[Blindtlk] FW: B-F LINDA'S BATTLE, AN UPDATE

[Eric Calhoun]

Hello, people, this _is blindness-related; contact Mr. Justice for your
thoughts.  Thank you


Original Message: 
From: "John Justice" <johnjustice at comcast.net>
To: <blind-friends at yahoogroups.com>
Subject: B-F LINDA'S BATTLE, AN UPDATE
Date: 
Thu, 3 Apr 2008 21:15:10 -0400

Recently, my wife Linda went through a double knee replacement.  her
surgery was on February 4, and the actual operation went quite well.  But
what happened after that is something we are still trying to understand. 

>From the very beginning, we knew that trouble was coming.  I brought my
guide dog along and the staff at the Admissions desk started to give us a
hard time about there not being enough room in the treatment area for the
dog.  They finally shifted us to a larger room and I was able to sit on one
side while Linda was being prepared for surgery.  The last thing I heard
was her joking with people in the hallway as she was wheeled away.  

Her surgeon, Doctor Star, called me later to tell me that the operation
had gone quite well.  At that time Linda was still in the Recovery Room and
they wouldn't let me anywhere near her.  During an operation like this, the
doctors use something called femoral blocks.  They are injections which are
supposed to help with the tremendous pain.  Linda woke up to unbelievable
agony because the injections didn't work for her at all.  They finally got
her pain under control enough to move her up to the room where I was
waiting.  I had been sitting there for more than 2 hours, wondering what
had happened to Linda and getting very little information at all.  

During her stay at the hospital, she ran into a problem time and time
again with staff who just didn't know how to deal with a totally blind
patient, especially one who was completely helpless due to major surgery. 
At times, they refused to help her at all.  They made no adjustment for her
blindness and got angry when we demanded a little consideration.  The
nurses, especially at night, did nothing but complain constantly about how
understaffed they were and made Linda feel like a criminal every time she
asked for something.  Her requests were normal.  Her pleas for
consideration where her blindness was concerned were reasonable.  The
physicians thought so but the nursing staff, especially the clinical
assistants, seemed to act as if Linda was some kind of strange creature
from another planet.  I raised so much hell with Patient Relations that,
after a while, they were reluctant to return my calls.  This was Linda's
first time in a hospital.  She had never been operated on before nor was
she in a hospital as a patient in her adult life.  She just wasn't prepared
for their lack of cooperation and offensive manner.  

But my Linda is a fighter.  In spite of everything, she went on.  But
then, what choice did she have?  Her own knees were gone and she had to
deal with these new artificial ones, whether she liked it or not.  

After 3 days in the surgery ward, Linda was moved up stairs to the
Rehabilitation floor.  But the attitude of the nurses on that floor was, if
anything, worse than the staff in the Surgical wing.  At one point, one of
the male nurses tried to refuse me admittance into a patient dining room
where the patients, if they wanted to, could eat with their families.  I
warned the man that he was getting himself into hot water  but he refused
to listen until some supervisor showed up and gave him walking orders. 
What a jerk!  After that, we had no trouble in the dining room except for
Linda's constant, ongoing pain. 

As blind people, some of you will appreciate and understand what Linda
had to put up with.  She would ask for water and one of them would bring it
for her.  Then later, when some procedure or other was necessary, the water
would be moved and no thought was given to how Linda could find it in a
strange room.  The nurses just didn't or wouldn't understand that a few
seconds of consideration might make all of the difference for Linda,
especially when it came to her blindness coupled with the fact that she
couldn't move around very well.  Various staff members would enter her room
and without explaining what they were doing, would begin whatever treatment
they had in mind.  At first, the housekeeping staff would bring her dinner,
set it on a side table and never tell her it was there.  More than once,
they moved her phone out of reach and didn't put it back.  She couldn't
wait to get out of there.

The physical therapists were completely different in every respect from
the nursing staff.  They were considerate, patient and took the time to
explain every exercise and process.  They told Linda exactly what she had
to do and described the equipment before asking her to use it.  Linda used
to say that her therapy classes were an escape from the hell created by the
rest of the staff. She tried to educate them but it was an up hill battle
with those who just wouldn't listen or didn't care.    

No one ever told us how much it would hurt.  I swear to you people.  I
believe that Linda was the only blind patient this hospital ever had who
got both knees replaced at the same time.  But Linda said it best.  If she
had known how much it was going to hurt, she would have never had the
surgery at all. But in her case, the bilateral replacement was necessary. 
Both of her knees were that bad.  

When she came home from the hospital, her motion was still very limited. 
I took care of my baby and I enjoyed doing it.  I was so afraid that I
would have forgotten how to fix a meal or clean up the kitchen but I did
surprisingly well.  Linda could manage to get up and down the stairs
although it was a slow and painful process.  We borrowed a wheel chair and
for the longest time, that was her place to sit at our table.  Our house is
too small for the chair to be useful anywhere else.  She used a rolling
walker for a while and then graduated to a cane.
  
Well, that was more than 8 weeks ago friends.  Linda is doing quite well 
walking around now without the aid of a walker or a cane.  She is still in
quite a bit of pain. But gradually things are improving.  Linda had the
opportunity, through several surveys, to describe her experience in the
hospital.  She showed them no mercy.  Eventually, we are going to write a
letter to the hospital's administration.  We believe that the staff is
sadly lacking in knowledge when it comes to helping patients with physical
impairments, especially those whom are totally blind.  
 
John Justice 

My job feeds my family, music feeds my soul.

PERSONAL E-MAIL:  johnjustice at comcast.net 


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]