091 NICKNAMES AND SUCH

So, this was my introduction to Ridge Meadows Hospital.  My care team in Kamloops Royal Inland Hospital was so attentive and doting over me.  I was already missing them and then I get wheeled in and was basically ignored for the first 4 hours I was there.  It was kind of lonely, when I was used to having someone around all the time.  No matter, I’ll just log on to Facebook.  Oops, no WIFI in the hospital and none anywhere nearby that I could access.  So, I logged on by pairing with my phone and using cellular data.  Big mistake as I later discovered, but what did I know.

The next morning a Doctor came to visit and check out my wounds and injuries.  When he found out that I played hockey, he seemed thrilled saying that he is 59 years old and is also still playing.  He was very upbeat and positive and assured me I would be back skating by Christmas.  He also said that he was at the end of his rotation and he would have a colleague take over and visit me Monday morning.  Thankfully the daytime nurse was much more attentive and upbeat than Zoltan had been.  Things were looking up, a shiny new hospital, a private room and upbeat staff, what more could one ask for.

Breakfast that morning was certainly an eye opener.  It came in with a lid over the plate and looking like it was going to be special.  I lifted the lid and while the menu said wheat toast, it turned out to be warm bread.  There was a bowl of cream of wheat and when I tasted it, I swear I used this stuff to drywall the basement of my house.  There was apple juice and a brown liquid that they had the audacity to call coffee.

BREAKFAST LOOKS PROMISING

SURPRISE! NOT SO MUCH

It looked like hospital food was living up to its reputation, until lunch arrived.  Same covered plate, but when I lifted the lid, I was very surprised to see, grilled chicken breast in mushroom gravy, fresh green beans and mashed potatoes.  It was delicious, and I told Renee later it was so good I would have ordered this meal in a restaurant.  There was also a bowl of minestrone soup with crackers and a cup of tea.  A great meal.  Not what you would expect from hospital food.  Dinner was equally good.

SAME COVERED PLATE

SURPRISE! A GREAT MEAL

On Monday morning my new Doctor came in to assess me.  An East Indian lady who was all smiles and very upbeat.  She literally brought sunshine into the room every time she came in.  I just wish I could remember her name, although I had trouble with it even when she was there.  Her nickname became “Doctor Sunshine”.  Just her attitude and upbeat nature helped me to realize I could accomplish anything and that my healing would progress.

By contrast later in the day, I had a visit from the orthopaedic surgeon named Doctor Baschu.  His bedside manner was awful.  He was very negative and such a downer that he literally sucked the life out of the room, and made me wonder if I was even going to survive, let alone get my foot fixed.  He said to me that I must keep the foot elevated as there was a real possibility of amputation.  But at the same time, he said there would be no surgery on my foot.  This despite two other Doctors saying it needed surgery to clean out all the infection.  I nicknamed him “Doctor Buzzkill”.

I was told later by Doctor Sunshine, that Doctor Buzzkill is a phenomenal orthopedic surgeon, one of the best around and what he lacked in bedside manner, he made up for with superb skills.  His son is also a doctor and an orthopedic surgeon and his nickname throughout the hospital and elsewhere is “Baby Baschu”.  He also had wonderful skills, but a much better bedside manner.

Later, my nurse came in to dress my wounds on my feet.  There was packing put into the wounds on my left foot as well as to the wounds on my right.  This consists of a long strip of some absorbent material.  It made me thankful that I could not feel my feet, because even in that state there was pain involved as she pushed it in.

PACKING IN MY RIGHT FOOT

LEFT FOOT PAINTED
WITH IODINE

The purpose of the packing is to prevent the wound from closing over at the top and leaving a crater of infection inside.  The packing allows the wound to heal from the bottom up, before it closes over.  Initially this was being done once per day.  The wound in my right foot took a ribbon approximately 15 centimeters long.  One of the wounds in my right foot was measured at 9 centimeters in depth.