A few days ago, I shared my experience in our local Emergency Department. On reflection, I have decided to share a more positive experience when I went to the UNC ED, two days after discharge. I had my debulking surgury for Ovarian Cancer and to my relief, my doctor discharged me eight days later.

I developed much swelling in my lower legs after surgery. My first day home, I spent much of the day walking around the house for exercise. I felt fine. However, when I woke up the next morning, I felt short of breath laying in bed and felt much better when I got up in a chair. I had never smoked and had no respiratory disease so this was a new symptom. I hoped it would pass. I went to church with my sister. She went grocery shopping afterward. I still felt weak and lousy so I tried laying in bed again. I was still short of breath. I got up in a chair. My sister returned. I told her what was going on. We called the resident on call. An hour went by, the resident did not call back. I looked at my sister and told her we are going back to UNC Chapel Hill where they know me. About half way to Chapel Hill, the resident on call, returned my call. I told her what was going on. Her response was “if you feel like you need to come , come.”. This remark made me feel angry and patronized. In my experience, shortness of breath is BAD for anyone especially for someone who is postop after major surgery. On to Chapel Hill we went.

When we arrived to the UNC Chapel Hill Emergency, we were welcomed by free valet parking. Since, I could barely stand up, it is hard to express in words, what a relief it was to have that burden removed. We went to the Emergency Department triage area. When they discovered, I had Ovarian Cancer and had recently had surgury, they immediately took me to a private room since I was susceptible to any contagious diseases others in the ED were suffering from.

I immediately saw a medical student. He looked very young, early 20’s or maybe late teens. He was young enough, that if I had grandchildren, he could be my grandson. I made it a point to tell every healthcare provider that I was a RN, with ICU experience so they might be more willing to shared details with me. He took a thorough medical history, did an assessment. The ED attending came in. His name was Dr. McCoy. Do you watch Star Trek (The original version)? This Dr. McCoy, was like the Dr. McCoy on the show. A knowledgeable, caring, straight forward approach. I felt very reassured. He looked at the youthful resident and asked about my lung sounds. The resident said my lungs were clear. Dr. McCoy said he heard congestion on the right side.

Dr. McCoy looked at me and said “We are going to do a bunch of tests you probably don’t need but we have to do since you recently had surgury. I believe your pleural effusion is much bigger on the right side and that is why you are short of breath.”. In the end, Dr. McCoy was correct. Wherever, you are Dr. McCoy, may God bless you and may you have a long, successful and fulfilling career.

I have terrible veins.  In the hospital after my surgery, I lost my IV in the middle of the night and they were unable to get another one in.  The next morning, I went to Interventional Radiology and got a PICC line.  The next day, I went back to Interventional Radiology where they removed my PICC line. ( Later that day, two cute fellows from Interventional Radiology rolled me down to insert my duo port.  They were very nice.  That moment I realized I was going to be OK.  If I could enjoy seeing those cute guys, everything was going to be OK.) The reason I went into all of this is my less than a week old Port had to be accessed in the ED.  It was still very sore. An experienced RN and her orientee asked if they could access my port together.  ( I agreed.  I have been a teacher in my career as a challenge and for fun. I am a great supporter of educating and supporting health care providers.) It was very uncomfortable. They were successful.

We spent most of the night in the ED.  New residents appeared after 11PM and gave me Lasix.  I diuresed (peed alot).  They proclaimed me fixed.  They were planning on discharging me then.  I explained I was not going anywhere because I could barely stand up and I still felt short of breath.  If I left then, I would just “bounce back” to the ED later. They said they would come back later. In the meantime, this ICU nurse who usually worked at night, listened to confused patients yelling and other goings on in the ED. It made me smile. I felt like I was home. ( Weird huh?)

Later, the residents came back and admitted me. Dr. Soper said it indeed was the pleural effusion the next morning. We did a thoracentesis two days later to remove the fluid around my right lung. That is another story…..

I love the UNC Chapel Hill ED.  Whenever you go to a teaching hospital ED, you need to be your own advocate.  They are all learning.  Some are amazingly expert quickly and others take longer.  I still prefer it to my local hospital but since it is over a 3 hour hour drive, it is not a practical choice.