Update from.....Izzy

[lighter]

My own sweet place awaits me still, with an email program to reinstall, and receipts to post to my account (checking out my POA's abilities, eh?) and once again take on the care and control of self (with paid help.)

Iz
    

OK.

Izz.

I don't understand the above.

But it's concerning.

About the rod in the brace with the cup and the hinge.....

that is nuts they send an unqualified person, to you of all people, and have her mess with you, under protest, until she snaps something important.  Absolutely they should pay that bill,  but I wouldn't waste a day in that facility holding my breath for it to happen.

Get yourself home, rest a bit, then get them to do the right thing, and pay that bill.

::crossing fingers::

You're almost there.

Lighter

[Izzy_*now*]

Thanks twoap
and lighter

If I have a Mon a.m. app't at Orthotics at the hospital, I could be discharged in the p.m.

If I have a P.M. app't I might still get out, but maybe Tuesday a.m..........cannot count my chickens.

I will be glad to be on my own again, so I can get up in the middle of the night for bathroom, lie down when I want. I cannot believe the carelessness to have broken my brace but they have accepted responibility and are even paying for my taxi trip to and from Orthotics, BUT their rules are that I cannot be discharged without the brace being fixed, and I wouldn't want to---I'd be so afraid of a break of the new bone.

Someone comes along and requires my bed raised, as they have A SORE BACK OR SOMETHING, BUT DON'T RETURN IT TO ITS NATURAL POSITION, so I have to use my call bell to have some one lower it, as my space is crowded to access the remote, to get back into bed. This makes me dependant, but if they just thought for 2 seconds, lowered it for me when finished they could relieve themselves of ministering to me, and relieve me from asking for help all the  time.

Lighter, I pay Karla and Ellen as before, and with a wound care nurse, I will have at least 3 visits per week yet still can look after myself as before.... is what that meant. Karla left receipts of my expenses of the past 5? weeks, on my desk. I can post them to my account on the computer, and tally what this fall has cost me. My email program is not working at home. I just have to reinstall it.

I just emailed a grocery shopping list , with instructions convenient to her, to Ellen.

This monster of a 'chair is making my back ache---need my own but wouldn't trust it overnight in here. I hear the hospital is now locking up the wheelchairs. Remember my damaged one was stolen in March, 2009?

Love
Izzy

[Izzy_*now*]

Well....
I'm home now for 2 days Monday noon to Wednesday 5:30 pm and have survived.

Ellen and Karla fulfilled the necessities, and the wound care nurse came today when Karla was here.

When Cathie saw the sores under my knee brace she was "Oh Good Grief", along with Karla who stayed to help her minister to that leg.

Cathie is going to report this negligence to who/whatever the ET is, a Head of Wound Care, I suppose, on the ladder. She says this "Should not have happened".

The instructions were to care for my leg encased in the brace, EVERY day,  and now (I haven't seen the pictures she took) the open wounds wrap around my ankle. From what I knew only one on the inside ankle side, it was open but no one told me about the length of it. I immediately thought "amputate" and could see my foot gone and cried, but she said she could fix it. My! She was good and kind. (Might anyone remember that about 2007-8 the nurses tending to a heel sore, when a visiting nurse told me I was going to lose both legs? It was the same immediate reflex shock to me!)

This is horrendous for me.... to know that so many of us don't know the protocol. When I rang for leg help and no one was available, I sensed the more I rang the more I'd be ignored, because I appear to be about 60 and independent. These places are understaffed and the available staff is hardened to their lot in earning a living, I guess.

There was a time after Pauline broke my brace when I was bed or chair ridden that, if no one helped me with my leg in and out of bed, any transfer, I have to stay put, or risk breaking the new bone being laid down. I had been in bed so long once that when I rang for help and the 'gal' (nurse? caregiver? cleaning lady?) came she said she couldn't help as she was busy but then went for another worker, and the two argued because they were busy with other people, and I said that for the length of time Two of them argued, One could have held the brace while I transferred--- that doesn't sit well. I cannot believe that happened in a short stay area of a permanent stay facility.

The Occupational Therapist said, when I was leaving, that she knew I would be better off in my own home. She was a quiet, thoughtful gal who observed and thought before she spoke.

Don't ever get old!

Love to all. I spend every moment tallying time, what I ate, drank, what caused this, or that, counting pills, timing visits with someone's appointment here---
Izzy

[moonlight60]

Dear Izzy,

So glad you are home.

Love and Light Always.


p.s. Getting old is not for the faint of heart...
that is what my 90 year old Dads says.....

