St Joseph's Hospital 4th Floor to Parking Lot to St Joseph's ER!
Approx 1pm… After Breck signed her discharge papers – Looking great – I
headed to get the car. Two volunteers
wheeled her down to the pick up zone. As
I drove up I could see her being wheeled out of the main lobby towards me. “Oh, No… she doesn’t look good!” I quickly ran over to her. She whispered “I don’t feel good” Then her head went back, mouth turned up on
the right side, right hand clenches in a distorted fist. I quickly tell one of the girls to go get
help – “She is having a seizure!” Was
very short – maybe a minute. Breck
whispers “Mmmomm”. I can tell she is
coming out of it. But she still couldn’t
lift her head and her top lip is pure white, with the bottom lip turning
blue. She is also turning blue around
the nose. We wheel her back into the
lobby where a respiratory therapist runs over and slips on a device to monitor
her oxygen level. She too loudly calls
over to security “This mom needs some help here… her daughter is still blue!” Another nurse comes over – then we start
pushing Breck towards the ER – I am holding her head while they push. They are talking to her. “Breck!!
Stay with me! Are you here? Breck?”
Once we made it to the ER they quickly transfer her to a gurney – they were
headed out the door coming at us.
Once she was in her ER room and connected to the Monitor – she soon
started looking better. I left to go
back and re-park my car. One of the volunteers
was sweet enough to stay with my car as I had left my purse and keys on the
front seat with the windows down. How
nice of her!
As soon as I got back to the ER – a young nurse came in and stated “Ok,
I guess you’re being released. You can
go home.” I looked at her and said “They
just put her in the bed?” She stated
again, “No, it says right here that after resting for 2.5 hours she can go
home.” I tried to patiently explain to
her that those discharge orders were from upstairs where we had just come
from. She looked at me and said “ I am
confused. Let me go look again”.
The ER Doctor was Dr. Donald J Lauer.
He asked the basic questions concerning seizures and what had
happened. I explained Breck had just had
a procedure on the 4th floor – a “specialized WADA” test and that
she never made it out of the wheel chair – she went into a seizure and was
turning blue. He then asked me “Do you
always take her to the ER when she has a seizure?”. I stated “No, but she just had a procedure,
was turning blue and the number one risk is a stroke” I strongly asked him to just call upstairs to
Dr. Park or Dr. Albuquerque and they would tell him. During this time – the young nurse or
assistant came back in and said “Ok, you will be getting blood…” I looked at her and said “What? I don’t understand!?” She then pointed to the blue band on Breck’s
arm and said – “that blue band means you are getting blood”. I explained again, “No – that blue band was
put on upstairs just in case she needed blood from her procedure.” She again stated she was confused and would
go look at the chart!
Another nurse then came and I repeated everything to her. I asked her to please check with the 4th
floor. Especially worried about a stroke. She left and I never saw any of them
again.
About 4:30 we met Dr Brian Beck.
At this time Breck mentioned that the right side of her cheek, lip and
half of her tongue felt very strange.
Tingly. I again repeated what
transpired from the WADA test, parking lot and my worry of a stroke. I actually said “I don’t want to take her
home only to find out that we have to come back and that she had a stroke! I want her checked out while we are here!” He agreed.
He did the normal physical neurological testing. Hold up your hands, palms up. Keep them there. Can you stick out your tongue? Can you spell the word “world”
backwards? What’s this? A pen. Good.
What’s this? A watch. Good. What
day is it? Where are you? Can you feel this? How about over here? Lift your leg… don’t let me push it
down. Point your toes. Good. Flex
your toes. Good. Can you see which had is moving? (from the
sides of her eyes). Good. Then Dr. Beck states “Well, outside of the
tingling, I don’t see any evidence of a stroke. The tingling could be just a
side effect of her seizure. Has she
experience this before?” Breck tells him
“no”. He then says it will most likely
go away by morning and if not to be sure to let someone know. But for now –can go home.
I guess there was a shift change.
Dr. Lauer had gone home – the new attending ER Doctor – don’t remember
his name came in and discharged us.
At 5:30 pm after 4.5 hours She is exhausted. I am exhausted. I go and get the car. Breck is wheeled out of the hospital a second
time and we arrive home by 6:30pm.
I had Breck sleep with me. We
were in bed by 8pm and slept great all night.
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