I have a wonderful nutritionist. Her name is Eva. This very caring, health care professional, has taken so much time to meet with me, speak with me, explain, dictate, educate, and support me.
In December, I was admitted to the hospital with a 1.6 potassium level (normal range is 3-6) after I had had my blood work checked. I went into a panic when the meals I was brought were filled with sugar and carbs and all the things that are seemingly harmless. I called Eva's office and left her a message that I needed help. She had already been notified I was hospitalized and had a call into the head of the kitchen. How impressive. It took a few days, but my diet was stable and we were all on the same page. When I was readmitted 8 days later, the head of the kitchen was not on shift and Eva came to the rescue.
She met with the gentleman that ran the kitchen and planned the meals. Wow. Impressive. He came to my room and spent a good 45 minutes discussing my needs, likes, dislikes, requirements, etc. He even had me make a list of what I wanted to eat. Not only did he see to my diet personally, he was firm with those that assisted him, to the point that when I was missing a Greek Yogurt, his assistant refused to send it to me because of the sugar content. Good job! He called his boss at home and they worked it out. My Yoplait Greek 100 showed up half an hour later. (Low sugar)
I spent 8 days attached to as many as 4 IV's at one time. Almost the entire time, potassium was being pumped into me. My Internal Medicine team leader was awesome. Actually, all the teams were. The Chief Bariatric Surgeon headed the bariatric team. There were cardiologists giving input on the responses of my beloved heart, and then there was the Internal Medicine team. I will always be grateful to these men and women. All of the doctors. They cared. They cared enough to monitor me 24/7 for 8 days. Every so many hours, blood was drawn and someone would come in to discuss the results and what the IM team was recommending...no...ordering.
He found the vitamins that were fighting each other. He talked through possibilities of how/why my body was responding as it was, switched the way I took vitamins, quantities, and even something so simple as switching from chlorides to citrates.
Telemetry was a hoot. Telemetry is the dept that monitors patients hooked up to portable monitors, like an EKG machine but it's a handheld and you keep it in your pocket. I can't tell you how often I would hear someone's calm voice saying my name at 0200 or 0300. Each time there was a soft apology with the statement, "Telemetry asked us to check on you".
On the 9th day, I left with a stable potassium level of 4.5. I'd gone 24 hours with no drip, no IV's at all. I've only been back for labs.
So this is a thank you to the Doctors, the kitchen staff, my Nutritionist, the Nurses, the Corpsmen, even the volunteers who came in to see if I needed anything (loved the crossword books!!!).
It's so easy to complain. It's so easy to say...I didn't feel good and they just kept me awake. But you know, it's just as easy and it feels so much better to just accept that they did everything they could because they cared. And I am forever grateful each of them chose the medical field.
To the Staff at the Naval Medical Center San Diego....THANK YOU.
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