Lisa looked a lot better when I got there on Thursday to take over for Mike. Friday morning at 9:00, when the doctors rounded our head doc basically said that with her being fever free for past 24 hrs and last two cultures being negative we could go home with an oral antibiotic and fluids and if third culture came back positive or if problems arose, we were only 25 minutes from hospital and we could bring her back.
Okay...apparently our nurse and the new resident need to get out the "frequent flier patient book". What that meant to me was run the last courses of intravenous antibiotics and get these folks on the road. At 1:00 when I inquired about discharge, the nurse quoted me the "48 hr and 3 clear cultures" protocol. Ummmm, I know the protocol, but also know the doc said we could go home and come back if culture is positive, so let's get things moving and get us out of here. Nurse said she'd ask the doc. At 3:00, I pushed again. Nurse quoted protocol. Really?? Go find the doc, we already picked up the meds he prescribed and he wouldn't have prescribed those for home if we were staying. At 5:00, I was getting a bit miffed. Besides the fact that we had been here ALL day, we now had a new roommate who was very medicated and sleepy and snoring VERY loudly. Lisa kept demanding that I make her get out of OUR room. I kept explaining it wasn't our room and we had to share. When our roommate spiked a temperature of 103 and infectious control was brought in, my "aggravated levels" shot thru the roof. Are you kidding me? The reason they have Lisa in the hospital is because she has no white blood cells and is at risk for picking up infection. Now we are sharing a room with a kid they have no idea what is wrong with her and are trying to determine what she may have that is causing her high temps and neck pain! I told the other patient's nurse to find me our doctor. She said she would let our nurse know. Meanwhile an aid came in to check on Lisa and I told her I wanted to see the doc. Minutes later I had a report from all 3 that doc was on the way. When our newby resident appeared at 6:00, she was apologetic about being awol for so long and said that our regular doc was gone and that the attending doctor did not want to sign off on discharge papers until the third culture came back sometime after 9:00. I looked at her and repeated what our regular doc had said that morning, she agreed that is what she understood him to say. I then told her that she could tell the attending that we were leaving with or without discharge papers. The resident nodded in agreement and understanding and said she would "quietly" go put thru the paperwork. I started packing up the bags, told the nurse I was taking them out to the car. She worked with Lisa on disconnecting her from the pumps and doing final flushes and we were out the door by 7:15 and headed home.
Lisa went in the house all smiles and hug, we never got a call about a "positive" culture, and now we are eagerly awaiting the start of the big game in a few hours! The lesson here...always stay on top of things and be an advocate for your child's health. You do know them best!
Have a wonderful weekend, live life fully, and of course, GO BLUE!
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