202ml of the intended 400ml were all that had been
delivered, but Pam’s digestion was running slow and the stomach contents apparently
had nowhere else to go but up. It was a
sudden change for both of us, from a peaceful sleep to Pam’s horrid noisy but
ineffectual gurgling/coughing in a pathetic effort to dislodge that which had
inadvertently been breathed into her trachea.
By 3:30am I decided to check Pam’s body temperature – I wasn’t
sure how long it took aspiration into the lungs to thereby register itself as
pneumonia, but all was well – temperature just 36.3oC, but Pam was
getting so desperate to catch her breath during the incessant coughing fits
that I finally got up, transferred her to the lounge and dialled 000 for an
ambulance, without even requesting her permission. Pam’s body-language said it all.
The ambulance officers were pleased that I’d set Pam up in
the lounge as it was much easier to get her onto their trolley from there,
compared to the awkward track from her bed.
Indeed, it was so decided to take Pam to Accident and Emergency Dept. at the Base Hospital
for proper ventilation of her lungs, by now so sorely needed.
It was good to get Pam under the care of the wonderful staff
at Mildura Base Hospital’s A and E dept.
It wasn’t overly delightful however, when after an X-ray analysis it was
decided to keep Pam right there for the rest of the day as all the wards were ‘chockers’. I was grateful for the care, but I lamented Pam’s
impossibility of sleep in that noisy place, and I thought – ‘Here we go again’.
I sent a text message just after 5am to our two daughters
and I was very surprised that at that hour of the day, I got a quick reply from
No 2 daughter Jeni, who had been up dealing with little Ellie, crook with a virus. Eventually, after some hours, I rang her and
expressed my feelings about the frailness of my poor Pammy being thrust into
the noisy A and E and left there, for there was nowhere else to take her.
I went back home to organise a few things, home-type things,
bandroom things, a petrol for the car thing etc. and when I got back to the
hospital I was pleasantly surprised (and relieved) to learn that Pam was no
longer in Accident and Emergency, but instead, was now in Ward 3. It wasn’t even lunch-time. When I consider the angst of previous
occasions – described in earlier posts below – it was flabbergasting to realise what had
actually happened. Ah, but I was to
learn more!
When I got to Room 20, Ward 3, there was Pam rather 2nd hand and still with the hydrating ventialtion device up her nose. I thought it was worth a picture, so here's a rather sick Pam still managing a smile...
When I got to Room 20, Ward 3, there was Pam rather 2nd hand and still with the hydrating ventialtion device up her nose. I thought it was worth a picture, so here's a rather sick Pam still managing a smile...
It wasn't too long before I found out a likely reason for Pam's surprisingly fast relocation - having earlier thought of the phrase, it wasn't long after that in a phonecall to Jeni, I said "Here we go again" and then summarised to her the sorry experiences of the past.
Unbeknowns to me, Jeni had subsequently summarised my sentiments in a very pointed FaceBook commentary about the Mildura Base Hospital and that brought on a plethora of supporting comments from her friends; several of whom possibly having significant clout in relation to Pam's situation. The essence of that situation is that Pam is very frail, very prone to infection, very prone to pressure sores and even more prone to lack of sleep and her needs should be obvious to the Triage staff that Pam's case should be high on the priority list for the next available ward bed.
I note that FaceBook hasn't helped many birthday parties, overrun and spoilt by gatechashers - but FaceBook may very well have influenced the good outcome regarding Pam's sorry potential. What say you?
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