I don't like being punished.

Especially when it's for exercising a right I have as a hospital patient.

So here's the story...

Tom was on the phone with my mom twice last night as I was screaming in pain, and he managed to get me 1 mg of Dilotid IV and 2 mg PO (by mouth). Once again, I got very little sleep. He called my nurse early this morning (no clue what time) and said that he was going to get me a Dilotid pump so I could get a burst whenever I needed it because he could hear me screaming so things obviously weren't working. However, the IV in my hand that I had gotten put in in the Emergency Room was quite small, so he put in orders for a new IV so that the Dilotid didn't hurt my veins. I was cool with that. Well, guess who they sent to my room to put in my IV? The cocky jerk I mentioned in this post. I mentally groaned as soon as I saw him, and when he stepped out to get gloves, I told my mom who he was. I'm generally not that good with names of people I don't see every day, and this guy's named popped in my head like I had just been transported back to August. So she told me to call my nurse and request someone else. I explained to her what happened and that I didn't want the dude touching me, so she went back out and told him I wanted somebody else. He told her he'd have to call his charge nurse to come do it, but she was "swamped." Guess when I finally got a new IV.

6:30 pm. And it wasn't even the charge nurse that came and did it! That meant almost 12 hours without IV pain meds, my antibiotics, or my steroids. (My mom said, "They better hope her pneumonia doesn't take a step back thanks to this 12-hour break, or I'm gonna raise hell.") When the disaster with Mr. IV dude happened in August, nurses told me it was my right to request at any time for any reason to not have someone do a procedure on me. So I thought it wouldn't be a big deal that we sent him away, but no. This was like "You don't like who we send you the first time? Well, you can wait till next shift then." Like some sort of punishment for that guy being a screw up. Thank heavens I managed to sleep a little today to forget how much pain I was for not being able to get the one medicine that brings relief. The two people who finally came from the IV team were so super apologetic, and I'm like, "This isn't your fault." It was either the IV guy's fault, or the charge nurse's because they said that no one told them all day that I was waiting for one. Of freaking course.

So needless to say, tonight has been one big catch-up game of trying to get my pain back under control, which frankly isn't working too well. And now there's new pain at the top of my lungs. And I'm burning up and my face is bright red even though I don't have a bit of fever. And Mom and I are trying really hard not to call Tom since we woke him up twice last night, though he said he wanted us to, and tomorrow is his day off. It was really funny - when he walked in the room this morning, he was like, "Okay, your bill for the two middle-of-the-night pages comes to 100 million, 50 thousand dollars." Joking, I said, "How about I just marry you? Will that make it even?" He said, "Yes, as long as you cook me three gourmet meals a day." My mom chimed in, "Oh, you don't want her to cook for you. That'd be punishment, not pleasure!" He laughed and said, "Okay, marriage it is, then." Hey, what can I say? He's only 27, and seems like the type of guy that any girl would be lucky to marry. He's smart brilliant, funny, caring, attentive, and oh-so-dreamy, too. Hehehe.

I'll let you know when the invitations are gonna be sent out. ;)