Tag Archives: Hospital stays

A Tale of Two Hands

Posted on by
10

To the untrained eye, my hands in the following photograph may not seem very different – each has an IV in it. However, to me, this picture represents the two types of experiences one can have in the hospital: excellent and crappy. And so much of that experience comes down to the people who work there and their talent and skill – or lack of one or both.

Which would you prefer?

Let’s start with the image on the left, which is my right hand. This is an example of a beautiful IV insertion with its stat lock and white tape and lack of excess tape. Everything is positioned perfectly. All in all, an excellent job.

The image on the right, my left hand, has no stat lock and looks like something I might do if I had the mind to insert my own IV, which I think I could do if the world was coming to an end and my life depended on it. I wouldn’t like it, but I could do it, though I might need the help of someone’s finger to stop the bleeding when I pulled the needle out. Look at the massive amount of tape used to keep the line in place because the thin white tape and stat lock weren’t used. I lost a lot of hair when we removed it.

Now here’s a question for you: Which site went bad and caused my hand to swell up and turn red? Easy answer isn’t it? I’ve been elevating my left hand for the past week to get the swelling down. The vein is rock hard above and below the insertion site. And it hurts. My medical diagnosis is Puffer Fish Hand.

This distinction between medical excellence and crumminess doesn’t stop at IV sites. It happens daily in the hospital with tests, procedures, and doctors. And for someone who stays in a hospital once in their lifetime, then the IV site on the right might not make much difference in the long run. However, I’ve stayed at the hospital four times this year and spent almost a month and a half there. The difference in the two types of care does matter because I’m exposed to more of these swings in quality the longer I’m there. They add up. And many result in more than a fat, tender hand.

Worst of all, not every difference in care can be photographed. The ones that can’t be seen scare me the most.

Life in the wild

Posted on by
14

During my last clinic appointment, I told my doctor that being in the hospital is like being in the wild surrounded by lions and hyenas and other critters intent on making me their dinner. That’s not to say the people who work there have the intention to hurt me – or eat me – they don’t. However, mistakes happen and stuff goes wrong. Some people are better at their jobs than others. The hospital can be a dangerous environment and one that requires my constant vigilance while I’m locked up there.

This appeared in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times:

USC University Hospital was fined $50,000 after pharmacists and staff gave a female patient with cystic fibrosis an overdose of medication in February, causing kidney failure and seizures. The hospital has since retrained nurses to verify prescription orders, created a new pilot program to ensure medications are administered correctly and started randomly auditing medication orders, according to a plan of correction submitted to the state. It was the first time the hospital had been fined.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/11/state-fines-12-hospitals-for-serious-errors-eight-are-in-southern-california.html

My best wishes to the CFer. I’m not sure of the outcome at this time, but I hope for the best.

When I was in the hospital recently, they upped my dose of an IV antibiotic I received four times a day. However, the pharmacy kept the 30-minute timeline to infuse it on the label of the IV. Luckily, the nurses caught the mistake, as it should have read 60 minutes for infusion time. They often frowned and raised their eyebrows each time they saw it, letting me know it wasn’t a good thing. I asked them to tell the pharmacy and it took a day to get the label corrected. So, I had to watch over each dose to make sure it was infused over 60 minutes. I’m happy the nurses caught it and told me.

Back to my analogy of the wilderness. I’ve had other incidents, like a nurse telling me at 5 in the morning that they gave me the wrong antibiotic or being given a double dose during a shift change. These are just a few of the events that have happened to me at hospitals. I feel I’ve made a few saves of others by asking questions and staying alert (when I’m not knocked out from being sick).

Here are some of the actions I take during  hospital stays (please note that this is not advice. It demonstrates how crazy I am, nothing more.):

1) I use the high-strength Super Sani-clothes to clean all surfaces I might touch during the stay. That’s right. When I arrive in the room, I put on a pair of rubber gloves and clean the tray table, the phone, the remote, the the bed rails, door handles, etc. Some of the nurses who know me bring me the pads when I arrive. It’s cleaning time.

