Chat With the Nurse, Mad at the Doc

Jenni's nurse came out a few seconds ago and told me that Jenni is doing fine. The nurse seemed very sociable and nice... much better than many of the nurses I have encountered down here in the ICU. I'm glad someone with a good attitude is taking care of Jenni.

She also let me know that the doctor who won't let family stay in the room while he does rounds is on the hall again, so I'm not supposed to go back there until around 11:00 when he finishes. I almost left to go see if I could find a patient advocate, but then the nurse said I could come back. Before I even got the gloves and gown on, the doctor came back down the hall, looked at the nurse, pointed at me, and they kicked me out. He didn't even speak or make eye contact with me... jerk. I am definitely going to go talk to a patient advocate before the end of the day. I realize that she's out of it, but it just pisses me off not being able to be in there with her when the scheduled visiting hours say that I should be able to. It isn't like they're going to extend visiting hours later in the day to make up for the time he's taking away.

Anyway, while I was suiting up, she told me that Jenni has had moments when she was slightly aware. She is responding when people talk to her and she let the nurse know (not sure how... she didn't explain... maybe a nod?) that she wasn't in any pain. The nurse told me that she is constantly on both a sedative and a painkiller, so she feels okay.

In any case, I'm not going to talk to anyone yet because I've got the feeling that this nurse will try to sneak me in if she gets the chance and I want to stay close just in case, but when visitation hours officially end and I know no one will let me come back, I'm going to go have a discussion with someone even if it doesn't amount to anything. Jenni made me promise to be proactive and make sure the doctors do the right thing, so I intend to.

Moving Back to 9200

I just left the room because they are moving Jenni back to the ABMT unit and they don't let visitors walk with the patients while they are being moved. We're excited because there aren't visitation limits and the nurses are a lot more sociable on 9200 (as a group... there are exceptions on both floors). I'm outside of the unit, waiting for her to make it upstairs. I'm a little calmer after this morning's mess, but I'm still planning to talk to a patient advocate about the issue. I just don't think it is right to make a husband leave while the doctors make decisions about his wife.

In any case, her oxygen levels haven't improved but she's stable and she is a lot more alert than she has been the last few days. I think it is because they haven't given her many pain medications today. Hopefully, her joint pain won't return and she won't need the pain medication at all. That would be awesome.