Well, things quickly went south here at the hospital. I can say that I still feel the surgery itself was a success. I'm feeling better TOS-wise and my hands/arms are still very warm. I think that, in the long run, this surgery was a good thing.
That being said, I've had IMMENSE issues with the medical staff here. It started right after surgery. The doctor forgot to order my pain pump so I was without it for over 3 1/2 hours while they "sorted it out." Then, my arms went totally numb because of incorrect placement of the lidocaine pain ball. This had to be turned off resulting in more pain but at least I was functional. Then, the next morning after being promised I would be fed breakfast and the doctor changing my orders from liquid diet to a regular one, I still received a liquid breakfast and did not receive actual food until 11:30 am (over 36 hours since my last meal) despite the need for food to sustain lactation and several doctors AND nurses telling me they were getting it and it was on the way. I had noticed that yesterday morning that the girl next to me that had the same surgery on the same day was getting more examination than me. The doctor wasn't checking my range of motion or asking me how I was feeling. He spent significantly less time with me.
What really took the cake happened last night. a resident came in and asked me if there was anything I needed. I had asked throughout the day if I could have some sort of sleep aid or anxiety medication as I had been up the whole night before with what they thought were anxiety attacks and what I thought at the time was pulmonary embolism. Regardless, I could accept that they could be right as I DO have an anxiety disorder and surgery is a major stressor. Well, I was told that they would look into Serax, Ativan or Ambien for me. I looked up how it would affect my baby and was okay with any that they chose. Then, the resident came in and told me she would give me nothing because it is not safe as it is pregnancy class D. I'm not pregnant, I'm lactating, and the medications are in safe lactation categories. They refused to let me take any medication and then tried to bully me into taking an antihystamine to wean. They refused to look up half lives. I dropped it, I'm not going to pretend to be a doctor so I didn't even argue that they were wrong. Instead, she asked me why I thought it was okay in the first place, why I thought I needed something to sleep when I never had needed it before and just got downright nasty to climax with the statement that I must not care about the welfare of my child to put her in this sort of risk. By now, I was hyperventilating, gasping for air, crying and begging her to just leave and give me some space. I really don't think that was too much to ask for but she put me in a place where I absolutely needed the medication (in front of my dad no less!) then walked away. She came back later, and did the very same thing again. Then, changed my medications so my nausea medication was HALDOL which is not okay while breastfeeding and moved me from colace to senna even though I've not complained about constipation. All without my consent. I told her that I couldn't trust her anymore and I wasn't going to use my PCA pump because I needed to be clearheaded to deal with her. By 3am I was asking for a muscle relaxant because I was so stiff but no one would get back to me. At 8am, the doctor seemingly decided to teach me a lesson by taking away my base IV pain medication so I would have to press the button in a power play. By 10am, the only pain medication I was under the influence was, was 2 tylenol. Despite telling everyone who would listen that I was in a boatload of pain (10/10 when I woke up at 3am and 8/10 after having to move around a bit and getting some endorphines flowing by 11am) I was continually brushed off in my concern that I couldn't trust staff to bring me safe medications or to care for me if I was too out of it. The nurses were taking 45 minutes to respond to the call button and then rarely came back to preform the requested task.
I requested a patient advocate or ombudsmen to speak with, and I was told a case coordinator would see me by 7pm today which was A. unacceptable to think it was okay for me to have completely uncontrolled pain for about 24 hours and B. a case coordinator is NOT a patient advocate. The coordinator came in within a half hour after I complained about that and then started asking me if I had a case manager and about setting me up with a social worker. It was obvious they had written me off as loony and weren't taking me seriously.
I ended up calling my mom and stepfather to come advocate for me since no one else would. I felt so bad for my roommate who had to listen to all of this but I know she didn't think I was crazy... I overheard her talking to her boyfriend about how bad she feels for me and she doesn't blame me for being upset so at least I know I'm not crazy. My mom and stepfather had a meeting with the medical providers and made it clear that I'm not crazy, I'm not an idiot, and I do deserve information and a say in my medical care. Things seem to have turned around in regards to their attitudes, but I'm still in a lot of pain and it's so irritating for my roommate to complain of needing to get some sleep so they bring her out some xanax but when my neck muscles are completely spastic and I've tried massage and heating pads that I can't even be considered for a muscle relaxant.
Guess I just needed to vent a bit, the surgeon seems to have done a good job on the surgery thus far but he's really spun my psychological well-being around.