Home early...had a horrible 'trip' and bad nurses were the end of it.
I started getting really spaced out and panicky yesterday afternoon - every little sound and movement was setting me off into shaking, sweating spasms - really not good in a room with three other people, each with 2-3 visitors a piece. Every time somebody spoke it was as though they were yelling into megaphones wired directly into my skull.
A nurse took me out of the room - I had no idea where I was going, where she was taking me - all my things were left by my bed - and she left me in a dark room by myself to settle down. That was about 6pm. about 8:30pm a nurse came in, shoved my oral meds at me and went out again. The nurse who'd taken me out had dragged me out with my crutches, not my wheelchair and I'd only just made it. about 9pm I was feeling a bit better but needed the toilet and needed to find my way back to my room...and couldn't.
A nurse from another part of the hospital eventually helped me find my way, by which time I was so exhausted and so sore I was shaking. 'My' nurse came back just as I was getting back into my bed and just said "Oh, you're back...are you feeling better now?" as though I was a little kid having had a tantrum. When I said that I needed my breakthrough meds (usually 5-10mg oxycodone), she offered me paracetamol.
I spent all this morning feeling worse and worse - more spacey, more panicked - and about 2pm I rang for the nurse. I told her that I couldn't cope and asked her to phone my doctor about stopping the infusion and discharging me because I couldn't cope with the ketamine OR the hospital any longer. She said something about going to find the nurse in charge and didn't come back. Rang again about 15 minutes later because I was getting worse.
Am told that they are going to have a private room ready for me soon. Tell them I don't want a private room, I want them to call my doctor and get permission to stop the infusion. I've had enough. Am promptly ignored. By this time so spaced out and so terrified of every sound and movement that I'm hiding under my blankets and shaking/sweating like crazy.
Had just enough left in my mind to remember that a friend was coming to visit about 4:30 so told her what was going on. She called my doctor's rooms herself and spoke to his secretary, then helped me to call again when she got to the hospital... 3 1/2 hours after I'd first asked the nurses to call him. As soon as she fronted them up, told them that calls had been put in to him, they'd got onto him within 5 minutes, stopped the drugs and were organising my discharge.
She got me out of there...couldn't stop shaking, even wrapped in blankets in her car. Been home about 3 hours now, still in blankets, still shaking. I wish I had the energy to make a complaint against these nurses :( At least my doctor knows what is going on, but I hope they don't do this to the next person who can't stand up for themselves.
(edited for easier reading) Thanks! SE
Post Edited By Moderator (Screaming Eagle) : 6/17/2011 7:19:34 AM (GMT-6)