I have been in such great pain that I have not been able to concentrate on writing more updates, so I thought I would write a new diary.
Here’s what happened:
Last Saturday evening I fell onto the front porch with my right knee taking the whole impact. Fortunately, there was a couple of people passing by, looking like a moth and her two teens children. They got me up and I walked inside.
I had previously scheduled a Zoom meeting with my niece Stephanie. She showed up, fifteen minutes late, but she finally got there. in the meantime, my leg got more and more painful. I was in obvious agony and my niece insisted on sending a Lyft to take me to the hospital. I went outside with Stephanie on the cell phone. The Lyft driver was a jackass. He pulled up to the house NEXT to mine. I was waving and shouting at him and he simply flashed his lights as though he expected me to walk over. FINALLY, after about five minutes, he came over to in front of MY house. I continued to shout that I needed him to get my bag. I had grabbed my teacher bag because it had my laptop and chargers in it along with a bunch of books and papers useful for subbing but not for going to the hospital.
The Lyft driver started whining that I should have called an ambulance and I kept saying, please stop lecturing me and he did there “I'm not lecturing you I’m just telling you” mode that some people do.
Finally, I got into the cab, lying horizontally across the back seat. He was pissed that I did not try (futilely) t get into the front seat.
As we drove, I spoke to Stephanie on the phone, and she kept asking where I was, and as I was down low I could not see very well, but we came to an area where the buildings were tall and we were going the wrong way, and I told Stephanie “he’s taking a long way” the Lyft driver started shouting at me and Stepanie “I’m NOT taking a long way THANK YOU VERY MUCH.”
It turned out a bit later that his dispatcher had given him the wrong destination, or so the driver claimed. My niece had told them “Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital Emergency Room” and the Lyft dispatch had told HIM “Doctors on Duty”, a completely different place. He started yelling at me that his destination from my niece was “Doctors on Duty” and Stephanie, still on the cell phone, got into an argument as Stephanie told him “I see what I typed in on my cell phone”. The Lyft driver essentially told Stephanie she was a liar, but so he then took me to the ER. If Stephanie had not been there on the phone I wonder if he might have simply put me out of his car there. He was constantly whining that I was “tying up his car”, which sounds like a problem with the way Lyft works.
When we got to the parking lot outside of the ER, the idiots in the ER did not want to come out to get me but somehow expected me to get into the ER on my own power. Finally, they came out with a wheelchair and several strong guys. Once I was in the ER I ended the phone call with Stephanie.
The next few days have been a fog of pain and opioid drugs.
I have a friend from University, Robbie, who lives nearby with her family, and who has fed my critters before when I had kidney stone surgery and partial foot amputation surgery. However there have been the most powerful windstorms in years in the past couple of days and while she has been checking, I fear the fences going down and my dogs getting out and losing them forever. Last night it sounded like a hurricane outside.
My fingers have sensors so It is very difficult to type.
I have not been able to do more than stand for a moment or sit in a chair. My exercise, little as it is, is to flex my foot to act as a squeeze to pump blood out of my right calf.
My knee and lower leg are now covered with blisters. I am told that eventually they will pop and could become a pathway to infection.
I am fearful of losing my leg. The nurses of varying quality. One of the nurses who seems best and better at communicating tells me that he does not think it looks like my leg is at a loss stage, but then he is a nurse and not. doctor. I have also discovered that my regular doctor has a reputation for being difficult to contact in that the nurses will text him and he will not respond for hours, and sometimes not even then. I know I’m changing doctors when/if I get out of here.
Obviously, I could not work this past week as a sub. I had one of the HR administrators call me on her personal phone. She used to be a principal at a school I subbed at many times and she knew me. I gather that news of my injury has been passed along at the District Office and many are concerned. She said, “you are usually so reliable” and missing several days has them worried. I had told her I hoped to be back later this week, but that is not going to happen.
I hope can return by the time classes begin again in January.
I am also worried if one of the positions I have applied for wants to interview me before I am out. I am already worried about not being hired due to my size, and if I add a leg/walking problem to the mix, while they won’t OFFICIALLY give that as the reason, it could still be an unofficial reason.
It's been a fog of drugs, worry, depression, pain, more.
I'm sure I will think of something else to write soon for I click send.
