My friend, I went through a life-threatening situation where my heart stopped twice a few times before being brought back.
My experience: The ICU folks are superb...and staffed properly with great folks who are highly skilled.
But once out of ICU and into a ward the situation changes and it becomes necessary for you or a loved one to step in and firmly “guide”....
And I don’t think it’s because the people don’t care or are less skilled. I think they are not as well staffed, probably extremely overworked and especially during this pandemic, I will bet they are exhausted both physically and emotionally.
My recommendation is that absolutely as much as possible, you or another trusted family member be with her at all times....especially night time. If that means sleeping bag in a chair...so be it. Of course you have to be careful of your own health and the pandemic adds more complications but she needs an ADVOCATE who can be firm and get assistance when needed.
it’s not that these folks don’t want to help....they are just get overwhelmed in the wards. ICUs get the priority.
Worst night I have ever had in my life...to include combat.....was lying in a recovery ward.....knowing things were going wrong, in horrible pain and I needed HELP. Unable to yell because i literaly could only whisper because of the tube that had been down my throat in ICU....pushing the call button 9 million times only to be finaly checked on 6 hours later.
They had had a staffing mixup in the night and an additional individual had gotten ill. Call button was malfunctioning. Didn’t matter...I had not had someone check on me for 6 hours and it should never have been like that. NEVER.
My wife or one of my sons stayed every night from then on till my release. It was hard on them but necessary. One of my sons finagled a special recliner to be put in the room and it went better after that. They also tried to tell us no visitors after certain hours but my wife went ballistic and they relented. Especially after the way they had dropped the ball on me.
I have no idea what the hospital rules are during this pandemic but the bottom line is is you cannot leave her in a recovery ward alone. Possibly you could set up some kind of computer connection where she could raise you remotely? I just don’t know but I do know that having someone right there in the room that can get out of a chair and move around and raise hell for her will be best.
Excellent advice, John. It's sounding more and more like this is typical. Thanks for your input.
