Temporarily Out of Order by Debbie Redman & Jim Redman

Author:Debbie Redman & Jim Redman [Redman, Debbie Redman and Jim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: health, medical memoir
Publisher: eLectio Publishing
Published: 2015-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26 (Jim )

Debbie’s Bodyguard

I am supremely grateful for the excellent care given to my wife by the hospital staff. Of course, not everyone can be perfect all of the time. As Debbie’s bodyguard, I questioned or corrected treatment that didn’t seem right to me, quite bluntly at times. I know I have ticked off a few staff members. I had good reason to. It’s my wife, my reason for getting up each morning that they were handling, so of course I expected the best possible care at all times. I had visions of coming in one morning and finding Debbie not breathing.

One of the forms of life support that helped keep Debbie alive, the PEG line is used for patients who can’t ingest food through their mouth or esophagus. Nutritional fluids were pumped through plastic tubing to a port surgically inserted directly into Deb’s stomach. There were two injection sites on the tubing which plugged into hanging bags containing her “food.” One of the sites was prone to leaking. More than once I found Deb lying in puddles of the fluid. I was concerned that she was not only losing the nourishment prescribed, but she could be at a greater risk for infection. I reported it to the nurses. The problem was easily remedied by discontinuing use of that injection site and only using the other one of the two sites on the line. The second site did not leak. That system worked fine for days until a new nurse came in to feed Debbie. When she started to attach the tubing to the faulty site, I quickly spoke up and told her that she needed to use the other one. She continued to attach the bag to the bad site, wordlessly ignoring what I said. I repeated myself and gestured, wondering if she understood me—maybe she wasn’t fluent in English. Was she deaf? I couldn’t stop her. Frustrated, I tapped her hand. She looked at me in surprise. With my fingers, I made a V sign pointing to my glaring eyes and said sternly, “Pay attention to me!” I again pointed to the other site. She finally attached the line to the correct port. It was a tense moment. After that incident, we got along fine.

On the last day of March, her 65 th day, Debbie’s urinary catheter was removed at her insistence. A few mornings later, I walked in, hugged her and checked her out as usual. Her gown had a habit of creeping up and forcing her to sleep on folds, increasing the risk of bed sores, so straightening it was one of the first things I did. I found a wet blanket. It reeked of urine. Had it spilled from the bedpan? Wondering how long she had lain in it, I pitched a fit and angrily threw the nasty blanket out into the hallway. I knew where the linen supply was and helped myself to it. A nurse saw me and asked what I was doing.

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