Yesterday ended up being quite the whirlwind day! Tamara has a wound from poor care at the hospital she was at a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been dressing the wound every day. It got worse, and while Tamara delayed a day, I was finally able to convince her to go to Urgent Care to get it looked at yesterday.
The Urgent Care people said we needed to get to a hospital in the next 2 hours.
Our urgent care appointment was at 1PM, and luckily we had just eaten lunch right before. We first drove up to Atrium in Pineville, as they are a great hospital, but once we realized it’s in North Carolina, Tamara called her insurance, and just as we pulled into the parking lot at 2PM, they told her that she is only covered for facilities in South Carolina.
So we turned around and tried the other branch of the hospital where she received such poor treatment. We arrived at 2:30, and by 3:30, she had been seen by triage and a nurse practitioner! Everyone there was so nice! What a change from the other hospital!
Tamara was really really nervous to be in the hospital again, even though it was a different one. Felix could sense her anxiety, and seemed to want to work for her, so I let him. He leaned into her and pawed at her and generally kept her occupied and her anxiety lowered. I have never seen Felix work for another person before, and it was beautiful. He did all the things he usually does to me for Tamara. He was such a good boy!
While Tamara was getting her blood drawn (small room, so I stayed out in the waiting room with my wheelchair and Felix), our friend Sabrina called. I gave her a quick update on the situation and told her I’d update her later.
By 5:10, we were back in a bed in the ER. And at 5:15 she got a CT scan. I was able to hop onto a meeting I was missing for a few minutes while the scan took place.
Then around 5:30, a nurse came and told Tamara she had another visitor. We were shocked as we were not expecting anyone. The nurse said that the visitor had a service dog, so we knew it had to be Sabrina! So we fit two wheelchairs and two service dogs into Tamara’s ER room.
Felix was too tired to do anything but sleep in my arms, so Indy took over and hopped up on Tamara’s bed and cuddled with her.
We knew Tamara would have to have surgery, either last night or this morning. But Felix was fading fast. It had been since 12:45 that he’d gone potty or eaten or drank anything. I had not been prepared to go to the hospital, I thought we were just running over to Urgent Care for half an hour or so!
Indy, Sabrina’s service dog, also hadn’t eaten dinner. Also Sabrina hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and I missed my 4PM snack and it was close to my dinner time.
So around 7:45, I took Indy and Felix, and left the hospital. I dropped Indy at her house, dropped Felix at my house, grabbed my nighttime meds, and headed back to the hospital. I stopped on the way to get some pizza, as by that time they had decided to do surgery in the morning, so Tamara could eat.
We had wonderful pizza and conversation, but I started to feel shaky, dizzy, and weak. Sabrina had her smart watch take my pulse, and it was at 116 beats per minute. I’m not sure what was going on, but it was probably a combination of not eating and drinking enough, being out of the house for so long, so much stress driving in the dark (I HATE night driving), and not having Felix with me.
So I had to leave at 10PM. Sabrina said she was going to stay the night. She is officially Auntie Sabrina to the hospital so that she is allowed to stay the night.
I woke up early with a migraine, so am trying to rest and recover this morning. I am expecting Sabrina to call me once there’s any news on when surgery will be or when Tamara wakes up. Then I can head over there and relieve Sabrina.
Brad wants to come today sometime, but he’s been doing super poorly lately, so I’m not sure exactly how that’ll work. I might take an Uber to the hospital so that Brad can drive up later. His parents arrive home from a trip this afternoon, so they’ll be able to help out after that.
I do have to say that Sabrina has been a godsend. She is very familiar with hospitals and knows all the right questions to ask and makes sure nothing slips through the cracks. Though I am very worried about what spending the night at the hospital will do to her health! I know I couldn’t have done it!
Luckily at least they were able to put Tamara in a regular room overnight instead of the ER. So that should be more comfortable.
I had better get going now so I can eat breakfast, feed the pups, and take a shower so that I’m all ready to leave whenever Sabrina calls!
Oh my, I’m tired just reading what all you have done, and it’s not all over yet. I’ve been a guest and below par medical facilities. It is horrible. I wondered if I was going to live to leave.