missy502

FYI.........I have posted this in another part of the boards, but wanted to make a new thread so that people getting ready to have their surgery will know what can happen. Discuss things like this with your doctor ahead of time to make sure it doesn't happen to you. I learned the hard way.
Well, I'm 3 days post-op. I wanted to update everyone on how it went. I hate to say this, but it was horrible.
The nurses were nicer this time, but very unattentive. They got all of my orders mixed up and did not put me on a PCA pump at all after surgery. They were giving me Toradol (anti-inflammatory) and 5mg of Lortab. From what I understand, you're not supposed to take pills right after surgery. When I told them that he had said I would be on a PCA pump, they said that I must have misunderstood him. So, I laid there in tears until he came in that night. I went 8 hours with just one Lortab and one Toradol. When the doctor got there, I told him what happened. He said, "I ordered a PCA pump and no pills for 2 days". He was furious. So, he went and told them to get one and left. It took them 8 hours to find a PCA pump and hook it up.
They tried to force me to take my heart medicine twice a day. I told them that I only take it once or it will drop my blood pressure too low. It was already at 83/45. I refused to take it.
Oh, he had also ordered them to put me on a hormone patch at 7 that morning. At around 2, I asked them for the 4th time about it. She came in my room and said, "He never ordered a patch." I said, "Ok, so do I need to call his office from my room?" She said, "No, you need to wait until he makes rounds tonight." Keep in mind that I was drenched in sweat from the hot flashes. I was also running 102.7 fever. So, I called his office as soon as she left the room. The nurse called me 5 minutes later saying that she ordered. 4 hours later, she brought it in.
A day later, my IV infiltrated (like last time) and was swelling. I didn't feel like I was getting any pain meds at all. I told them to take it out and call and ask him for Percocet, not Lortab.
She told me immediately that he ordered some for me. I told her that I wanted to go ahead and take some for pain b/c it was getting bad.
She came in the room and gave me 1 Toradol (anti-inflammatory). I said, "Why are you giving me this?" She said, " The doctor said that you had to take Toradol the next two times, then you can have Percocet."
I was mad, but didn't know what else to do. At that time, I was alone at the hospital. I couldn't reach the phone.
So, I laid there in severe pain. My pain got to a severe level of 10 (or hell, as I like to call it). I immediated started having trouble breathing. I waited and hour and called her again. An aide answered the call button. I said, bluntly, "The Toradol did not work; My pain is now at a 10 and the 9th circle of hell; I'm about to throw up, so get someone in here NOW with some real pain medicine." She said, "Uh, ok."
Within 5 minutes, my nurse was in my room armed with 2 Percocet. She then proceeded to lecture me about how I should never wait for the pain to get that bad before calling. I said, "Are you not the same person that told me that I could only have Toradol for the next two doses?" She said, "No, that's not what I said. Toradol isn't even for pain. You've just had major surgery Ms. S*****." At that point, if I could have moved, I would have ripped her hair out. I said, "I'll just talk to my doctor when he gets here. I'm tired of arguing with you." She then started apologizing a lot.
I said, "You might want to check my fever b/c something is really wrong." She kind of rolled her eyes and went and got an aide. The aide checked it and said, "Wow! It's 104.2." The nurse didn't want to give me any Tylenol b/c I had has some only 2 hours before. The aide stood up for me and told her that she would call the doctor if she didn't give it to me.
So, I got the Tylenol at least.
I was so hoping my doctor would come in that night, but he ended up delivering all evening.
So, when I saw him the next morning, I didn't say a word except, "Get me out of here before they kill me". When I go see him in a few days, he'll get an earful.
Should I complain to the hospital, or will they just think I'm another woman complaining?
By the way, now that I'm home, I'm better. I'm still in a lot of pain and running fever of about 100.5 constantly, but otherwise fine.
Has anyone else had a similar experience?