2) I check all IV medicines they give me  and when they give them to me. I look at the labels and ask questions, and pay attention to the routine. At night, I confirm the schedule with the nurse before going to bed.  There have been numerous times over the years, I’ve called the nurses to give me IVs to stay on schedule. During the last visit, one argued with me over the correct time of the dose. It turned out I had the time right.

3) I try to be proactive. For example, in isolation, I do my best to make sure everyone follows the rules about masks and gloves. I stop people from entering my room, which isn’t always easy and can lead to a hospital employee with “tude,” which I can match. Most of the time, it’s temp nurses and RTs who don’t know the rules and try to sound like they know what they’re talking about when they don’t. Processes can be difficult to train to a staff. Temps don’t always get every memo.

4) I wear gloves in the bathroom (except when washing my hands). C-diff is a killer. Literally. And if it doesn’t kill you, it can make you wish it would. I’ve had it five or six times. I’m doing my best to avoid it. I also take probiotics during the stay and after. My last stay was my best yet for digestion and bowel health thanks to the probiotics. And not contracting C-diff was my reward despite being on three IV antibiotics. I also stopped the Nexium and Zithromax to reduce the risk of C-Diff.

5) Before they remodeled and put a pulse-ox in each room, I used to watch as the nurse cleaned it with a Sani-cloth, not alcohol, and then I washed my hands after using it. Even with one in the room now, I clean it myself.

6) If something falls on the floor, it’s dead to me and goes in the trash. Are there exceptions? Sure. If I dropped my iPad, I’d clean it. Sometimes, my charging cords hit the floor and I have to glove-up and use a Sani-Cloth to clean them. But anything else, it’s outta there.

7) I bring my own Pari Sprint nebs. I hate the cheap-o nebs with the long accordion attachment. I wonder what the particle size is. It doesn’t seem as good as the Pari.

I know I’m nuts. I have other quirks while I’m stuck in a hospital. And after the last hospital stay, I dread having to go back. I’ve knocked out a lot of days there but it’s getting old having to go in three or four times a year. It was easier when I was young and didn’t care as much about living. Now with more to lose, it takes more effort to stay healthy. That’s okay, I’m lucky I have the chance to do it. At least I don’t take that for granted anymore.

Yesterday’s Clinic Visit

Posted on by
23

I am so lucky.

Lucky, lucky, lucky. I’m not sure how I’ve lived this long. Better people haven’t.

My clinic appointment went pretty well. It’s funny now my blood pressure goes up during the visit, especially if they take it before I do my PFTs, which make me nervous as I can’t tell which way they’re going to go. They end in happiness or dejection. No in-between for me.

When I was in the hospital for my two embolizations and 20 straight days of partying, my PFTs when down to level unseen since another doctor ruled the clinic years ago. In the span of my hospital stay, I lost over 20% of my lung function. The good news is – and why I am lucky – most of my lung function returned. I worked my ass off trying to get it back over the past weeks, even succumbing to twice a day pulmozyme, a drug has may cause me to bleed and one which my doctor and I discussed for 10 minutes. (Does twice a day make a difference? He says it’s only a 1 to 2% gain twice a day and wants me to take it once a day.) But I was desperate to use any tool in the tool box to get my numbers up. I’ve been doing my treatments three times a day, as always, with more vest time.  Flutter, of course. And I used the big gun of Cayston the minute I got out of the hospital.

Lucky me.

I also had a great visit because the doctor is top notch – outstanding from a medical standpoint – and human, caring and understanding.  It wasn’t a busy day and he listened to me vent about the last hospital stay and we came up with ways that future stays for all CFers can be improved – measured cups for hemoptysis volumes to reduce guessing; faster decisions to embolize. I’ve never met a doctor with a better understanding of what it’s like to stay in the hospital. He’s awesome. Bromance in the air? Kidding.

I’ve avoided a oral glucose test for the past three years. I’ve never had the time to go to the lab for two hours, or I haven’t wanted to take the time to do it. They’ve written me a dozen Rx’s for the test and it’s kind of a joke when I ask them for a new one each time. Tired of that game, they made me do the test at clinic and skip my morning McGriddle, which made me McMad. Not sure how I did, but I know I’ll find out soon. Scary waiting for results for that test, which is why I’ve avoided it.

