Once he was up he spent some time in a chair. He spent about 3 hours in the chair and then began to get very sleepy. By 6:30 pm it was time to get him to bed. He was exhausted. This was where our day of highs turned into a sleepless night full of aggravation and frustration.
The nursing shifts are 7 am to 7 pm. Our amazing nurse Casey left at 7 pm and brought in the new nurse. She seemed very inexperienced and had someone with her. I learned shortly thereafter how inexperienced she really was. It started with her waking him to simply introduce herself. I explained to her how hard he worked during PT and he was pretty exhausted, so to please let him rest and to minimize interruptions. Rest was truly key to his recovery. She said she has a job to do, but okay. Not less than 30 minutes later, she and another nurse come into the room, they turn on all the lights and begin talking to each other loudly. I was asleep on the cot off to the side of Jarrett's bed and watched as they chit chatted while moving his bed up and down to change him (he has 4 drains and he is pooping a lot). They finished 20 minutes later, walked out the door, let the door slam all while leaving all the lights in the room on. I got up to turn everything off and tuck Jarrett in with his blanket that they never put back on him.
I let it go and tried to g back to sleep. 20 minutes later they came back in, turned on all the lights and proceeded to take his vital signs, which included his temp (they woke him to take it orally instead of under his arm), blood pressure & pulse. They then finished, left the room while letting the door slam and again left the lights on. Okay, just vital signs. Maybe now they were done.
15 minutes later one of them, not sure who walked back into the room, turned the lights on again and went over to the IV machine. Put his dose of medicine in, beeping sounds a plenty came from the machine, left the room, lights left on again and slammed the door. Each time they left the room, I got up to tuck Jarrett back in and turn off the lights. 10 minutes later IV machine beeps, meds are done. I silence it, get back into bed and try for the 4th time to go back to sleep. 5 minutes later beeping again. This time I let it beep. For 30 minutes this machine beeped away all the while keeping us awake. She comes in, turns on all the lights, resets the machine and walks out slamming the door. Again, lights left on.
This went on all night about every hour and a half till at 5 am I had enough. Every 1 1/2 hours one of them was coming in to do something. I sprung out of bed and said enough. We have had enough. I briefly explained what Jarrett and I had endured and the response was smug and snotty, " I am just doing my job." I then stated, "Well you are not doing it well because you could care less about this child and what he has endured. Please leave. He needs some rest." 10 minutes later the other one went to come in and I sprung up and told her, "No, please let him rest." She began to argue stating he needed to have his vitals taken and I told her it needed to wait. By this time Jarrett was crying and sobbing and the more he sobbed, the more he hurt and then began to poop. The nurse said, "Now he needs to be changed," and came walking towards him. I said I would handle it as her presence was upsetting him and now angering me. As politely as I could, I told her to please leave the room.
The morning nurse came in, we had Casey again (YIPPEE!!!) and we both explained about our sleepless night. She was more than understanding and did her best to put a DO NOT DISTURB on the door so my boy could rest. Once he rested he was much better. It was hard because his hard work was set back the next day when PT came because he was totally wiped out. Pray we get out of here soon. We are both homesick and desperately want to get back to reality.
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