Moon

[Twoapenny]

Izzy I'm glad you're home and glad that this lady Cathie sounds great but my word!  What about some of those others??!!  I'm so sorry your leg is so bad again.  Sending healing thoughts your way.  There seems to be an unfortunate trend in the Western world to find ways not to help people instead of getting in there and making sure they're comfortable and have everything they need.  Your OT sounds good.  Keep focusing on looking after yourself and I am crossing my fingers that you will get a restful, healing period in now.

(((((((((((((((((Izzy))))))))))))))))))))))))))

[lighter]

Izzy:

I'm curious.....

if you put yourself in place of the overworked staff at that facility...

what changes would you like to see take place in order to remedy some of the problems you identified?

How would you deal with the identified issues, and would it be cathartic for you to put it on paper, and mail it to those in charge, and responsible for the way things run?

Honestly, it seems like they're running the place on a triage basis, which I guess it is, but it was more than that, IMO.  You're wounds were cared for in a fashion that could lead to amputation.  That;s not acceptable, or should't be to anyone involved.

That sounds like a law suit, or would, in the US.

Perhaps you can't sue in healthcare matters in Canada, but it's a terrible recipe for disaster if there are zero checks and balances.  What if you had to have a limb amputated bc of improper wound care?!?  That seems egregious and preventable, though I have no idea what the solution would be.

As always, I'm sending healing light and the hope things continue to get better every day.

It sounds like you're on the mend.

Lighter

[Hopalong]

I curse indifference in caring for the vulnerable.

SOOOOOOOO angry.

I also feel for overworked and underpaid staff, but missing the basic empathy to not neglect?
I just can't stand it.

I'm so sorry Izz.

I know you'll get better now but it's just inexcusable what they did to you.

love
Hops

[Izzy_*now*]

Thank you moonlight and Twoapenny


I am happy to be home and happy that Cathie is a kind person in this maelstrom of people good and negligent mixed together. I generally look for the best and am so disappointed when I find the worst, in a person.

and lighter

I would sue if I lost my leg, yet I would wonder if I could afford to lose the suit. It will give me something to research, as I 'suffered' to win this civil suit re the accident, and would hate to lose it to lawyer in fees for yet another, and wonder if I would have the wherewithall to go through it!

I think triage, yes! lack of staffing, lack of good equipment, bed and chair re me, that has led to neck and back problems, even though I asked them to take the bed topper (skin saver) from the bed.  I am so aware that "one size fits all" does not apply in many circumstances I have encountered.

I need something to put
Under my foot
To relieve the pain in my leg.
Maybe under the knee
Is where it should be
but if that doesn't work I'll keep up the search for relief and
Lordy, I sure hate to nag!

I'm surprised that I am taken for 60 when I am almost 75, but that is no excuse to (if that is what happened) write me off as a youngster in an Old Folks facility, whose voice is clear, and it appears I can care for myself. The stuffing has been knocked out of me and I require all my wits and strength to plan as pain-free and unencumbered a day as possible. Karla and Ellen are both experienced caregivers, in their own field, and that is good. Alone is better than surrounded, but sometimes worse, until I see another who is worse off and there are plenty of those.

thank you Hops

I guess it is well known on this board that I don't fully have the faith in myself for fighting the good fight. I am not fully aware of what is needed to do so in the given circumstances, and sometimes dearly wish I had a person who loved me to go to battle for me, who fully understands and can make changes for me and others like me. I saw it with others who had loving family and friends come to minister to them, and naturally these would be older people, who have the time and not tied to jobs to make a living. One woman, 76, had her husband and daughter every day. Another, 83, had her daughter and SIL , plus friends (a couple) who came and stayed a while....and these loving people did hands on ministering and help, plus advocacy.... while advocating for myself led to frustrations/anger that really gets a person nowhere.

I've spent 45 years, come June, being disabled, age 30- 75, and ministered to myself, keeping skin sores away, SO MUCH SO, that I wonder if that was neglecting my daughter? I don't think so, but she did say, "You and your damned disability" for a reason she swallowed all the aspirin at age 12.

Oh my Stop It, Izzy!!!!!

XX
Izzy

[lighter]

Ahhhh, Izzy.

Is everything OK with Karla?

Lighter

[Izzy_*now*]

Ah, lighter

Are you asking after Karla as my advocate?

She is my Rehab therapist, my friend, my POA but never signed on a my keeper, so to speak. I likely present as being too independent for that

I am well aware that she has her own life, with many clients, and a husband who suffers from cluster headaches, who has been ’unemployed’ quite a number of times in the past 5 years that I have known her.

She is also a yoga instructor, thanks to my loan in 2011, and teaches classes at very odd hours, morning noon and night--encompassing all walks of life and their availability to attend classes around their vocation.

