There was a phone call from the hospital at 7:30 am. It was Dr. Jenkins. She said, "Mr. Smith seems confused and agitated. He insists that we have kept you away from him for three days. He is asking for his wife." She asked if I would talk to him if she called back from his bedside. Well, of course I would.
Within moments Dr. Jenkins called back and put him on the phone. He sounded just find to me, and much better than he had sounded during the week before Thursday's procedure.
Carroll asked when I would be at MUSC; I told him it would be this morning but that I didn't want to drive in the morning traffic into Charleston, that I hadn't yet dressed, that I had a few errands to run, including going to the bank, and I needed to pick up something he had requested.
It took a bit longer than anticipated and was late morning when I arrived.
Time I walked in, Carroll asked where I had been; he said they had been treating him like a child and had put him on restriction! He said to please go let them know I was there so they would let him off of restriction and out of there. He was sitting up in a chair.
He said he wanted to get off of restriction so he could go get a beer tonight.
Carroll also said they thought he was crazy. He kept trying to figure out what he had done wrong to make them mad at him and put him on restriction.
I told him that morphine sometimes makes people disoriented and confused and perhaps even agitated. He said he would never take that stuff again. He continued to insist he isn't crazy.
Then he asked again where I had been before I got to the hospital and why I hadn't come to see him yesterday. (I was with him the entire time before the procedure and went into his CCU room twice afterwards. He also didn't remember that Vic, Edie and Courtney had visited.) He also didn't remember watching the Braves play ball, but later said they won, which they did.
When he dozed off, he kept saying "one day" and "restless man."
Hospital personnel told us that all of this could be attributed to the morphine and to his disorientation. Dr. Schreiner said that sometimes coming back to a different room could cause a patient to become confused, especially in CCU with all of the equipment.
Look at these beds and the surrounding equipment. It's much more intimidating than it looks in the photos.
This is Kissia, a nurse in CCU. She patiently answered all his questions.
Sam came in and touch Carroll's blood sugar level so that he could eat.
Becky took time with Carroll also. She's originally from Montana.
Kim is another friendly MUSC employee; she's with environmental services.
As of mid-afternoon, he has moved out of CCU into a room on 3rd floor.
He is still on oxygen; Dr. Schreiner tried to take him off of oxygen, but his oxygen level dropped when he took a few steps in the hall.
As the morphine is wearing off, he is becoming more oriented, but not totally.
Dr. Townsend just came in and said Carroll may be able to go home tomorrow (Saturday) but it will be with a portable oxygen tank.
Dr. Schreiner told us that they (the "team") are very pleased with the success of the procedure and believe Carroll is doing quite well. That's good news, huh?
1 comment:
Sherry, I am glad that Carroll is doing so well after the surgery. We (the ministry team) did not know that he was to have surgery at MUSC. That is why noone has visited him. We do care and hope to see him soon. I think Pastor will probably wait until he gets home if he is going as soon as tomorrow. We will check on you this weekend. Love and prayers, Jane
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