Patients down the hall from Lamar Odom say it’s been bedlam

Reporting from Las Vegas  —  For three days running, Glenda Jewell and her family have been caught in a celebrity whirlwind.

They don’t like it.

Jewell’s 30-year-old daughter, Sara Cooper, is being treated in the intensive care unit at Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center -- the same unit that is treating Lamar Odom, the former NBA player and reality TV star who was found unconscious at a Nevada brothel Tuesday.

Bedlam broke loose even before Odom arrived at the Las Vegas hospital Tuesday night, Jewell said in an exclusive interview.

FULL COVERAGE: Former Lakers star Lamar Odom >>

That included a lockdown.

“The night he got here, they told us that a celebrity was coming in and that we would have to stay in the room on lockdown for two to three hours, but they weren’t sure how long it would be,” recalled Jewell, a woman with short blond hair and glasses who lives in Wisconsin.

“They said we wouldn’t be able to leave the room unless we had permission.”

Odom, 35, remained critically ill late Thursday. His celebrity wife, Khloe Kardashian, has been at his side. Kardashian, whose divorce from Odom is not final, has been making medical decisions about his treatment, a person with knowledge of the situation said.

Since Odom’s arrival, the trauma unit has often been chaotic and stressful, Jewell said.

“Yesterday, it was very loud,” she told a Times reporter who gained access to the hospital Thursday. “They kept coming in and out.”

She added, “This is a very small unit, but when they congregate – [nursing] staff, managers, security and others – all of that noise is disruptive.”

Although Cooper, Jewell’s daughter, is being heavily sedated during treatment for a bowel obstruction, she awakened in the middle of the night Wednesday because of the noise, her mother said.

“It sounds like they’re having a party on this floor. Don’t they know people are sleeping?” Jewell quoted her daughter as saying.

A few rooms down, behind a closed curtain and across from the nurses’ station, medical staff scrambled to treat Odom. The former Laker and Clipper collapsed after a four-day stint that involved drinking, drugs and sex at the Love Ranch Vegas brothel in Crystal, Nev., authorities say.

Security on the hospital floor was tight. A nurse stopped all visitors, including one man returning to visit his wife, who reportedly had been at the hospital for more than a month.

A security guard vouched for him, Jewell said. “He’s OK,” the guard said. “I remember him.”

Cooper’s husband, George, said each time he left his wife’s floor, he encountered people in the elevator who asked about Odom’s condition. George Cooper replied that he didn’t know.

Cooper, 43, said he has seen several extremely tall men he assumes are basketball players visit Odom’s room over the last few days. He said he was not an NBA fan, however, and could not identify them.

Kobe Bryant was among Odom’s visitors, according to sources with the Lakers who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation. Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak was there too, the sources said.

Cooper said he wishes Odom well, but his main concern is his wife.

“I could care less whether it’s Obama or whoever is here, just as long as my wife is getting the care she needs,” he said.

Jewell said it isn’t right that average patients like her daughter must put up with the distraction.

“It’s not fair that innocent patients have to feel the ripple effect” of Odom being at the hospital, she said.

She looked around as she heard doors open and close on the ward.

“It’s quiet now,” Jewell said. “But it wasn’t yesterday.”

Twitter: @jglionna

Brown is a special correspondent. Staff writers Amy Kaufman and Mike Bresnahan in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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