Home, at last

I am back in my apartment tonight. Yay!

Around 1pm, my nurse said that I was going home today. She handed me discharge papers and left the room. I saw the my anti-anxiety drugs and sleeping pills were not on the drug list, so I called her back and explained the situation. Nurse V left and returned an hour later with a revised discharge form and printed out prescriptions. When she handed me the scripts, I asked her about the prescriptions for the 7 other drugs on my drug list. Nurse V shrugged and said I had to call my doctor.

I called Dr. Lackman's answering service and left a message explaining the situation. He called me immediately and suggested that he call in the drugs. As I listed the drugs, he sounded increasingly angry that someone had not done their job. Of course, he couldn't legally call in any of my pain drugs. He asked me to have my nurse call him and said he would work on it.

When I hung up, I was extremely upset. My stomach hurt and I had an explosive tearful jag. I asked my nurse about pain drugs; she said I was overdue for the long acting OxyContin, but it took her another hour before she gave it to me.

Within an hour, an orthopedic resident came up to my room from the Emergency Room explaining that Dr. Lackman had sent him to straighten out the situation. He returned to my room a few minutes later with a stack of prescriptions. Apparently, they just needed to be printed out. I called the nurse coordinator and the patient-staff liaison to complain about the problems in getting discharged.

I finally left the hospital, about 6 hours after I was initially told I could. Jimmy drove me home in his pick-up truck. Ken met us at my place and they carried me upstairs in the wheelchair. Emily came over to help me calm down, while Jimmy and Ken got my prescriptions filled.

Overall, it was an exhausting day. I am glad I am home.


Needle Count:86