I hate questionnaires – especially CF-related questionnaires. I’m at the point in my life that if I don’t like a question, I don’t answer it. When they asked me about sexual intercourse and my family history, I said “next, please.” Let’s concentrate on the questions that have some chance of making me well, people. I don’t give a sh** about zoo experiment statistics that you discuss over lunch and have no bearing on my health. Some of what I go through is none of your business. And the less I talk about certain members of my family, the happier I am.

The social worker visit? Hi. Nothing to say. Bye. Don’t take it personally. (They are my dark thoughts. I don’t need to share them with the world. Does a blog count?)

Here’s a mini-story about irony. The clinic visit, which was my “annual” visit even though feel like I live there, went fast. Usually they go slow and I’m there three hours. I could have been out  in 90 minutes if not for the glucose test. ARGH. And I promised to complete a six-minute walking test for a study they were doing, which also included a questionnaire. And I completed that questionnaire while the nurse was asking me questions from another questionnaire. Two birds, baby. I’m the zen master of multitasking questions. Ask away. I won’t answer, but you can ask.

I completed the six-minute walking test, back and forth in the waiting area. 9 complete laps and some extra feet for good measure. A month ago in the hospital my results were not good and I “desatted.” Not this time because I am full of luck to the point it’s falling out of my pants. And I’ll feel that way until the next time I cough up blood on a Saturday afternoon or have to be admitted. But until then, it’s all gravy, baby. Gravy.

The Cost of Battle

Posted on by
4

If I can compare the 20 days in the hospital to anything, it would be 20 days in enemy territory getting shot at and dodging explosions. In the movies, when the lead actor escapes the battlefield there is a moment of personal inventory. What’s bleeding? What’s broken? It’s just good to be alive. That’s the point. To survive no matter what. In the movies everything heals over time.

I’ve been taking inventory the last few days.

Hearing – more lost thanks to the 20 days of tobra. I can’t hear some high pitch sounds in our house like the alarm. The sound is gone to me. My ears play Jingle Bells 24/7. I left for battle and the explosions took their toll. When I returned, some of my hearing stayed at the hospital. Hasta la vista, high pitched sounds.

Lung function down over 20 percent according to the PFT in the hospital. Will it come back? Let’s hope.

O2 levels normal. That’s good news. So far so good.

Low grade fevers and chills. Still hanging on me. 5:00 p.m. rolls around and it’s time for a nap and baby bottle for me. I’m gone. The CF center seems content to let me suffer through them each day. It’s probably my anger talking. I’m still irritated about some of the decisions or delayed decisions of the stay. The CF team is solid though. I know they care. They just have a lot of patients to deal with.

Over 10 pounds shredded thanks to sitting on my ass doing endless IVs and a lack of an appetite for the same bland food every day. The endless fluids they gave me in the hospital masked the weight loss. At least I’m not peeing 20 times a day anymore.

No blood. That’s a good thing. It hasn’t returned yet. If it does, I can’t decide if I’ll go back in the hospital or just hunt down the people who couldn’t get it right after two embolizations. I’ll throw them on a table and cut into their groin and see how much they like it and educate them on the importance of getting it correct the first time.

Aches and pains. I could use a little time on a medieval torture rack being stretched right now. Or tie me between two horses and pull my limbs until my back pops and I get back the two inches in height I probably lost in the hospital. Tell me again why they don’t offer massage therapy in the hospital? I can get all the morphine I want while I’m there, but a little quality time face down with a certified member of the massage community digging her knuckles into my backside is verboten.  That makes no sense.

All in all, I got my ass beat. And that makes me angry because it’s embarrassing to get beat up. Worst of all, CF didn’t do all of the beating. The doctors helped and I did my part with mistakes I made. Hindsight again. I wonder if I can have it removed? Life would be easier if I weren’t tortured by my errors. I should have seen the landmines, been more aggressive about getting the embolization done quickly instead of waiting six days. There were plenty of other errors I made. Where did my courage go while I was there?

Not feeling so hot

Posted on by
4

Though it’s good that I’m out of the hospital, the bad news is that I don’t feel well. During the hospitalization, I suffered from chills, low-grade fevers and sweats that would leave me soaked like I’d stood in a downpour for 20 minutes. In the afternoons, early evenings I would crash hard, which explains the lack of blog posts during the stay as it’s hard to write when you’re curled up in a ball hoping a bolt of lightning will strike you and end your misery. No such luck.

