After 6 or 7 days on Betsy the BiPap my next angel hurricane came through the door. She said I’m Nurse F. and I will be with you tonight and we are going to get you off the BiPap for a little bit to see how you do. With a muffled voice I said yes and gave her two thumbs up. She gave me a soap and water bath (first soap bath I had since I got there). She took Betsy off and put on the Heated High Flow. I did good for a few hours with it on. Oh my, did it feel good to have Betsy off and I drank a lot of water. It tasted so good. After a couple hrs., she put Betsy back on so I could go to sleep. The next morning Respiratory said since I had done good with the High Flow, they were going to try me on it today. I was so excited. I ended up having it on all day. Did good with it. It was cranked up as high as it would go, but I was doing good. Well, I had to name it so the High Flow became Hank. Nurse F. was my nurse that night and when it was time for bed, Betsy was put back on. I had a really great respiratory nurse that night (and she was with me all week). I just don’t remember her name. She remembered me from earlier in my stay. She told me that I had been in really bad shape and she was so happy that I had made it this far and was doing so well. Respiratory would check on you twice during the night. She would bring me water when she came. The next two days I didn’t have a good nurse. I barely saw Nurse H. and when I did she would always say I know you think I’ve forgotten about you. I’m just really busy today. I understand that but laying in your pee for a couple of hours is unacceptable. They use this thing for women called a Purewick. You pee and it sucks your pee into a tube and into a pot. If put in correctly it works but most nurses couldn’t get it in right so you end up peeing on yourself. That day, she couldn’t position it right so I kept peeing on myself. They had to bathe and change my bedsheets 5 times that day (and I had to lay in pee while I waited and waited). I couldn’t get out of bed so that meant rolling back and forth while they changed my sheets. This meant my oxygen dropped and I started coughing. I kept asking Nurse H. to check the Purewick because obviously it wasn’t in right and she just kept saying oh, it’s right. The next afternoon, the Dr. ordered a lasix. Nurse H. Gave it to me. Fortunately, someone else had put the Purewick in and did it correctly. I peed and peed and then started peeing on myself. If you have ever had a lasix, you know you pee like crazy. I kept hitting my nurse button and telling them I was peeing on myself. I did this for over three hrs. I had not seen Nurse H. since she gave me the lasix. She went off shift without checking on me. Nurse E. came in after shift change to introduce herself and was furious that I had been that way for over 3 hours. She immediately got some help and got me cleaned up and bedsheets changed. My Purewick pot was full that’s why it stopped working. Nurse E. was very spirit lifting. Much needed after the day I had. I was still wearing Betsy at night and Hank during the day. The next day I was a bit down and out and had a pity party day. I told myself that couldn’t happen tomorrow. Get it all out today and then be ready to put my big girl panties on tomorrow. I have to stay positive and continue to fight. My next angel hurricane came in the next morning. I will tell you about Nurse J. next time.

Thanks for taking the time to read by blog. Until next time…..

God Bless