Besides the hassles from insurance companies because MS does not fit into their structure very well one of my other complaints is about the medical field who I have to educate every time I go except for my primary care physician and my neurologist. Another thing happened the reminded be about the medical field is structured so that I don't fit into it and I end up educating the staff.
Thursday night it did not seem like my catheter was draining when I was put to bed. Sometimes this happens and once the pressure from my bladder gets high enough it overcomes whatever's blocking it and it drains. Friday morning I woke up in a fair amount of pain because my bladder and backed up and was completely full. The pain was quite significant and my wife tried everything we've done in the past clear. She tried "irrigating it" which is squirting water backward to the catheter to open up whatever blockage is there. She was able to put in enough that it should've cleared it but then it still would not drain and now I bladder had the water she put it. We finally came to the realization it was a trip to the ER. It seemed pretty silly to have to go for something that should work because it's as simple as a tube that drains a liquid.
When we got to the ER they check you and and there was hardly anybody there since it was about 3 o'clock in the morning. So we got it pretty quick and there was a nurse at a computer station asking questions. She asked what I considered some strange questions to start out with but a further most of them before. I was asked if I wanted to hurt myself or and my life. I said I suffered from depression because of the MS so I really did no one answer that question. Then she asked me one I had never heard before. She asked "do I ever go to sleep hoping that I don't wake up"? I looked at her and said I'm a quadriplegic of course I go to bed every night hoping to not wake up, to be that the best case scenario. I said probably every quad Oaks for that to happen. Then she asked me if I was going to harm myself and I said there's no way I can so what does that question mean. I don't think I fit in with your questions. She said she had asked those questions by law. I can't tell you are annoyed I was and I ended up treating her pretty harsh telling her I was one happy SOB and then apologized and then I felt bad and apologized for being a grumpy old man.
So far most of my gripes are related to the hospital personnel. I went in for pneumonia ones and had to stay overnight. Since I couldn't move they asked me if I was a fall risk. I said no not really but I am susceptible to being dropped while people transfer me. So they put on my board that I was a fall risk and that cause no end of confusion because the later people thought I could get up and walk. One strange nurse took it upon herself to inspect every square inch of my body for bedsores because I was a quad. An MS quad in a spinal injury quad are 2 totally different things and no one at the hospital seem to grasp that. They would wake me up about every hour and a half to "take my vitals". They kept changing the thermostat that I overheated over and over again and I finally yelled that one nurse to put a note on the thermostat to leave it where it was. They kept sticking me in the stomach with the blood that are because I was a "quad" and I was probably susceptible to blood clots. They came in at 4 o'clock in the morning to draw blood. That I complained because I couldn't sleep and one nurse put her hands on her hips and said "wow I do sleep at home" I said I have an iPad and I read books if I wake up and also somebody's not waking me up every few minutes and poking me with stuff. A didn't seem to care if I got any sleep until the day nurses came in and they left me alone as much as they could. I felt like Randall P Murphy in the movie one flew over the cuckoo's nest!
All in all I'm sure they help more than they hurt but knew less my wife is there to educate them I feel like their victim and really want to avoid ever going to the hospital again. The nurses insinuation the other night that hoping I don't wake up is a bad thing as really made me kind of depressed thinking about it. Is the only way out of MS and it is sure the best case way of going as far as I'm concerned. Maybe taking a nap while I'm here by myself and never waking up might be better. I know my loved ones don't want to lose me but I feel like it's important to remember that "nobody gets out of here alive". So today is Saturday and I got to sleep until 11 o'clock and stayed in bed till 1 PM. Now I feel rested from everything I lost early Friday morning, sleep wise. I sure was a grumpy guy yesterday.
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