All of this mystified the doctors and they never really came up with an explanation. When I went off the Tylenol a few days before they kicked me loose, they looked at that as a positive sign. So did I. But they never really asked me how I was feeling when they surprised me Friday and sent me home. They made an executive decision that 20 days of IVs was enough. They must have entered it into their mental program and processed it – Send him home, he should feel better by now. I guess I should, but I don’t.

I brought the low-grade fevers, chills and body temperature swings home with me. What a bonus. Now the question is whether I have to go back to the hospital or not. I lived with them over the weekend hoping they would magically go away. Finally, I emailed my doctor this morning and he replied with a few questions about my stomach, which is fine. Then I didn’t hear back. He must be hoping this will pass, go away without explanation, which is what they all must have been thinking while I was in the hospital. Well, it didn’t go away tonight. And tomorrow I go back to work and I feel tired and 50 percent. It’s going to take everything I can muster to get through the day.

This is the first hospitalization where I feel the decision-making system during my stay failed me. It took them six days to embolize me. I wish I had had the courage to force the decision sooner. I didn’t. But I knew I needed to be embolized from day one. They kept throwing the possible dangers of the procedure at me. Yet, my lungs decayed by not doing treatments. I may never get that lung function back. It’s one thing to be hosed by cystic fibrosis; it’s another to be hosed by the medical process. The latter makes me angrier.

I’ll be tortured about this visit for the rest of my life.

Home at last

Posted on by
10

After 20 days in the hospital, I returned home Friday night. But not in great shape. You’d think after that period of time in the hole and amount of IV antibiotics, I’d be walking in, refreshed, strong and ready to get back to life as normal. Instead, it felt like I’d run some kind of endurance race or Ironman and barely had the strength to cross the finish line or threshold of my front door. I fell over the line exhausted and disoriented.

Three weeks ago, cystic fibrosis picked me up in its monster hands like I was a rag doll and tossed me hard to the ground. I didn’t see it coming. And after 20 days of sitting in a room the size of some walk-in closets, my body and muscle mass have deteriorated and my mind feels twisted and tired. The physical bruises of blood draws, the PICC area and embolizations will heal over time, but the rebuilding of everything else will take longer. But still I feel lucky. I survived. And that has to be enough for now.

Thank you for all of the comments and well wishes. They made a difference each day. A big difference. My apologies for not replying yet. As the stay lengthened, it turned into both a physical and psychological battle that sapped my energy. Most of the time I escaped into episodes of Dexter and Californication, movies or reading, when I had the energy. Anything that took my mind off of cystic fibrosis and the situation helped and became my mental Band-aid. Now it’s one day at a time as I come back to life.

Despite everything that happened, I still stand by my claim: I am the luckiest guy in the world. CF hasn’t beaten that mantra out of me yet. It’s my F.U. to the disease. CF can choke on it.

Embolization watch and the TV show Dexter

Posted on by
24

(Please excuse typos. Written on my iPad while I have a raging headache from non-stop IVs.)

Well, I can’t say that days two and three in the hole have been a real joy. With the exception of coughing up blood, I felt better before I came in on Sunday. Now I feel crappy from sitting in this room all day trying not to bleed, wondering what guy has to do to get a little glue in his lung.

Last night I came about as close as you can to moving to the ICU and then an embolization. I stood up to walk across the room and felt the pop in my lung and the blood followed. Luckily, one of the nurses had the vision to leave a pink kidney shaped basin in my room, but not all of the blood made it there. Some of it landed on my UCLA shirt that I wear to mess with the Trojan fans here, and my sheets have dried blood on them today. If you took a CSI light to the room I’m sure it’s in places I can’t see. It’s amazing where blood goes when it splatters. It’s not like coughing up Gatorade.

Speaking of blood, I’ve been watching Dexter episodes. Great show. I’m up to season three. What hits me about the show is how much I relate to Dexter himself. I’m not talking about the serial killer part so don’t call the police, though I would love to take out bad guys, but not by chopping them up. A sniper’s rifle would do. Rather, I relate to Dexter keeping a secret from those he works with and his life with blood.

