 10 a.m. yesterday, I am not sure what the cause was (possibly infection in the body), but every seizure after that was due to the fact that he was missing doses of his meds. I started begging the minute we hit the floor yesterday for them to get and give David his meds as his last dose had been at 9 p.m. the night before. Not until around 3 p.m. did he actually get his meds. By then he was already behind two doses and we were seeing the fallout. I was not happy!

By the time David's neurologist made rounds (about 6 p.m. or so) I was pretty darn livid. Dr. S got an earful and he too was not pleased at the lengthy time David had gone without meds. He decided however that we couldn't undo what had already been done so we needed to move forward and temporarily add a couple of new meds to get the seizures under control. It took them until almost 11p.m. after getting these meds ordered for David to actually receive them. He also threw two more seizures during this time. They knew how angry I was!

Now, so as not appear a complete bitch, let me give you a bit of the back story. We are in the middle of cold and flu season. When we came into the ER early Saturday morning, it was jam packed with people in various forms of illness (most throwing up and/or coughing to the point of throwing up.) They had a handful of nurses, a nurse practitioner and one doctor taking care of, with what at one point I heard, was about 30-40 patients. One nurse told me that all the hospitals were like this and some were even refusing any more ER patients so they were diverting them to the other hospitals. It was craziness and you could literally see the nurses running from patient to patient. They were doing their best to treat and release as there was a whole triage area still waiting to be seen. Thank God we came in by ambulance! The critical got the most attention (as it should be) and although sick....David was not critical!

Once moved to the floor, it really wasn't much better. The peds floor is fairly large with about 30+ rooms. Most rooms were full and again....a handful of nurses and nurse assistants are left to handle all these patients. Apparently theirs had been a crazy night of admits just like the ER had been. This influx of patients and patient orders then trickles down to the pharmacy where they have just a few (about 6-8) pharmacists and techs trying to get out hundreds of scripts for the floors. Because of this.... there was an hours long backup and this was the reason that Davids meds arrived late...or so I was told.

I do understand the hospitals position BUT and this is a huge BUT.....when it is my kid and these meds are crucial......they WILL also understand mine. I know these nurses and even some of the residents cringe when they have to come talk to me and I do always try to be professional and respectful (except when an ER nurse tries to grab something out of my hands....then all bets are off!) I also have learned that some nurses (usually older more experienced ones) know how to bypass certain systems and protocol and get things done. Unfortunately we have a sweet but young nurse who seems a bit hesitant to play it anyway but by the rules and I obviously intimidate the heck out of her as she laughs nervously every time she comes in the room. Grrrrrrr We do have one resident though, who is on her game and she realizes that there is a pattern with the anti-biotics and Davids fevers. I like her and I feel like she knows her stuff. Just wish she had been here yesterday.

Today David is much better and looks better than he has since he has had surgery. Of course we are on round three of anti-biotics and currently have some strong seizure meds on board. However, there is still signs of infection showing in his body. They just can't pin point where. Today ortho is coming in and they are going to do some x-rays and other tests to make sure that there isn't some kind of internal infection setting up. If that proves to be nothing then they are calling in the infectious med doctor to see what he thinks. Hopefully when we finally make it home this time.....we will have gotten to the bottom of all of this and won't be making anymore trips back in. I am also sure the EMS will be grateful of that.

So we wait. The resident was talking as if it might be Tuesday or even Wednesday before we go home....depending on what they find. As crazy as that makes me, it would make me a whole lot more crazy to have to repeat all of this yet again. So yes....we wait.....without complaint!

Please continue to keep David in your thoughts and prayers, and as always.....thank you for reading!