again. this is getting old.

This is where I spent four hours yesterday...sitting and staring down this corridor at the hospital, waiting for Darrell to be wheeled out of surgery/recovery.  Another surgery on his foot.  The surgery itself was about an hour, maybe less.  It was another hour or two after that before I found out he was ok and in the recovery room, and over three hours before he came out and I found out he was being held there because the hospital didn't have a room ready for him.  The surgeon and his office manager had said yesterday that he would probably have to be admitted, but we went in the morning thinking it was an outpatient thing.  So he had to wait until another patient left before he could move into his/her room.

When he was wheeled out I found out that he hadn't eaten yet (after not eating anything since dinner the night before)...this was after 2 pm already.  We went to his room and his nurse proceeded to check him in, asking the same questions we'd been asked early in ambulatory surgery.  Apparently they have this information in the computer...why don't they check and go with the official record instead of relying on our memories to fill them in on his medical history?  And that took another half hour or so.  Then it was 3 pm, 4 pm, still no lunch.  So I went to the cafeteria and got him a sandwich.  There was a holdup because the surgeon didn't "fill in all the blanks" or answer all the questions they needed answered in their computer program, so it wouldn't let them order him food.  Ridiculous!  He finally got dinner at 6 pm, going almost 24 hours without eating if I hadn't been there to grab him a sandwich.  When the head nurse came to see him this morning, I complained.  She gave us the story about the computer glitch and how the cafeteria was so strict, not letting them order food unless all the blanks were filled in on his record.  I let her know that I thought this wasn't acceptable. 

Had also not been able to see his doctors so didn't know how the surgery went, how long he would need to stay in, etc.  Very unsettling.

But on the positive side, he is doing ok.  Got to see his three doctors today and it's deja vu, flashback last January, last August.  Surgery, IV antibiotics.  It's a pain but we know the drill.  His nurses from when he was in room 469 remember him and stopped by to say hello.  Everyone is really nice and though Kuakini doesn't have the nicest rooms, the care is usually great, so yesterday was really surprising.  Also on the plus side:  this is the healthiest he's been going into surgery so hopefully he will recover quickly.