Thread by @BarryHunt008

Well that's been a long day

4 am to 2 am

So far 😊

But all good

After a 4h operation I was delivered to lucky PACU Bed #13

And the love of my life
❤️❤️❤️

I was supported with friendly, attentive, experienced staff

Tim Hortons

Cold compression therapy

Great ventilation

And more love ❤️

Until it was finally time to say goodbye to my newfound friends

When a bed finally opened up a few hours later

Which initiated a major project for Suzi, transporting a lot of 'stuff' from PACU and from our truck in the parking garage up to our room

I say "our room" because Humber River Hospital was one of the first of a new generation of hospitals in Canada built to CSAZ8000:11 - single patient rooms, complete with 3-piece ensuite, & accommodations for family caregivers including a pull-out bed

👏👏👏

.@CSAGroup

Cold compression therapy is NB to fast, effective wound healing

Sadly the compressor on my machine kept kicking out when compressing so I could only run it in ice water circulation mode

Luckily I had packed a soft cast that could be added to provide compression

There are many things that can be done to improve the safety of a patient room

Some are very simple

And free

Like closing the door

Or adding a few signs to your door

Some are new & novel & expensive

Like FarUV that safely & continuously disinfects air & surfaces

In the patient room

And in the bathroom

Where likely half of disease transmission originates

Sadly, FarUV is not yet commercially available in Canada

😢😢😢

Some are just different than what we've become accustomed to

Like going maskless in Hospitals

Handing out FREE .@CanadamasQ respirator masks was popular when I was here in 2023

Let's see how they're received in 2025

Earloop, easy-breathing, CSA-Certified, Made in 🇨🇦

👏👏👏

We might have to take up a collection to help Humber buy new overbed tables

Arguably the most important surface in Hospitals

Shared by patients, visitors, staff

For food, personal devices, wound dressings, IV kits, etc

These are now 10 years old

Today you can get self-disinfecting Overbed Tables

Made with an aesthetically pleasing, easy-clean, solid-surface infused w Copper ions

.@EOSSurfaces



While I have an EOS copper overbed table at home, I didn't bring it in with meeoscu.com/the-product

So I packed a residual sanitizing surface treatment (Zoono) & an electrolyzed water disinfectant (aka hypochlorous acid) - safe, sporicidal, virucidal, more effective & faster acting than bleach, non-toxic, non-corrosive, & penetrates & disrupts dry surface biofilm.

👏👏👏

I packed dark chocolate almonds & strawberries

(Made in Ontario)

Because why not?

Life is worth living

😊😊😊

picardpeanuts.com

They are a marginally healthy-ish treat

Great to serve to guests

Like my daughter, Andrea

❤️❤️❤️

Optimizing a patient room for safety, convenience & joy

Can be tiring

And it was

For both Suzi & I

But well worth it

Cheers 🥂

23 hours later...

Fresh ice in machine

Hydromorphone top up

Time for sleep

Sigh 😔

Right after we correct this alarm

OK, listening to this truck-backing-up-in-your-ear alarm gets annoying after 30 minutes at 3 am

When all you want to do is finally sleep

Sigh 😔

Only to be woken up 10 minutes after going to sleep to have vital signs taken

BP, temp, O2 sat

Sigh 🫤

And then being refused IV hydromorphone because oral hydromorphone was already given

Even though that was the anesthesiologist's plan

Prescribed, documented in the pain management report, & followed by the highly skilled & experienced PACU staff

But not at 4 am

At pain level 8

Because "that was how I was taught"

Kudos to the nurse for following her teaching

Shame on the teacher / school for misinforming her

The only thing harder than learning something the first time

Is unlearning misinformation

And learning something new

In a mammoth top down industry like healthcare

Where critical thinking & empowerment of front line staff have been driven out of the system

😢😢😢

I don't know how to fix the system

Yet

But fix it we must

This is just one small example

They add up

Eventually they can allow a global pandemic of misinformation & patient harm & disease transmission to run unchecked

😢😢😢

4:40 am - a very pleasant RRT came in at my nurse's request to add an oxygen tee to my CPAP circuit

Despite being fatigued from only 10 minutes sleep in 24 hours, my leg hurts too much to sleep now anyway so the distraction was nice

And it was a learning experience
😊

He taught me:

- SpO2 reading drops if hand is elevated above heart level

- I'm designated a category 1 - 94 to 96% on room air when resting / shallow breathing

- a category 2 is 88 to 92%

- Protocol for category 1 is to titrate to 96% O2 saturation when sleeping w CPAP

Sigh 😔

6 am

Still no sleep

At least now I qualify to get another hit of hydromorphone

Oh, Morpheus, take me away...

Please 😊

6:15 to 6:35 am - disturbance to add IV antibiotic drip & to open compression cast to view leg

6:40 to 6:45 am - disturbance to have bloodwork taken

Phlebotomist wore an N95!

👏👏👏

(My nurse wears a chin strap 😢)

Shift change is underway

The daily morning flurry of hospital activity has begun anew

That 10 minutes of sleep I enjoyed last nite around the 23h mark will be it for awhile

New learning: it helps me relate to the bizarre system of forced sleep deprivation known as medical on call

And all that entails

Hmm 🤔