DH Having Open Heart Surgery

[Smart Red]

Bay, in a room is "a good thing". It means he's doing well, is stable, and doesn't need the ICU attention any longer. I hope you both got some sleep although the way my hospital stays have gone, someone thinks it important to wake everyone up each hour to ask if they are sleeping well. Humph!

 

[PhilaGardener]

You both need the rest! Take it easy and focus on each other.

 

[Lavender2]

Great to hear things are going well! I hope the 'miserable' is gone real quick and recovery faster than they expect! Take care, every day will get better.

 

[baymule]

WE ARE HOME!!!!!

He was released this morning. I timed his leaving to coinside with a pain pill. That gave me 4 hours to get him in the car, drive back to our little town, get prescription filled and get home.

Y'all know that it didn't happen like that, right?

Got to pharmacy and doctor had dated the pain prescription for FIVE DAYS from now! Of course the pharmacy wouldn't fill it. I called the hospital, the cardiac care unit and spoke with the nurse. I related the problem to her and she promised to call me back, which she did.

The upshot was that we had to go back to Tyler, to the surgeon's office for a new prescription. Really. Couldn't fax a new prescription because it was a narcotic. Couldn't call it in either. No...... got to go get another one.

My husband was sitting in the back seat clutching his red heart pillow to his chest. (If he sat in the front seat and we had a wreck, the air bag deployment would bust his chest open and probably kill him.) I was in momma tiger mode by this time. The clock was ticking on his next dose.

By the time we got to Drs office, he had to use the bathroom. So I assisted him to get that done, then sat him in the waiting room. The young lady at the counter informed me the surgeon was on surgery. Naturally. She took the prescription to another doctor, then brought it back to me. The other doctor had written over the 9, making it a 4.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? THE PHARMACY WILL THINK I SAT OUT IN THE PARKING LOT AND CHANGED THE DATE MYSELF!!! I am not accepting this, have the doctor write a new prescription.

Young lady, Dr Phillips is not your husbands doctor and he can't write a new prescription. But you can wait on Dr Lee.

NO! By that time, my husband is going to be having a heart attack because he'll be in so much pain.

Young lady, well, if they won't accept this prescription, then you can come back and we'll write a prescription for something else.

NO! I'm not driving all the way home and coming back for another prescription. My husband will be in pain. I'm not doing that.

Young lady, made helpful noises and disappeared. Came back after a bit and told me that she called the pharmacy, explained the changed date, had the doctor that wasn't my husband's doctor, initial the correction, and the pharmacy would accept it. FINALLY!

Went back yo pharmacy, they filled it pronto and I immediately gave mu husband his pain pill.

We went home.

Y'all will be very proud of me because as upset as I was, I still managed to be polite. Firm. Insistent. But polite. My husband marveled at my self control. His pain pill was 30 minutes late. If I hadn't been able to get the prescription problem solved, somebody or a bunch of somebody's would have been mighty unhappy when I unleashed the fury of a devoted wife all over them.


Recovery will be a long slow process, but we'll get it done together.

 

[so lucky]

Oh, man! It is never simple, is it? At least you didn't have a flat tire or get detoured by a mud slide or something.
The nurse at the hospital should have caught that script error, IMO. So glad you are home and able to have more control over his recovery now. Take care of yourself, too, Bay.

 

[journey11]

Glad you guys are finally home! Good for you stickin' to your guns. They surely would have sent you back again. I had the same problem with a prescription for oxycodone they gave me after my C-section, having been only one day in the hospital myself before I went to Columbus to be with Savannah in NICU. No one would fill my prescription because it was for a narcotic and from an out of town doctor. Finally found a pharmacy outside of Columbus that filled it after a call to my doctor. The others wouldn't even try. Took the meds and didn't think they helped all that much. Not sure what the druggies get out of it? Figures they make it harder for everyone else who actually needs it.

 

[ninnymary]

What a nightmare. The pharmacy should have called your doctor. Sorry you had to go through that. You had enough stress as it was. But now that you are home, hopefully things will get easier. At least you should be able to sleep better and get the rest you both need. Praying that by this weekend, you will see a big improvement.

Mary

 

[Carol Dee]

So sorry it was a stressful event getting meds and home. But you are there now, Hunker down, rest and rejuvenate! big hugs for both of you.

 

[digitS']

The stories So Lucky suggest prompts me to relate an experience a neighbor had after open heart surgery. I thought of him when you first said that your DH went in to find out about something else and ends up with heart surgery. Dale's was exactly your husband's plan - knee replacement.

I don't know if he ever got it. This was nearly 20 years ago but he moved 10 years ago. He's still around but I haven't seen him. BTW, he was 65 when he had that heart surgery.

Just after he got home, the area had a major ice storm event. Power was out for days; weeks in some neighborhoods!!

Dale's wife was not only cooking on the deck barbeque and lighting the house with kerosene lamps while the 2 of them were bundled in sweaters and blankets in November but the car was in their garage and the door wouldn't open!

Dale had a follow-up doctor's appointment after a few days. Maybe he was messed up on the pain meds. They didn't call for help. Dale was a big strong guy. He goes out and physically lifts that 2-car door!

He's still around, as I say, but he herniated his incision when he lifted that door. Later, I nearly dropped in my tracks when he pulled up his shirt and showed me ... why do guys with this surgery always do that??

Don't allow your husband to behave like this, Bay'. I mean moving heavy objects, not showing the neighbors his chest ...

Steve

 

[Carol Dee]

@digitS' I bet Bay will NOT let him do anything strenuous , she will *Do It Herself*! Always has, always will.