Just for fun: What is your (non-post-surgery) item you want for your hospital stay?

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Scrappy_tink

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Do you have a "good luck charm", picture, or other special item you want to bring for your hospital stay? I know everything we NEED will be provided to us, but what is your personal "must have" for when you return from surgery? Mine is (in no particular order)

1. Skivvies!! As soon as they get that catheter out, my skivvies are going on....I hate feeling vulnerable!! DH already swore he'd help get them over my knee!!

2. IPad for reading, playing Angry Birds, watching movies...

3. Pic of me and Hubby

4. A special coin that me and DH share that matches (good luck charm)

5. Mickey Mouse socks.

Do you have any "must haves?"
 
Good luck with the skivies. Even though my catheter was out, I was not allowed. Basically, everything I took to the hospital, I did not use. Everything was provided for except for my dry shampoo. And I didn't even use that!
 
I didn't use one thing that I brought. In fact, i so over prepared. i didn't use the toilet raiser...ever. I had 2 walkers that I never used. They gave me crutches that I ever used. I did ad do use my old cane when I leave the house, but that is for my left old knee. We did put up double railings on our stairs, and I did use the tub bench to shave my legs. I could do stairs on day one, and could shower all by myself. I still keep the door ajar, just to be safe. I had a horrible rash from the hospital sheets. I Begged for my panties and nightie. they said a BIG NO. My oxygen level was low, so they made me where a heart monitor that they put in the front pocket of th johnnie. Even my panties would have helped not expose some of my skin to the bedding. I had terrible (as in 100% neglectful) hospital care. I couldn't wait to get home, shower, and get dressed. My OS said up front 4 nights. I was ready to hit the road on Sunday morning.
It is a TOUGH recovery, but you won't be sick or bed ridden. try to enjoy the times when you can get comfy and when you feel sad or bad, come here and vent. It helps...especially when the FUNK sets in at about 3-4 weeks.
 
Wow that's terrible Nyland, I'm so surprised. I would have never thought that panties wouldn't be allowed from home. I will have to remember to ask about this. I'm so sorry that happened to you.
 
Hi KayeKaye,
It's just a faded memory now. It's all good.
Hugs!
 
My iPad. And a poster my daughter and grandkids made me. Underwear would have been in the way, plus I peed on the floor everytime I got up for several days. I wore hospital gowns, but wore one backwards as a robe if I was getting up.
 
Oh, my gosh Nyland they treated you horribly!! To not even be able to have panties..I can't believe it.

I had general anesthesia and no catheter. The hospital staff insisted that I WEAR panties right into the operating room for modesty!! They even suggested in my pre op hospital handouts to bring a pair of panties for every day I was to be there. They let post op patients put on their own pajamas once they were out of recovery and feeling up to it to.

What a difference in hospitals and procedure!! Wow!! That hospital sure didn't realize how much better we feel in our own things? I'm so sorry you were treated so badly.
 
Must Haves: big t-shirts and shorts plus underwear. When I was awake the first thing I asked was when do I get to dump the gown!

My IPad, I use it a lot, a stress ball to squeeze! I brought my own soap, shampoo, and conditioner. Hair dryer. Hmmm I will have to think about what else I needed! :)
 
I was only in the hospital for two days before going home. It was supposed to be only one day but I had a bad reaction to a med and it left me itching, itching, itching. Oh goodness, I started scratching just thinking about it.

What would I have wanted, a massage (it sort of qualifies as an item). A professional massage to work on my back and neck and hands; it would have been heaven! :yes:
 
Hi Toni,
Yes, the nursing staff on the orthopedic floor was shameful. I work for the same hospital. I have never heard or seen anything like it. They really don't deserve their jobs. Our nursing starting pay is about $90,000. They don't deserve it. As for the pain meds, they told my husband that they had to wait for the order. 6 hours after my surgery. That is BS. They also gave me a suppository, put me on a commode, and left me there for 4 hours. I couldn't reach anything. I tried to yell, "HELLO!" Nobody! I finally got up, for my very first time ever, by myself, used the bed to hold onto, and got myself to the bathroom. I washed myself up. I scolded some aide that came in. She gave me a look and hurried out the door where she played on facebook on the computer! Next knee, I am having my daughter in law stay with me during the day. i didn't need care, but I did need help. They put my food on a tray clear across the room, and a basin of water to wash with on the window sill. I learned to get around, and when Sunday came I left as fast as I possibly could. The sad thing is many of the joint replacement patients are much older than I. It makes me mad that they are treated so poorly!
 
This last surgery I had a nurse who didn't care about anything except herself! I would push the call light and ask for my pain meds and she would say hit the morphine pump again! I didn't want morphine, I wanted my pain meds. I ended up using the portion of morphine that they had given me in a short amount of time! :groan: Then I hid the call light and started screaming at the top of my lungs! An aide hurried in and I said go get Kim! When Kim didn't arrive I started screaming again until she finally showed up. I told her Dr. Maale had left strict orders of every 4 hours so get me my pain meds! She finally gave me a dose. When my mom and hubby found out they got in touch w Dr. Maale. His PA was there in 5 minutes and she gave the nurse a lecture. That night Kim tried not to give pain meds again, but my hubby was with me so he went up to the station where she was sitting and chatting and told her to get my pain meds to me now! She came in, and said she thought I was taking too much! Well endless to say, Dr. Maale had her fired! He refuses to let his patients be mistreated. Nyland, I can only imagine how many people suffered before me, because of an apathetic nurse!

