Was in hospital for 7 days

[Chris25]

Hey all. I was in hospital for 7 days. Was very sick. Been home for a few days now.

I had very bad colitis. They said if I was older I would have died. Was on so many IV antibiotics and was nill by mouth most of my stay. Still on antibiotics.

They were convinced at first that I had crohns disease or ulcerative colitis after I had a CT scan. But with the colonoscopy they diagnosed infectious colitis and IBS.

Wow, having the prep for the colonoscopy was one of the most painful and unpleasant experiences of my life! Feels like your urinating fire out your back side, doesn't it? lol!

Parents were very upset because they were against me getting treatment. They keep crying but ok now.

I saw the GP maybe 10 times over the last 8 months that I was sick, and 4 times during the week before I was admitted to the ER. I actually took myeslf to the ER by cab at 2am because I was in so much pain that I was crying and I'm not usually like that.

The Dr's at hospital told me that I should get a new GP because she was so negligent. Also said if I had cancer I would be, well, screwed.

They took several biopsy's and I will get the results back in 2 weeks when I see the surgeon again. I had so many doctors looking after me it was strange. 1 Gastro, 1 surgeon, 2 residents. It was rather daunting actually :S

I have to have another CT scan they said. The first scan showed inflammation but the colonoscopy 3 days later showed no inflamattion. I am confused as to what kind of diet I should have or if I even have to make diet changes.

Anyway, thanks everyone for all the help. I really appreciated it

 

[Kev]

Chris, I would check with the hospital dietician, or your gastro, but I think its plain common sense that, considering what your colon has been going through, that it be given as much of a break as possible. Resting it is pretty easy, eat only easily digestible foods, avoid hi fibre content, spicy fatty foods, seeds, pits, stones, etc.. Low residue foods, things that dont' have peels, skins, rinds, roughage, anything that will tax your system... are probably the best bet for a start... Then, with the passage of time, as your situation improves, try adding some of those things back into your diet, gradually, carefully, noting results. A liquid diet for a few days (possibly clear to start), then intro soft foods, then a firmer diet... I'm surprised, given the circumstances, that the doctors in charge didn't give you a step by step routine diet to follow during this initial period...

 

[Chris25]

Thanks I will try that.

I had a hell of a time in hospital, they put me on a high fibre diet. I argued with them about this and no one would listen to me. The resident did this not the specialist. I ended up just buying my own food instead.

I was nill by mouth almost the whole time though I actually was allowed to eat only one day and they gave me brown bread, whole baked potatoes and a million other things I could not eat :S

Even when I was nill by mouth before the colonoscopy they tried to feed me three times lol.

Dr stopped my heprin injections and the nurses kept trying to give them to me 2 times a day and said I was a non-compliant patient and would not believe me that he stopped them. I was not going to take meds that a doctor said I do not need and should not be taking!

No one has given me any info on what to eat but I have been following a low-residue diet.

I am actually going to the toilet as normal now and this is the first time in about 8 months. I have not had diarrhoea in 4 days now. In a lot of pain though, my shoulders hurt for some reason. I guess it could be from the gas they pumped me up with during the colonoscopy.

Yea I was surprised too. I was given no diet instructions at all.

My hospital stay was quite bad. So many horrible things happened. For example I have hard to see veins and I was dehydrated. The resident said she would come in and do my canula (as they took my first one out) or one of the other doctors would because they were hard to do on me. An intern comes in to do it, and I had no idea she was an intern. She had one go on my right arm and had no idea what she was doing and it was very painful. Then she tried my left arm, same thing. So she said she would get a doctor but she actually got another intern!!! He tried once, took a long time and could not get the canula in and I eventually fainted. I have never had a problem with needles before.

I asked the nurse after I fainted and was back with reality again (about 30 mins later) for a bottle of water and she started to scream at me saying I was nill by mouth, I said I wasn't and I was dehydrated and needed to drink water as the doctor told me to because I don't have a drip in yet .etc. She just said "oh" and got me a glass of water.

I told the nurse what happened and she said its normal to have to try 3 or more times to get a canula in!! As she was talking about this one of the other nurses came past and said she wanted to have a go. I said no and that I was waiting for the resident to come in and do it and the nurse said she would get very depressed if i didn't let her do it. I said I didn't care and she walked out quite angry. The resident came about 1 hour later and it took her 2 seconds to do the canula with virtually no pain. I was quite shocked and happy lol.

