Busy times on the hospital medicine wards

So this has been a very busy week for me at the hospital, at least until the weekend. Most days have been from 6:15 am to 6:00 pm or later, sometimes until 8:00 pm. The hospital has stayed full of very sick people. And I decided not to take a day off this week – that way I’ll get 3 days off during my last 2 weeks of this rotation. That should be something nice to look forward to.

This week I had my first patient who died on me. She was an older lady that came in quite malnourished, very weak, & with a pretty bad infection that didn’t want to get better. We had her on IV antibiotics, did lots of scans, consulted with experts, but she continued downhill. I knew something up when mid week she started saying that she was getting tired, and then that she was ready to be done. We kept the family posted of what was happening. Friday she seemed a lot worse than any other day. We called the children in to talk about the patients plans for further treatment. They had all talked before about their mom’s wishes, which were that she didn’t want surgery or to have a tube down her throat or have CPR if her heart stopped. They decided to have us continue with all care throughout that day to allow time for a daughter in Washington to fly in. She arrived that afternoon, all the family had a chance to say their goodbyes, and then we stopped the antibiotics & other medicines, except for pain & anxiety medicine, and just did comfort care. I arrived Saturday morning to the report that the patient had passed away about 10 minutes before I got there. I went to see her one last time & to talk with the family again. They were sad to see her go, but happy that she is now not suffering anymore & can be with her husband again. It was a sad experience to dictate her death summary, reviewing in my mind how her last 2 weeks of life had been.

I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of the resurrection, to know that after this life we will regain our bodies & can be with our loved ones again throughout eternity. I can’t imagine what it would be like to not know what happens after this life – that would be horrible to wonder if you would ever see a loved one again. God be thanked for sending His son to sacrifice & atone for us so that we can return to live with them again. That gives so much purpose and perspective to my life.

Monday for family home evening Steph brought the boys over to the hospital to have dinner with me in the cafeteria, which actually has quite good food as far as a hospital cafeteria is concerned. Then I took them on a tour of my work to show them what I did when I was away from home.

Tuesday I watched the boys while Steph went to a Mary Kae activity at a girls house in the ward. She said it was fun, though she didn’t buy anything.

Steph has spent this week figuring out what new clothes are needed & then finding deals on clothes for our boys to get ready for the fall & winter. That has kept her pretty busy.

Wednesday night we took the boys to McDonalds for dinner & then played with them in the big indoor play area. We even got Isaac up into it & down the slide.

Friday night Steph babysat 5 kids for a family in the ward that she had offered to watch. Their kids ranged in age from 11 to 3. The younger ones had a lot of fun – I think the older ones got a little bored towards the end of the night. We just don’t have a lot of things for older kids to do yet.

Saturday we got done pretty fast with hospital work, so I used the rest of the morning & early afternoon to get caught up on all my hospital dictations and preparing a presentation for Tuesday morning on ulcerative colitis (an inflammatory bowel disease). Steph worked on her talk for Sunday, and we got the laundry washed & the lawn edged & mowed. After dinner Grandma Faun watched the boys for us so we could go see a movie. We finally saw Iron Man, and I thought it was great – I loved the robotics & the special effects. Steph & I had a lot of fun.

Today was not to busy in the hospital either, which was nice for a Sunday – I even made it home for lunch. Steph gave a talk today in church on the importance of work & the Law of the Harvest. She said that it went well & the boys did pretty well. They are all asleep now – I love this time. I have home teaching later on this afternoon.