If you are reading my FB status you probably know that Macrine had hip surgery (repair) on her left hip after a Fall on Thursday March 16 at around 10 AM. The surgery was successful. She is out from Mercy Hospital and now checked in at Manor Care Rehabilitation Center and scheduled to stay from 20 to 30 days(if needed) for Physical Therapy and Healing. A lot of my friends and relatives are curious what exactly happened. Thus this blog.
On the morning of Thursday while eating her brunch of left-over Pancit, she walked straight to the kitchen sink a couple of feet away with out her walker. I was in the bedroom fixing and cleaning up and suddenly I heard a scream. David our son who lives with us was a few feet standing on trying to help her standup but she screams with pain lying on the floor. She can not move because of the pain on her hip, so I decided to call 911 and asked for an ambulance. In exactly 7 minutes the County Ambulance and Fire Truck was in our front door. The whole neighborhood was curious and told me that if I need help I can just ask. In 10 minutes we were in the Emergency Room of Mercy San Juan Medical Center. Incidentally the driver of the ambulance is our neighbor.
Three hours later after all the X'ray, Cat Scan and other tests, Macrine was admitted to the Hospital and scheduled for surgery the next day at 10 AM. At about 9:55AM she was transferred from her room to the pre-operation room where the anesthesiologist talked to me about the anesthesia and the orthopedic surgeon explained to me the procedure and if I have any questions. Ten minutes later the scheduling nurse informed me there was a delay because there is an emergency which will use the same operating room. It was not until 12:30 PM when she was wheeled to the OR.
David III and I waited until 3:30PM when we learned that surgery was completed and Macrine was in the recovery area. In the surgery waiting room for visitors were Jean Maeda( Macrine's sister), Dinah (our daughter), Elaine, our granddaughter besides David III and myself. At about 5PM Macrine was still sleepy and the nurse requested that one of us should talked to her to facilitate her waking up. Jean, Dinah and I took turns to keep Macrine awake so she can be transported to her regular room in the Hospital.
The surgery recovery time at Mercy turned out to be 3 days. The nurses and assistants scheduled for Macrine's recovery were all excellent, helpful and industrious except for one male nurse. There were 3 Filipina nurses and one Filipina Assistant who were particularly industrious, concerned and doing their job perfectly. I was also particularly impressed by a young Indian Nurse who was assign on the night Shift. She was very young and soft spoken. At first I thought she was a student nurse. For the last two days Macrine's room had been hot we have to turn the electric fan to keep the air circulating. On the 3rd day during this Indian nurse shift, she notice the room was also hot. She immediately called the maintenance man and in 5 minutes the problem was solve. I was impressed by the decision making capability of this young nurse.
Now on the details of one lazy male nurse. On one of the day shifts, Macrine's IV was ringing, telling me its clogged and need attention. I dialed his extension and he answered he will take a look at it. I waited for 10 minutes he did not arrived. The alarm bell bothered me, so when I saw another nurse in the hallway, I requested her to look at the IV. She straightened the IV tube to remove the air bubbles and hit the restart button and the problem was solved.
An hour later when this male nurse went to check for Macrine's blood sugar I confronted him with of what happened and he just ignored me. When I told this story to the Filipina Nursing Assistant, she told me that this nurse is known to be the Lazy One. One afternoon, on my way home after David III took over to kept his Mom's company I confronted this Nurse in front of the other nurses of the event. Later on the afternoon David informed that this nurse was very helpful and appeared to be compassionate and did not appeared lazy at all. So the above incident is the first example of the Filipino proverb, He who squeals(complain)gets the oil(attention/help).
After Macrine's release from Mercy San Juan Hospital, we followed the recommendation of the Mercy Staff to have Macrine admitted to Manor Care of Citrus Heights only a few miles from our residence for rehabilitation for her hip surgery. The Physician in Mercy said that Manor Care of Citrus Heights is the Cadillac( the best) of skilled nursing facility in our area. Prior to our signing in, David III visited the facility and talk to the Manager asking for all the financial details and services rendered by the facility.
Dodie( my oldest son) and I followed it up the next day and toured the facility. We were impressed plus it is only 5 minutes from our residence. For the basic care for 20 days covered by Medicare, Macrine has to share a room with a complete stranger. You have an option for an upgrade of to a private room for an additional $60 per night at your own personal expense. I opted on the Upgrade Service telling my oldest son, that when you die you can not bring your money with you, you might as well enjoy it while you are still alive. My Blue Cross Blue Shield(BCBS) Federal Insurance will cover the next 21 to 30 days if needed, but will not pay also for the upgrade private room. The only reason BCBS will pay for the upgraded single room is for the insured to show she has an infectious disease.
Another example supporting the above proverb, occurred on our first two hours at Manor Care. We hired a van transport ( at the additional expense of $75 according to the manager at Manor Care) transferring Macrine from Mercy San Juan Hospital to Manor Care. The transfer took only 10 minutes since the distance was only about 4 miles. The gurney guys transferred Macrine to her new bed at Manor at about 2:30PM. No one greeted us so we waited for 30 minutes. I got tired waiting so I went out of the room and went to the nurse station. I told her we have arrived. She looked at her file and said oh yes, the paper work is here. When I asked her when could we have nursing service since Macrine's CarboLevodopa is due. If she missed her medications by 30 minutes she trembled and get agitated and really feel sick. Maybe another hour since we are in the process of Shifts. I was mad and demanded to see Chief nurse and give a lecture about the recommendation of the Mercy Staff that they are supposed to be the Cadillac of Skilled Facility in our area. In five minutes there was a nurse and assistant helping us check in and I sign all the paper work.
Today, as I am writing this, we are happy of the services rendered by Manor Care specially their physical therapy department. Food service is excellent. Most of the nurses and nurse assistants are industrious and compassionate. The longer wait I had was about 10 minutes after I pressed the bell for assistance. The facility employs a few Filipinos, Latinos and other Asians(Indians/Chinese). I am specifically impressed by one of the nursing Assistant, named Christine, a Chinese-American. We are scheduled for evaluation this coming March 27, the day after Macrine's 81st Birthday. Incidentally, the party for Macrine's 81st BD this coming March 26 Sunday has been cancelled. The above are the details of Macrines Hip Surgery and Recovery for the past 6 days. Again for those who sent their prayers via FaceBook, thanks a million!
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