Trauma Experienced By a Heart Patient

Many people do not really know the trauma a heart patient has to go through. Long hospital stays, doctor appointments, and many disappointments. It also begins to take a toll on the caretakers because they are going through it with us.

When you are in the hospital there is not any rest for the weary because of the many people in and out of the room. Whether there is the nurse giving medications, the x-ray technician, the phlebotomist, the food service, the environmental service workers, or even a doctor doing their rounds.

Every person has different experiences in the hospital so this is what I have experienced.

My experienced trauma in the hospital as a heart failure patient

Long and uncomfortable hospital stays

I think for me it was the fact that the doctors did not know what was wrong with me when I first got to the hospital. I had suffered a stroke and was in the hospital until the doctors transferred me to rehab.

I was back in the hospital again, but this time the doctors could not figure out what was wrong with me. It was hard staying in the hospital when visiting hours were over because I was there alone. This made me anxious because not only could they not figure out what was wrong with me, but the doctors would not let me walk on my own. Also at night, it was hard for me to fall asleep due to the fact that my body would get so hot at night. I was extra fidgety and anxious, but I also could not breathe lying down. There was a chair that I stayed in to sleep because the bed did not allow me to move the way I wanted.

It was like my body knew that something was wrong and was going haywire. I would even have bizarre hallucinations and mumble to myself. My brain was off because my heart was off. It was not until they did a right heart catheterization did we got the diagnosis of advanced heart failure.

The doctors immediately sent me off to the cardiac ICU, and the room was even bigger than the unit they had me in before. This made me even more anxious, but at least I did not have to share a room.  

Surgery and recovery

When the doctors told me that an LVAD was needed we agreed to it. After the LVAD surgery, I was in so much pain from the surgery. Anytime the nurses would come to change the dressing on the LVAD I would just cry and cry because it was so painful.

In addition to that, I could not swallow water or food. Being intubated for the surgery had taken away my ability to swallow. The doctors did not want me to choke so they took away food and liquids. That was something that was traumatizing because I was not able to eat or drink anything for almost 2 weeks. The doctors ordered that a tube be put in my nose in order to give me the daily medications. I would receive medications through the tube as well as liquid food. Not being able to physically drink or eat food had to be one of the hardest things ever to do.

Being home from the hospital

When I left the hospital after being in there for 2 months, it took me a while to get acclimated to being home. Not having nurses, techs, and phlebotomists coming into the room was a new change. Granted they were just doing their jobs, but it felt good knowing that everything was going well enough for me to be home.

It was a bad experience, but the great thing was that it was over. I thank the doctors, nurses, the techs, the environmental team, and the food service team for being so patient with me and for caring for me.

It's not an easy job and it is not easy being a patient. The trauma experienced in the hospital varies from person to person, but I am just happy that chapter is closed for now.