So many things happened. The next day even, before my colonoscopy and I had had the prep I could not get out of bed to go to the toilet because of the way they hooked up my IV. I pressed the buzzer, no one came. After 10 minutes I pressed it again, still no one. By 15 minutes I was going to crap the bed and I kept pressing the buzzer like crazy. A nurse runs in and starts screaming at me, and by now I had had enough. I was sugary sweet the whole time I was there even though they were treating me like absolute crap and I said to the nurse "Do you want me to crap the bed?" and so on and I was very upset about all this. She was unapologetic and quite rude saying they were busy. I asked her if they were so busy why are they outside my room talking about what they did on the weekend (was true as the nurses area was directly opposite my room) and she made up some story that that was not the nurses talking and was someone else lol. They were so noisy too, playing music loud at 3am (I am serious).

Even had one nurse when she was taking my blood pressure she was doing it on my right arm where I had had a canula for 4 days and it was very sore (they put it on the inside of my elbow). I asked her if she could do it on my left arm and she said no and just went ahead and did it. My left arm had no canula and was un-touched, she was just being mean.

Even when I was given SC morphine the nurse gave me an IM amount and I had a big bubble of fluid under my skin. Also some nurses did not swab the IV before giving me injections and that scared me.

The whole experience was awful. I never realised how bad the hospital system in Sydney is until last week. I was quite shocked by the whole thing.

 

[D Bergy]

That is one lousy hospital. I have to give credit to the one I was in. They were top notch in every respect.

I think I would have walked right out of the one you were in, if I was able. The treatment you received is just inexcusable. Unfortunatly, there are these type of hospitals all over. Thankfully, there are some real good ones also.

I did walk out once at a clinic after waiting 1 1/2 hours for an appointment. It was just the last straw as you absolutely never got in on time, usually at least an hour wait.

They called me at home and asked if I was the one who left the clinic. I said yes I left and that my time was worth something, and I have a job also, and I was not going to spend over an hour waiting each and every time I came in. They took note. I must have been the only person to do that because it shocked them so much. They did revise their appointment system after that. Now you do not wait long at all.

At least you had the ability to stop them from doing something stupid. How would you like to be in a coma, and have these pin heads working on you for weeks at a time?

I hope you get better. Sometimes just the flush of the colonoscopy prep can bring some improvement.

D Bergy

 

[Kev]

Hey Chris... WOW.. That sounds like quite a nitemare. I'm surprised with the IV issue.. Actually, my experience has been just the opposite... Always preferred a nurse, or better yet a phlebotomist (sp? nurse who specializes in blood collection). put in IV's, canulas, shunts, even give IV or IM injections. Typcially, they (regist'd nurses - not LPN or practical nurses) HAVE far more practical experience/practice doing it... Interns look to do it for the practice, I don't want to be their guinea pigs; residents usually do it only if their interns are imbeciles... and they are usually dead on their feet, or far too rushed to do it right. Day shift nurses are typcially rushed, cause that's when the docs are underfoot.. making too many demands. Evening shift are more relaxed, better to deal with patients... Back shift nurses... my experience was that they are on backshift because they prefer not dealing with patients... You know, medicate them to sleep as fast as possible so they are knocked out and not a burden. I may be displaying personal bias here, but that was my experiences with them.

And, when you refer to Sydney, I assume you mean Sydney, Australia, and not Sydney, Canada (my birthplace).. Think pound for pound, health care system in either is no great shakes... Share more than just a name in common. Chin up!

 

[Chris25]

oh the blood collection nurse was the worst :S she tried to take my blood and could not do it at all

However the other nurse with the same kind of job was very good too. The first nurse that gave me the first canula that is.

I did not want to be a guinea pig either but it was forced onto me

Yea in Sydney Australia. Its not good hey

Also, I was a private patient. Apparently the interns had no right to do what they did either I was told because I have the option to say no. I really don't know just glad to be home lol

 

[Chris25]

Sorry I got it wrong. It was the registrar that did my canula, not a resident. Wow all these names are so confusing lol.

 

[Guest]

heck, you've really been through it, chris! glad to hear you're home now, & best of luck with all the results when they come through.

you know what, if i had been treated like that, i would be typing up a letter of complaint to the hospital management, bullet-pointing every single thing. even if you get nothing more than an apology, it might effect the treatment of future patients beneficially.

and well done to you, for standing your ground!

 

[Chris25]

I'm in so much pain again though They took me off somac/nexium and then my mouth is full of ulcers again i restarted it.

I am going a bit crazy from the lack of sleep as I have not really had more than a couple of hours sleep per night for 3 weeks now.

The pain from the gas they used in the colonoscopy still has not gone.

I will be making a complaint Its just that I have not written it yet. I will do it ASAP though. I agree, something needs to be done for the treatment of future patients at least.

Thanks and take care