Early in the morning on Friday his nurse came in and was quite agitated. Asking “What is this!? Please tell me you were eating Oreos! I don’t know what all this black stuff is!”. I got up and got my camera. Brian, his bed, his tray table, etc. we’re all covered with a black substance that had apparently come out of the air vent over his bed! The nurse(Layaneh) was freaking out. She got someone in (Blake) to help clean it up and I told them they better save that so we could find out what is was. They didn’t listen and continued to clean up. I got samples and asked for a ziplock bag to save it. We asked for a new room. None available. They got him into a chair and changed his bedding. I sat on the edge of the bed and stuff continued to fall out of the vent onto the clean bedding, onto his breakfast tray, etc. Asked to be moved. No rooms. Floor nurse came in. We expressed our extreme unhappiness and wanted to know what he was going to do to help us. I explained that Brian is compromised enough with cancer and less than 24 hrs out of surgery. He agreed. I also explained how dangerous it could be to the rest of us. He agreed. I then explained how this could be a major lawsuit in the making. He agreed. He left to try to find another room for us. About 30 minutes later about 7 people all wearing suits and having titles were in our room. Our room was so small they had to stand out in the hall. The main talking woman explained that the HVAC system was being worked on and they did something they shouldn’t have that resulted in that stuff blowing back into the rooms. They were sending some of it from another room out to be tested for mold, fungus, etc. I told her that we had our own samples and pictures. There was a very long silence. I explained that I had asked the nurses to save the stuff and they didn’t. I explained that they used a broom to clean up and therefore stirred everything up and then took the broom somewhere else. I explained that we had repeatedly asked for another room because stuff was still coming out of the vent onto us...and now them, too. Another long silence. I explained that I knew their job was protect themselves and my job was to protect Brian and I would do whatever I needed to to accomplish that. I explained that I had already contacted his oncologist, his surgeon, his Medicare advocate, as well as the mold epidemiologist. Another long silence. I asked for business cards for all of them which they did not have...hard to believe. They left after assuring us there would be an investigation and we would be notified of test results and moved to a new room. I had Aaron...floor head nurse...get me names and titles and phone numbers of everyone who was there. He did that. We weren’t moved until 4pm!
Dr. Lambright came in shortly after that. He was furious about it all but tried very hard to be calm and meticulous with his words. I found out later that he has been trying for quite some time to get something done about the lack of cleanliness on 9N.
Here are some pictures I took:
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