Shaking up things in a hospital and getting staples out? Sounds like a good day.

So today I had the long awaited meeting with the heads of the hospital at Dr. Phillips. Our meeting was at 1pm, so we arrived a bit early and went up to the information desk and told them that we had a meeting in Administration. The young lady called and told us to walk down there and that they were expecting us. Halfway down the hall, the secretary for the president met us and walked us the rest of the way to the offices. We were meeting in the conference room, so once we got in there, we were offered tea or coffee. The lady mentioned chai tea and I was like, "oh yes please!!" haha. So as soon as we sat down, we were joined by three ladies: the Head of the entire Nursing staff, the Head of the Medical Nursing staff (nurses on the floors) and the Head of the ICU's. They started the conversation by saying how completely sorry they were for the treatment that I received, how disturbed they were by the "care" I received and how thankful they were that we were able to meet with them. Then Joy (the head chief of nursing) asked me to explain everything that happened, and I did. While I was talking, all three of them were taking vigorous notes and really listened to what I was saying. I told them the nurses' names that I remembered, everything that happened and how I felt I was completely ignored by the entire nursing staff. It wasn't just one or two nurses, it was everyone except for one or two nurses. I explained to them that I have been in several hospitals, my father is an RN and I have been around the medical field since I was 9 and this was by far, the worst nursing care I received. I felt that they had no compassion or sympathy for their patients.





After I told my story, Joy again apologized and told us that that is NOT how we run our nursing staff at Dr. Phillips and that they will find out who the nurses were, they WILL be dealt with, either with disciplinary actions, making them take the proper courses or asking them to resign. She said there was NO excuse for the lack of even basic nursing care that I received. They also explained that there has been a leadership change (all three of the ladies were new to the position they have now) and that there will be changes coming. All three of them both had that look in their eyes like, "shit is about to hit the fan" and they all expressed their deepest apologies. I told them that because they took the time to meet with us and they are willing to make sure this doesn't happen again, that if in the future (God forbid) I have to return to Orlando, I would give their hospital another chance.





When we were leaving, they all shook my hand and wished me well. Joy came up to me with tears in her eyes and hugged me and told me that she promises that this will never happen to another patient and she walked us out to the lobby. I was SO impressed with how they handled this and I didn't do this to get anyone in trouble, but if these nurses cannot have compassion and sympathy to their patients, then this isn't the career for them. I'm not expecting my nurses to be all bubbly and sunshine and rainbows, but take care of me and my basic needs for crying out loud. Treat me with respect and make sure that I'm comfortable. That's all I ask! That's all anyone can ask for while in the hospital. It's bad enough that you are there anyway, don't make it worse by being disrespectful and neglectful towards the patient.





So after the meeting, I had my follow up appointment with my neurosurgeon! He was quite impressed with my progress and I FINALLY got my staples out! It feels absolutely amazing not to have those things pulling on my skin constantly. I also cannot wait to sleep tonight because my right side is the side I sleep on and I haven't been able to do that for almost 3 weeks! Cannot wait! I also have an appointment with my hair dresser tomorrow to get my hair evened out. It's probably going to be really short but as long as its not uneven like it is now, I don't care!





Also in other Liz news, I got a new tattoo! I got this on Wednesday (2/17/10) and it's probably my favorite out of all of them:

Obviously it's a bird and it actually has a meaning: The orange represents my time with leukemia and the pink represents my time with this whole brain issue. Now I'm flying past those issues and moving on with my life. My tattoo artist is Robbie at Ink Doktors and he is amazing!

Well I'm going to end this. I just wanted to let everyone know that the meeting went amazing and I am now staple free! It's been a good day!

♥ Liz