Thank you to those of you who have contacted me by comments, KOSmail, or other means. I have not been too responsive nor coherent in th4 last few daze.
#jtg
Original prior diary HERE.
Thursday, Dec 16, 2021 · 11:30:05 PM +00:00 · jtg
I am at the new rehabilitation facility, and I am wondering if this is a step up or back.
First, they did not send someone with a van properly sized to transport me up. As the driver pushed me across the parking lot, she was not paying close attention and when she came to a pothole, my foot went and ground into the ground and I shouted with pain. I told her what she did and she continued to push, and a few seconds later hit a SECOND pothole. She seemed totally oblivious to the shape of the parking lot. She pushed along and hit the THIRD pothole just before getting to the van.
The hospital nurse told the driver that I had been getting physical therapy and been walking around and I said, “NO I HAVEN’T”.
The lift on the back of the van was too small to fit me easily. I had to have them shove my extremely painful leg into the van.
Every bump on the drive to the rehab facility was agony. She secured me in the wheelchair with a strap around my shoulder, but I slowly kept sliding forward on my butt and when we got to the facility I had to be pulled back onto the wheelchair.
Once they got me to the room, I discovered they did NOT have a bariatric bed for tall people. It was designed for a 600-pound max, but for a SHORT 600 POUND PERSON. The reason I was sent here was SPECIFICALLY that they said they had a tall bariatric bed. Fraud or incompetence…?
Throughout this nightmare, as has been the case with other hospitalizations, I have had nurses and therapists not seem to get that I am not able to move as well as they want me to move. Sometimes I get the distinct feeling that they think II am just being lazy as they tell me “you can do this” in an annoyed tone that I am not motivational. Other times I feel like they think I'm just a whiny crybaby when I cry out in pain at their careless prodding.
I am now in the facility in the too-short bed. I do not know what therapy I will be getting. At least the bed has a larger range of motion so I can tip it back with my legs over my head for fluids to drain.
New detail is since yesterday, my right leg has become covered with fluid blisters which could become a focus of infection if not treated.
My friend Robbie has been feeding the critters, but they mostly hide when she comes by. She has not seen most of them.
Please come by and check-in. I will post updates in the diary, as well as copy and paste those updates in the comments for those who want to comment. Every few days I’ll start a new diary, similar to how Dkos “Livestreams” various events with parts 1, 2, 3, etc.
If you have any questions please ask.
#jtg
Friday, Dec 17, 2021 · 5:39:17 AM +00:00 · jtg
HUGE DANERGOUS UPDATE :
My blood sugar test just came back at 388. That is a huge and dangerous high. They're saying that they are not going to give me any insulin because the hospital did not send over any insulin for me, I told them. I do not want to die here because of some incompetence.
She LAUGHED as though this was funny and patted my shoulder like she talking to me as a silly child and I said I am not joking.
If I die here tonight be sure that they get reported to every possible review site or agency.
www.edenvalleycare.com
As a side issue, I was told when I got her this afternoon that I needed to have a TB test. OK, so I had it. Now this same nurse is telling e I need another TB test and when I told her I already had a TB test this afternoon she insisted I had not because it had not been written down. The incompetence is frightening
Friday, Dec 17, 2021 · 5:51:58 AM +00:00 · jtg
Now I am being told that they cant give me any insulin until tomorrow because of the schedule. They are refusing to tell me the name of the doctor. I said, “do I have to go on the website?” They are making it seem like I am being the unreasonable one here.
#jtg
Friday, Dec 17, 2021 · 4:59:38 PM +00:00 · jtg
The night was long and painful. I slept a couple of hours at a stretch. They are not taking my high blood sugar into consideration. I have not seen a doctor in days. The doctor does not even come to the site but apparently just calls in.
I am scared and I don’t feel like I m going home...
Sunday, Dec 19, 2021 · 11:09:55 PM +00:00 · jtg
My leg is still in agony. My body feels non-functional. The leg is slowly getting less swollen but I have a long way to go. Sleep is still fleeting and short and interrupted by either the need for checks, pills shots or smile surges of pain. I have very strange dreams, for example, I was dreaming about setting up a lesson plan to teach my classes from my bed using Google Classroom, Google Meet, Jameboard, and others The nurses are finally getting used to dealing with someone of my size and not insisting “you. can do it” when I clearly cannot…
More Later.
#jtg