I am so sick and bleeping tired of all this crap. Ron's regular nurse didn't come today. She's had quite a few Friday's off for a while so we never know until someone calls that morning that she's not coming.
Today it was the case manager. You'd think the case manager would know to do everything. No... she didn't draw blood. Ron said he didn't know she was supposed to. Ummm.... he gets drawn blood EVERY Friday. It's not like it's a new thing.
He also has gotten to where he thinks the wound vac needs to come off. I'd LOVE for it to come off. It's costing so much money per week that I would not miss it at all. Every time we go to the doctor he says something about it coming off. It's draining a lot and he can't seem to get it through his thick head that the wound vac is DRAINING OFF THE EXCESS FLUID and helping the foot to heal. Why is that so difficult for him??? Why should I have to explain it to him over and over again?
He's been telling the nurses (both here and at the doctor's office) that he doesn't want them to wrap his foot with gauze after they put the wound vac on. Every time I hear him say that, I say it HAS to be wrapped to keep the wound vac from coming off. He doesn't keep his foot off the floor. If he did, then I wouldn't worry about the wound vac coming off or about bacteria from the floor - or the street - getting under the tape. I get so bleeping mad at him for continuing to ask stuff. Why can't he just DO WHAT HE'S TOLD and get on with it? Why is it that every time he screws up I HAVE TO FIX IT???
I know that he's tired of being a patient. God knows I understand that. I can't say that as tired of it as he is, but I bet I'm really close. "He's been through so much." Well - I've been there with him every step of the way so I have a good idea of how tired he is of things because I'm right there, too.
So... tonight I'm sitting on the sofa eating my dinner and I look down and his foot is unwrapped. Just the wound vac and tape. Nothing else. No protection from the elements at all. I asked him why didn't the nurse wrap his foot. He said he wanted it to get some air but she left a roll of Kerlix for him (me) to wrap it up later. I should have just put my food down and put on the rubber gloves. I might have been able to salvage the bandage.
But, no..... I think I can wait until bedtime to wrap it up. Surely he's not going to screw it up before then. Stupid, stupid, stupid me. Who did I think I was kidding? About 30 min ago he hollers at me from the bathroom "my bandage is leaking, I'm bleeding on the floor." Of course, that just totally ticks me off (my mind is saying much stronger words so just substitute what I WANT to write but I'm not GOING to write) and I go to take a look.
I told him I can't work on it while he's in the bathroom so he gets on the scooter and heads into the bedroom - and just sits there. Duh... I can't work on it while you're on the scooter either. He says he didn't know where I wanted him. Excuse me... could he not get in the same place where he puts himself when the nurse changes his bandage? Did I have to draw him a flipping picture???
I take one look at it and KNOW that the flipping thing has to come off and that totally makes me mad. Mad at him, mad at the nurse, and mad at the situation. It's $59 for the dressing, plus the nurse's charge - and it gets to come off after being on less than 6 hours. I know I'll have to do a wet-to-dry bandage and thank God she left the roll of Kerlix or I'd have nothing to wrap it with. So I clean the tape off of his foot and clean the wound with Saline solution and stick a 4x4 pad on it while I go call the nurse.
I was going to complain to the case manager that the nurse should have known better than to put the vac attachment on the bottom of his foot and then not add any protection to it at all. It wasn't until she told me her name that I realized I was calling back the case manager and it was her who'd been out today. She said she just didn't know why it came off, did he step on it or pull on it??? It was on so good earlier in the day. Yeah, right... Put the blame on him instead of saying that she should have wrapped it.
She'll have the on-call nurse come out tomorrow and re-do the bandage. That's another $59 plus $60 for the nurse visit. I'm L-I-V-I-D. I honestly don't know who I'm more angry at - him for not shutting his mouth and letting people do their job, or her for not saying that it needed to be wrapped up.
And - when I try to talk to him about it I want him to say SOMETHING - ANYTHING. But no, he just sits there like a bump on a log.
Ugh!!! I have to go clean the bathroom floor.
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