Tuesday, September 21, 2010
10:49 AM
It was about a 2 1/2 hour ride to LA County General Hospital from Palm Springs Desert Regional Hospital so it was shortly after midnight and into Wednesday, and when we arrived at County General, we went in to the Emergency Room. The medics transferred me like a UPS package to a nurse at the reception desk in the ER. The medics gave me a manila envelope and told me to give it to the doctor that see's me. So at this point, about midnight or 12:30, I am in the possession of LA County. I'm laying in a gurney and I'm rolled out of the way up against a wall in the emergency room with nothing to drink, nothing to eat, no ice chips. the only thing I have are these moist cotton ball suckers to keep my mouth from drying out. But at this point, the last time I have had anything to eat was dinner from Monday night and the last time I had anything to drink was Tuesday morning on the job-site. I'm medicated with Demerol I think and still really tired so while I waited to be seen I slept quite a bit. At one point I was rolled into another very large room with dozens of patients waiting to be seen. The male nurse that rolled me into this other room had a file of his own on me and he handed that file to a female nurse at another reception desk. She took my file and directed the male nurse to put me just at the end of a row of curtained off sections of this large room within 30-40 feet from the reception desk. The way I was laying, I had a curtain on my right and I could see an elderly man between the curtains, I could look over my feet and see the reception desk and to my left was a couple of tables and chairs. While I was laying there I noticed a young female doctor seeing patients at on of the tables and it appeared as though she was assessing these patients and directing them to go to specific areas of the hospital for their specific needs. I had been laying there quite awhile and aside from being extremely thirsty and hungry, now more pain is settling in on my arm. I had been watching the people come and go with the female doctor and people were coming and going out of the reception area. I looked over to my right earlier and saw that the older man had gone and then there was an older Asian women sitting there. I looked at the clock above the reception desk and it said it was after 4:00 in the morning. I looked over to my right and the Asian women was gone. I figured I better ask someone what was going on because I should have been seen before the Asian women and since she was gone, that meant more than likely that she had been seen and moved on or released. I looked to my left and noticed that the female doctor was just finishing up with a patient and I asked her when she had a moment I needed to talk to her. She got responded with "I'm busy here, I'll be with you in a moment". Considering I already had been there for more than 4 hours, I felt offended by her comment. about 10 minutes later she came back around and asked me my name. When I told her, she said she'd be right back. I could hear a conversation behind the curtain on my right that involved me and my file. I heard someone asking where my file was and who had it last. about another 10 minutes later, the doctor came back to me with an excited tone in her voice and said "I'm so sorry, I should have seen you when you first got here." Well that was encouraging, I've been waiting for more than 4 hours. So now I'm next in line with the doctor and she pulls up a chair and asks my pain level. It was a 10 out of 10. She asked what happened and I explained it to her and I also told her that she should get some towels and/or a bunch of gauze because of the blood that may end up going everywhere once she removed the bandaging that was put on my arm in Palm Springs. She said that it was fine, that she didn't need anything extra. Well as soon as she started cutting the bandage and opening it up, blood started running all over the place, all over me, my gown, the gurney, the floor. So then she yelled for one of the nurses to help with the mess and grab some towels. Then they got me a new gown, changed my bedding and the doctor was surprised at the amount of damage the cut had done to my arm. After she got me cleaned up, she wrapped my arm up again with gauze and ace wrap. She made some notes in my file and left. They gave me some more pain medication but nothing seamed to be working but it did seem to help me sleep. I slept for a little while and my kids arrived along with some very close friends and my daughter brought me my cell phone. If I remember the time correctly, it was around 10:00 or 10:30 when a team of about 5 or 6 doctors came to my bed, asked me a battery of questions, i.e. how I was feeling, my pain level, what happened, what has been done. They unwrapped my arm and asked me to move my fingers. I was able to picture it in my mind and I could feel movement in my forearm below the cut and when I looked at the cut while trying to move and wriggle my fingers I could see the tendons and other parts from inside my arm moving. But I wasn't able to move any of my fingers, only my thumb slightly. They took me to another room, a ward I think, and there were a total of 8 or 9 beds, one bathroom, one t.v. When I got in the room, all of the beds, or spaces were taken up by other patients and the only positive part of that was that there was a curtain to separate me from everyone else. The worst part of it was the fact that the t.v. was controlled by the patient that was closest and he also controlled the volume. I would have been okay with that but the t.v. was on 24 hours a day. After I got to the ward, I was seen by another team of 5 or 6 doctors who re-opened my bandaging, asked me similar questions as the first team and had me try to move my fingers again and I had the same results, no movement except a little in my thumb and that was only in the first knuckle. I asked the doctors if I could some water, something to eat, ice chips, anything because it's been at this point about 36 hours since I've eaten and 24 hours since I have had anything to drink. They told me no because they may be operating soon. I said, "okay, let's do it right away, I'm ready." They left me saying that I would be set up for surgery and someone would be coming for me. I laid there the rest of the day, sleeping and visiting with my kids and waiting to be taken out of that room for surgery. The only thing I have to moisten my mouth is a handful of cotton ball suckers. I was getting really tired of them after a day and a half. See you tomorrow, this day is over. - Sep 19, 2010 - Kip Vidrine
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