Yesterday, to avoid the RTs who burst in and yell “ready for your treatment,” I spent 30 minutes in the bathroom on a conference call with the heads of the department I work in. Then there are other times I’m on the phone and someone will come in and I have to do a dance of signaling the person to keep quiet while I get off the phone. I am doing my best to keep the CF secret. But it’s getting harder to do so. I feel like I live in this hospital.

And I can tell you my single greatest source of stress in maintaining a job while I do this dance of having CF and working. Is that similar to Dexter maintaining his “normal life” while leading the life of a killer? It would be much easier if I could kick back and read and watch videos all day. But I don’t want to give up the job.

Still, it’s so embarrassing to tell my boss that once again I’m in the hospital. And working in the hospital is getting harder when I don’t feel as well. There were times today I stared at the screen for a half hour fighting to stay awake. It was easier to be in the hospital when I was younger because I had the power of youth on my side.

So, like Dexter, I hide my big secret and do my best not to get discovered. I know it’s only a matter of time before I can’t do it anymore – when I run out of tricks. When that day comes I know I’ll feel a great sense of relief but sadness, too. And I hope that one day I don’t live my life in fear of blood. If only Dexter could be a serial killer of bacteria – Cystic fibrosis would be history.

Fox designs a line of hospital shirts

Posted on by
15

You can't keep a good fox down.

Fox here. I’m back. And better than ever. I spent the summer in Monaco with some of my Hollywood friends. I’d love to write about my adventures, but I don’t remember a lot of what happened. I do remember waking up face down on the water bed most afternoons, sometimes wearing the dress of the woman next to me. Crazy fox fun.

The entire summer wasn’t a complete inebriated waste of time. I came up with an cool idea for Unknown – a line of hospital t-shirts. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far. What do you think? A different one for each day he’s in the hospital next time?

Party like it’s your last.

Fox out.

Breaking up is hard to do

Posted on by
Reply

Last night at the LA Open tennis tournament, guess who sat down in the seat directly in front of me? If your first instinct was to say ex-girlfriend, I wish. Yes, it was an ex – my ex-CF doctor, which opened a flood gate of memories and emotions, most of them bad. What are the odds of this meeting happening? And it being the seat in front of me?

Here’s the backstory.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes managing my CF care as an adult. The greatest was leaving the care of Doctor Tennis at the wrong time. He used to be on the CF Foundation’s accredited center lists, but, for reasons unknown to me, abandoned that path and has since had a private practice as a pulmonary specialist. I stayed with him until I had major hemoptysis on a flight to Germany. I got pissed at him over that and switched to an official CF center, thinking they would take better care of me. Big mistake.

The CF Center I switched to at the time wasn’t, well, very aggressive in treating CF. For example, they used a peak flow for PFTs. Under their care I lost a load of lung function because they were too flexible with my care and I could push them to allow me to use orals when IVs were needed. Whereas, Dr. Tennis did PFTs every time I visited his office, which gave him a better picture of my lung function. He forced me to do IV’s when needed.

Then my CF Center improved and brought in a great team and I bounced back and forth between them and Dr. Tennis, until a hospitalization made me cut ties with him.

At the hospital Dr. Tennis practices at you need his care and an infectious disease doctor’s care when you’re in for IVs. They’re not really a team, but come together when needed. Unfortunately, I realized that the infectious care doctor, who I knew from visits to her office, really didn’t have a good handle on current CF IV treatments. I questioned her decisions. I thought I was doing it in a way that was pleasant – in a we’re partners in this and I know a lot about CF, too kind of way. However, she was immune to my infectious charm and wit, and broke up with me on day two of IVs.

The day before she came into my room and delivered that blow to the psyche, I had spoken to my wife about breaking up with her after the IVs. But she beat me to the punch. And, as it came on the second day of IVs when I was still mentally fragile, it bothered me (and my wife).

Both Dr. Tennis and another doctor said to me “it’s not you, it’s her,” or something close to that. It was good to know that I wasn’t the evil, crazy patient she made me out to be. Crazy? Well, perhaps, but she doesn’t have CF now does she?

