Medication Mix Up

Mel seemed alright Sunday evening until she went to bed and her eyes began to swell.  I kept a night vigil on her, waking every couple of hours.  I was more concerned about her breathing because she is a chronic asthmatic.  She made it through the night but the morning beckoned and her eyes were still swollen, her forehead painful and the infection was spreading.  I took her to the Emergency Department (ED) while big sister looked after Merv at home.  Usually a trip to ED is time consuming and frustrating.  Today there was only a little of each and before long Mel had a cannula inserted in her right arm for the intravenous antibiotics.  Unfortunately they forgot to bandage it and a few hours later Mel knocked it causing blood to flood out of her arm all over her and her bedding! I took a break while the doctor prodded her trying to find a vein.  A coffee van in the car park provided me with hot coffee and a blueberry muffin.  I ate it under a verandah, resting my coffee cup and wrapped muffin on the top of the very clean looking wheelie bin.  After finishing I began to wonder where I could find a bin. Then I laughed, silly me!  Definitely need more sleep!


My morning tea table outside the hospital

The medical staff were polite and caring.  They were thorough and performed all the regular tests and observations.  Mel was taken from ED and placed in the Observation Ward for twenty four hours.  Her pain in her forehead continues, she has a slight temperature, her eyes slightly swollen and her nausea abated when lunch arrived!  There is no TV in the ward and I bought her some magazines and a Word Search book to entertain her.  She has her mobile phone of course.  She will be alright.  I had taken Mel's medication pack in with her this morning but the hospital said they will use their own medication for her.  After 8pm I received a call from Mel stating the hospital did not have a certain medication and could I bring in her Webster Pack.  I spoke at length with the nurse trying to find out why they had not sourced Mel's meds before the pharmacy closed at 5pm.  The nurse insisted she could not source the medication from anywhere else and had tried everywhere.  I did not want Mel to miss her meds and decided my only option was to put Merv to bed early and drive to the hospital to deliver her meds.  It was after 9pm by this time and Mel had to decipher which meds in the Webster Pack were the correct ones.  The others had already been provided by the hospital and she had already taken them.  The nurse went onto say they would have been able to source her meds, but I reminded her this is not what she told me on the phone.  I was home within thirty minutes.  I sent an email to the complaints department of the hospital.  If no one tells them about this scenario they will never hear about it.  I can't complain about Mel's care only the mix up with her regular medication.  Hopefully Mel will be home tomorrow.