Signed "The Shy One" :blush:
 
I didn't use one thing that I brought. In fact, i so over prepared. i didn't use the toilet raiser...ever. I had 2 walkers that I never used. They gave me crutches that I ever used. I did ad do use my old cane when I leave the house, but that is for my left old knee. We did put up double railings on our stairs, and I did use the tub bench to shave my legs. I could do stairs on day one, and could shower all by myself. I still keep the door ajar, just to be safe. I had a horrible rash from the hospital sheets. I Begged for my panties and nightie. they said a BIG NO. My oxygen level was low, so they made me where a heart monitor that they put in the front pocket of th johnnie. Even my panties would have helped not expose some of my skin to the bedding. I had terrible (as in 100% neglectful) hospital care. I couldn't wait to get home, shower, and get dressed. My OS said up front 4 nights. I was ready to hit the road on Sunday morning.
It is a TOUGH recovery, but you won't be sick or bed ridden. try to enjoy the times when you can get comfy and when you feel sad or bad, come here and vent. It helps...especially when the FUNK sets in at about 3-4 weeks.
:hairpulling: I could just burst into flames hearing how they treated some of you guys!!!!

My hubby promised me, the second they take the catheter out, and no-ones around, underwear and boxers go ON!!!! He will be my partner in crime! It appalls me that some didn't get the meds they needed when they were scheduled, that is pure negiligence!!!!
 
This last surgery I had a nurse who didn't care about anything except herself! I would push the call light and ask for my pain meds and she would say hit the morphine pump again! I didn't want morphine, I wanted my pain meds. I ended up using the portion of morphine that they had given me in a short amount of time! :groan: Then I hid the call light and started screaming at the top of my lungs! An aide hurried in and I said go get Kim! When Kim didn't arrive I started screaming again until she finally showed up. I told her Dr. Maale had left strict orders of every 4 hours so get me my pain meds! She finally gave me a dose. When my mom and hubby found out they got in touch w Dr. Maale. His PA was there in 5 minutes and she gave the nurse a lecture. That night Kim tried not to give pain meds again, but my hubby was with me so he went up to the station where she was sitting and chatting and told her to get my pain meds to me now! She came in, and said she thought I was taking too much! Well endless to say, Dr. Maale had her fired! He refuses to let his patients be mistreated. Nyland, I can only imagine how many people suffered before me, because of an apathetic nurse!

Signed "The Shy One" :blush:

You HAVE to be a squeaky wheel to get what you need, good for you!!
 
It is hard to speak up when you are in pain like that too. I had foot surgery in 2005, that was supposed to be day surgery but something went wrong and they hospitalized me for four days. The staff at that hospital did the same thing, who cares about pain meds? You're going to be addicted? So what if your heel bone was cut in half and a tendon thrown away, you don't need anything. Ignorant. Yes and the worse is when they stop outside your door for an hour and visit about their dates and lunches while you're in pain and delirious.

There should be a patient evaluation of the care they received. We should start it, and send it to the heads of the hospital.
 
I filled out a patient evaluation from the hospital! The CEO called me and apologized, and I said "thanks" but what good does that do now? That is when they told me that Dr. Maale and the PA Erica, had been to his office the day I reported that my pain was not taken seriously! Dr. Maale told him, I refuse to have my patients treated like this, so I want the nurse up here! They got Kim, and Dr. Maale wasn't nice apparently because she tried to say that she didn't believe I was in pain! :shocked:

Needless to say, 3 people walked out of the office happy, and one went home permanently! :happydance:

Let me add that most of the nurses I have seen are very professional, and I do respect what they do for me and I am grateful. I sent out thank you cards and stress balls during my outpatient rehab to all the nurses who had to put up with me, and the PT/OT department! I told them every time they squeezed it they could play like it was me! :rotfl:

You know I really should change my name to "The Shy One!" :giggle:
 
I actually WORK for our CMO. When I was home recovering, I thought about how I was going to tell him everything. Once I got back to work, I was so glad to be out of the hospital, and I have to do so much professional squeaking, that I decided to just make sure that I am proactive in the future. I advocate for patients all day long, and for some reason I thought that someone would advocate for me. Insert BELLY LAUGH! Next knee, I will visit the floor and speak to them BEFORE I ever am sent to that floor again. The clinical attorney is my best friend. I may drag her along for a big giggle....like carrying a bat! Next time, they won't get a way with it. Shame on them. My neighbor had his hip replaced 3 months before my surgery. He had the same experience. We loved our surgeon, his NP, and his office staff, but the nurses on the floor were unprofessional, lazy, and rude.
 
Hey Scrappy, about the undies....the first night and first part of the next day you will probably be using the bedpan. It is hard enough scooching onto the bedpan without worrying about undies. Just sayin! And, by the time someone brings the walker to the room and you get out of bed walk to the bathroom you REALLY gotta go, those drawers just might get in the way!
:giggle:
 
OMG! Nyland!!!!!!! I know you work for that hospital, but please, let your surgeon know!! I would refuse to go to that hospital again!!!!
You tell your surgeon and have someone with you pre op to pound him into making sure the order for your pain meds in there before you even get to the OR, and a standing order to give that med to you at a certain time regardless of whether you need it or not!!!

OMG, I am just floored!!!!! You were literally neglected and tortured!!!!! Those nurses should all be FIRED!!! Better yet, they should all have to be victims of their own level of "care".
 
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