So last night, it was comfortable talking to Dr. Tennis; it was okay. It’s probably been four years. His office never contacted me to see how I was doing like my current center did after three months. (I have a great CF Center now.) However, two interesting things did come up. He asked me if I’d like to participate in a trial of inhaled Cipro he’s starting. Yes. Why isn’t my center doing that? He told me his office would call to arrange it. I’ll believe it when the phone rings.

Then, when leaving the tournament, he mentioned the doctor that broke up with me and a piece of news about her. Oh, great. Thanks for that dart to the forehead. It’s not that I wish bad things for that doctor. I don’t. However, like a short fling with someone who broke up with you, you don’t really want to hear she has a new boyfriend either.

Past memories can be great, or they can bite. With CF it’s hard enough keeping bad memories boxed up without someone cracking them open for you. Next year, I think I’ll watch the tennis tournament on TV, or skip it completely.

Stay well.

Saturday Funhouse – My Ideal Hospital Room

Posted on by
8

[Adult language]

My good pal @seanset, http://seanset.posterous.com/, wrote a comment here moaning and groaning about me not writing a Saturday Funhouse for awhile. How the hell did that happen?  Thanks, mate, for reminding me. Here you go. This one’s for you. And yes, I know it’s Sunday Funhouse where you live.

My Ideal Hospital Room

No jumpers, please. The first thing I’d add to my room is a balcony. I’d like fresh air each day without having to gear up with a mask and gloves and endure the fearful looks from people in the elevator (yes, idiot person who moved to the back, as if that will really help, I have the Bubonic plague, but they let me roam the hospital to drive up revenues with fresh patients).

Each morning I want to pop out of bed, I.V in tow, and take three steps to the great outdoors, yelling: Hello, World, I’m still here, ha ha ha ha ha ha, the joke’s on you.

Imagine cooking outside your hospital room. Rocking. How do you like your steak cooked, Fox?

How nice would it be to sit on the balcony in the morning reading while doing treatments? I could wave to my fellow CFers on their balconies. We could have a contest to see who could make the funniest voice with the vest turned to max. Then we could see who could spit farther, which might be the reason they don’t have hospital balconies in the first place. Not exactly the image the hospital wants to promote with a bunch of us sitting in our underwear spitting on the roof or gardens below.

Imagine people driving up to the hospital watching patients on the balconies doing nebs. Might be too much for them to take. Not us, cause we’ve been to places no one should have to go. So there. Roll up your windows when you drive by, people. BTW, I’d hang some laundry on the railing just to give it that old apartment-building look. And I want the BBQ in the picture.

You can’t make me go in there. I don’t take showers in the hospital. I look at that dark, nasty chamber and connect it to the thought of how lazy the cleaning staff can be. You’d need a team of football players to force me in there (or two drunk Victoria’s Secret supermodels). The shower is bacteria heaven.

Let's torch some bacteria, friends.

I read that some gas stations, or petrol stations in England (you’re welcome for that translation, Sean), have self-cleaning bathrooms. Perfect. That’s how I want my hospital bathroom to work. I want to be able to press a button and watch the entire bathroom sprayed down in bleach. Then I want flames to light it up like the “Backdraft” tour at Universal Studios, killing everything the bleach missed.

Finally, I want test swabs done to make sure nothing is living in there that I don’t want living in me. After all of that, I’ll take my shower with confidence. Girls, show me that pose from page 27 again.

Trying living in the Material Girl’s laundry basket: I want a room bigger than Madonna’s smallest walk-in closet. It’s amazing what a difference an extra 20 square-feet makes when it comes to your mood and health, and where you put all of your shoes if you’re a woman. How about designing a CF room that doesn’t make me feel like a caged animal gone mad during two weeks in the hole?

Come on, hospital bed, let’s do the wave. Have you ever awakened covered in sweat because of the plastic hospital mattress? Plastic doesn’t make the best material for temperature control. However, and this is true, when I was 16 I got a waterbed. And it rocked – and rolled. It was AWESOME to sleep on. It had a plastic mattress with temperature control and heated water. That was the trick. In Winter I was warm and cozy and could sleep with only the top sheet of my Spiderman bedding.

