How frustrating! From Sunday, 10/30 to Wednesday, 11/2 Steve spent more time back at the hospital in severe pain. What's worse, is them not being able to figure out why he was in so much pain (again) and the scarier part was why he couldn't straighten out his leg.
Several different doctors and/or nurses made the suggestion that it was because Steve started stepping down off his Oxy too soon. I'm sorry, what!?! When he left the hospital after his BKA (amputation) they lowered him from 30mg of Oxy every 4 hours to 25mg every 4 hours. So, he was at the 30mg dosage for 4 days, then Sunday came, another 4 days, so Steve did lower from 25 to 20mg every 4 hours. BUT there’s no way I’m believing that’s what caused him to be readmitted for pain – especially not when Morphine or Dilaudid could even touch his pain.
I'll just be very honest here. The statements from the professionals really took a toll on Steve and I. There were heated conversations between Steve and I as well as some doctors and myself. I won't apologize for it though. To say that I was concerned with the amount of drugs he'd been on in the past month+ is an understatement.
When they admitted Steve back to the hospital they put him on a drip of Dilaudid and he was able to push a button every 10 minutes to "mask" the pain, but of course it did nothing so he kept pushing. I had already experienced him in drug comas, delusional episodes, and downright brain fog. Not to mention that I knew the only way for him to get out of the hospital was to not be hooked up to machines. So my fight and my reasons were valid.
Steve finally understood when I explained it in that fashion, "You want to go home don't you? Then you have to stop the intravenous drugs and figure out how to cope." I was not trying to be mean or not empathetic for his pain, but I could see the bigger picture and was terrified that if he didn't straighten out his leg that he would never be able to wear a prosthetic.
After a visit from a physical therapist, Steve finally made the decision to dig deep and get his leg stretched out and get his leg fairly straight. When he did it opened the flood gates. He bled out for 2 days! I mean the first incident was all over the floor - it looked like a murder had taken place, no joke.
When the PT ladies knew he was ready to work and get out of there they to their tests and observations of him and gave the thumbs up that he could go. Yes, he was still in pain, but it was getting a little more manageable. He was released to come home that Wednesday evening. Those 4 days and 3 nights felt like an eternity. Keep in mind we have a son and I work outside of our home, so my routine was awake at 4AM, go to work, go to the hospital, come home in time to get our son to bed, get to bed around 10PM and do it all over again the next day. Yikes! That was so exhausting, but I'd do it all over again to be by my man's side. As for our son, thankfully we have awesome family and friends close by that were more than willing to help us out. But that was very trying on my heart too - feeling like I was abandoning our then 9 year old.