She really doesn’t have the time to do totally for me, but is ready at the drop of a hat to be here when she can and assure that we are both being understood, i.e. with Cathie the Wound Care nurse!

I wish she could be an advocate, but I would have to financially support her for taking up her time to “look after” me, but I’m aware that I also want no one to have ‘power/control-over’ me, per se.

She did a good job of keeping track of my finances and I am just now putting the pieces together, which will be complete, I hope, when I receive January’s bank statement. She doesn’t reconcile her own statements so is not as meticulous as I.

If you meant something else, Ha! Please ignore this post!

Love Izzy

[lighter]

I just wanted to make sure she's still on board, still dependable, and still helping you in the ways you need her to help.

I wasn't sure, but am glad you sound more like your old self, and things are getting back to normal.

Lighter

[Izzy_*now*]

Oh what a freezing winter I escaped by being in hospital settings.

Karla accompanied me to hospital yesterday for a second x-ray, and I went barefoot, with a blankie around me. I knew she could ask the proper therapy questions of the Ortho surgeon, after my running the issues past her.

1.) The stockinet, which is on my leg ….to preserve the cleanliness of the padding, sponges and lamb’s wool… is now gone. It caused the brace to slip, even if I sneezed, let alone transferred. (Wound Care nurse's choice.)

2.) They hadn’t seen the x-ray  as yet, for today’s visit, but Dr. said, yesterday, that I can start preparing to chuck the brace in the next 2 weeks. (Karla is away next week on training, so we‘ll start after she‘s back.)

With 1 & 2 I am less anxious about the leg movements etc., and after the transfer just now off the bed without the liner, I didn’t feel the brace slip. Each slip is minute, but if not adjusted, as was part of the neglect in hospital when I couldn’t, the wound at my ankle began. Now the bottom of the brace is above that wound at all times and will be better for me to maintain on my own.

BUT, I refuse to lose Wound Care, with the brace gone, so am keeping that to Karla and me for the time being. No advance proclamations!

I had a nurse and a ReHab today to prepare solutions for having only one person come (They had used Karla twice, as she was here both times for a one-nurse arrival, but that is not her job or responsibility, per se, and I told them that I paid Karla, but only a working rate, when she should be doing passive therapy at a therapy rate, so we were both losing, and Interior Health was gaining, by not having to send 2 nurses.... remember it was IH's responsibility that these wounds never occur!

Also I wrote to my doctor, and stated my symptoms, which chalked up to anxiety and/or diazepam withdrawal (had none of my meds all the 6 weeks in hospital/rehab). He RX’d diazepam for a month, and my anxiety level is down, as well as sleep problems etc. so  that is another ‘fix-it’ ………………since I chalked it all up to all the hospital noises that were shooting me through the ceiling, and my having so little sleep.

Having to go back 45 years to the original crash, to set the stage for such chalky bones has become a regular with the new people I have here. Too bad it isn’t in their records, so it could be self-explanatory!

Oh Hum!
Xx
Iz

[Hopalong]

oh, hum indeed ((((((((((((((((((((Izz))))))))))))))))))))))))

you awe me

LOTS of love to you...and comfort...

Hops

[lighter]

Izz:

You're a trooper, I know that.

::sending you warm wishes of Spring around the corner:::

Thanks goodness they have your anti anxiety meds back on line.'

Lighter

[Izzy_*now*]

Wow! 2½ months since I wrote.

There are 7 wounds on my left leg. I have been "horrified" with whatever in me horrifies me, but must always look for the best.

When the first Home Care nurse came, she opened the brace and dressings while Karla was here, who said "Oh F___!" and Cathie, the nurse said "This is disgraceful!"

I can now look at that leg, as it has taken me this long to be able to, and ....yes! Horrified. It will take about a year to be somewhere normal. Once a day with 2 nurses to attend, turned into 4 times in 6 weeks. I had no idea this was breaking down my skin---too much lamb's wool to be able to see.......

I was home before I knew the mess and it is finally cleaned up enough to see 6 sores around the top of my ankle (base of the brace moving up and down), and the knee the same from a strap that was too tight for compromised skin.

Nurses came here for a while and worked around the brace, then around no brace, as I accustomed myself to moving with support, then no support but my own and began going into the clinic.....yep about 1 year more. The whole negligence case has been reported to the higher up in this area!

I now have a power chair and haven't totalled it or killed anyone! (Today was my second trip with it, to the Clinic.) Will use it for going to lunch with Karla tomorrow. I plan on keeping both chairs in action, so my arms don't lose their strength.

This is the worst struggle, as I am older now, but am managing.

Love to all.

Tale Care.
Izzy