Now this is a waterbed fit for a hospital

Now as there are a ton of needles in hospitals, waterbeds may not be the best idea. Can you imagine pressing the “I want my nurse now“ button and saying, “my water bed just popped. Oh, and can you bring in some towels and fresh scrubs because my wife and I are soaking wet.”

Let’s hang in Unknown’s room. I cannot tell you how many times I have come close to going “rock star” on the crappy TV with no good channels and fuzzy reception. I came this close to ripping it off the bracket at Cedars-Sinai once and tossing it out the window. Had I been a rock star, they would have just billed me. If I had done it, I would have been fighting back the cons in the L.A. Jail. So, for us time-share hospital patients, let’s load up the room with the finest entertainment center available.

I want a 52-inch HD, 3D flatscreen with every f***ing channel in the world. That’s right, in the world. I’ll even watch those crazy-ass soap operas from Brazil. I won’t understand what they’re saying, and won’t care because everyone looks tan and pretty.

I should have taken a photo of the remote last time I was in. Here's one that looks and functions just like it.

Don’t forget the sound system. I need to block out anyone yelling “nurse, nurse” from the other room. I want people to think there’s an earthquake and it sounds a lot like the battle scene in Avatar.

Lastly, give me a remote control that selects channels up and down and that doesn’t make me want to inject Drano in my IV because I just passed the channel I wanted and now I have to go through 20 crappy channels to get back to the one I passed. Whew, that’s a mouthful.

To the joker who invented that piece of shit remote, I’m still looking for you and will one day take the reverse gear out of your car. They’ll be no backing up for you after that.

Some of us work for a living. I’ve said this many times – give me a desk and chair. I work when I’m in the hospital. This ain’t no holiday, people. I have a family to feed and insurance to keep. Help me keep it, hospital room designers. That way I can come back and use my insurance again, as opposed to doing my IVs while pushing a shopping cart on the streets of downtown Los Angeles.

Design a desk and have it pull out of the wall like a Murphy Bed or something. Get with the program of the digital world we live in – the one that doesn’t go away just because you’re in the hospital.

Here’s one from Fox: Thanks, Unknown, for giving me one, you generous bastard. Fox here. Look, my fox friends, nurses have heard every line you’ll ever come up with. There is nothing you can say with your golden tongue that is going to catch one of these intelligent, caring women. Even though they wear pajamas to work, which is cool, you have zero chance of getting them to change into something more comfortable – they’re already comfortable in their nurse PJ’s and Crocs. So, you have to trick them in a different, more subtle way.

This is what I look like without the bag over my head

The water bed is a great first step. Nurses love water beds and will want to test it. When she gets on, bump up the wave action and wait for the fun to begin. You say: “Look who fell into my arms. Que romantico. My name is Fox, and I come from an exotic land called Brazil. I will kiss you now.”

Second, and this is the bait of all bait, put a stripper pole in your room. Always say it’s for exercise and the docs won’t barf all over the idea. When the doc is gone, the patient will play. No nurse can resist a pole in the room (except the one in Louisiana who’s going to write Unknown a nasty comment for this post).

Now gents,  you have to stay cool and subtle and say it like this: “What’s a little spin around the pole going to hurt? It’s a great way to get over the barf storm Mr. Wilson just coughed up all over his room?” Be encouraging. “There you go. That’s it. I’ll just be sitting here reading on my iPad. You go ahead and get crazy. Oh, yeah. Wait, let me crank the AC/DC on this awesome sound system. That’s it. Did they teach you that in college.” [the rest of Fox’s post was censored because, well, you can only imagine what happened next – out came the beer and dollar bills. Then all hell broke loose when the nurse twins came in. Oh, my, Fox. What am I going to do with you?]

Last words . . .

I’ll be playing the lottery tonight, hoping I win big and can have my hospital build a wing just for us. We’ll party like it’s our last and live the rock star lifestyle with IV’s in our arms, a neb in our mouths and a cold beer in our hand. It will be the hospital of choice for those of us who value partying. Let’s drink shots from our Flutters. What the worst that can happen? We’re in the hospital, damn it. Code Yellow, drunk fox peeing off the balcony again.

Live the high-rise life.