I am going to warn all of you now that this
episode may contain quite a bit of anger, frustration and venom.
The first annoying thing was the fact that some
care aides and nurses seem to have the need to hand you a wet face cloth first
thing in the morning and a bib before meals. The face cloth may seem like a
good thing but then you have to find locations to place it afterwards where it
won’t get something wet. I have refused to wear a bib from day one. This may
seem like stubbornness but I had to draw the line because this place sucks all
the pride and dignity out of your soul.
It didn’t help that I drew Barb as a nurse. She’s
competent but not a very good advocate. The good thing is it could have been Maggie
who appeared on the floor today. If that was the case I probably would have
just got up and tried to walk out of here.
In a bit of foreshadowing or maybe it was psychic
thing because I had the urge to throw something at the wall but when Barb came
to give me my blood thinner shot I went to move my overbed table and it caught
something and my breakfast tray went
flying. Who knew those things were so aerodynamic? Unfortunately I had already finished my breakfast.
The charge nurse from the rehab unit came up to
talk to me and tell me absolutely nothing. She told me that there was no room
but I was first on the list. I nearly blew up because they had told me they had
a bed on Monday and then the line was that they couldn’t take me Monday because
they were short staffed but the bed was waiting and Tuesday being a holiday the
situation would be the same. Let’s just say this nurse got an earful. And Edna
was practically applauding as I vented. The worst line I heard was that if
emergency was really busy then there would likely a bed for me on the fifth
floor. I thought I had heard wrong but this is true. If Emergency is
overflowing each floor has to open extra beds. Whichever idiot thought this
made sense needs to be fired. Hospital accountants are penny wise and pound
foolish. Right now I am costing you, my insurance company and I time and money
but this clown will probably get a bonus for making budget.
The biggest problem is surgeons and hospital l
senior managers do not give a damn about patient care. The surgeon basically
washes his hands of the day to day stuff which would be fine if he would let
the physios and nurses that have one hundred times the knowledge of patient
care. Surgeons are amazing at what they do cutting and sewing after that don’t
let them deal with human beings. The system needs more nurses,
nurse-practitioners and therapists.
It is probably a good thing that I’ve been almost
caffeine free for over two months. I may have been even more irritable.
Obviously, someone heard my complaints because
Lisa, the physio came in for my therapy at 10 rather than the usual end of the
day. To prove a point, I put both socks on myself and then she asked me if I
wanted to put the braces on as well which I did relatively easily. I then got
up into the big Arjo walker with little effort. Little effort is a relative
term when your legs are bound straight out. I showed off by pushing that
cumbersome thing twice around the ortho unit. Lisa realized I wasn’t actually
using the arm supports she asked me if I wanted to give a regular walker a try.
Of course, just keep throwing me challenges and I’ll go after them head on. So
she sat me down on the edge of the bed while we waited for the assistant to
find a suitable walker. It then dawned on me I had to pee and for the first
time in two months I was able to do it almost standing up albeit into a bottle.
Small victories and baby steps!
The assistant measured up the walker, I stood up
in it and found walking just as easy in it. The next test was to see if I could
get into the wheelchair with the braces on and again it worked out on one
attempt.
About a half hour later, the charge nurse came in
with a porter and told me there was a bed in 5 East waiting and we had to pack
up. These people haven’t got a clue about what is going on. Communication is
not a big thing around here.
So I gathered everything up and we headed
downstairs to room 512. It was a bit of a culture shock coming from a unit
where you are totally dependent on the nurses to a unit where you are expected
to do so much more for yourself. I like the idea but it is a little bit
overwhelming.
It did help that my nurse is Tara who had looked
after me during first week upstairs on 6 West and was able to help me along.
I’m not sure I’m crazy about meal arrangements
though instead of being brought to your room there is a dining room where
everyone eats together. Let me put it this way; once again I’m the youngest one
on the floor by at least thirty years. This is not exactly the most appetizing
situation. The other stupid thing they did was transfer me in the middle of
lunch delivery instead of waiting until I had lunch on the sixth floor. So here
I was sitting at the table while everyone was eating their lunch and waiting
for someone to track down my tray.
My first visitor on the floor was Lorraine’s
brother, Rob who also had to track me down from the sixth floor because
according to the front desk I was still. Unfortunately, Rob’s original reason
for being here was not to see me but to look after his mother who had just been
brought here to Emergency because of a respiratory problem. Hopefully she will be
okay.
One of the best things about being here is I no
longer have to wear a gown all day so I was able to wear a pair of shorts and a
shirt for the first time in months.
The physio came into see me after lunch to assess
how I would be doing my transfers and other things. One of the main other
things came into play and the original was to revert to the old method until I
was assessed by the occupational therapist in the morning but Tara thought we
could actually try getting me into the toilet. So although there was some
dignity restored we still aren’t one hundred percent there. Sitting on the
throne with your legs locked out straight still presents problems.
Tara did share something encouraging with me after
helping me get set up on the side of the bed so I could work on my writing
facing Grouse Mountain. She told me her and the physio were recommending that I
lose the braces entirely. Hopefully, McConkey will listen to people that know
what’s going on for once.
I appreciated everyone’s words of encouragement on
Facebook this morning when I had posted about being so frustrated. As you can
see now my frustration was with the stupid system that was letting me progress
as opposed to me not getting better. I am better; I just need to be able to
prove it. I want to thank all of you for you kind words and I would especially
like to thank Cheryl who had a screen full of my venting this morning and was
able to empathize with my struggles today and the roller coaster ride I’ve been
on all day because she had just been through a mini version of this last month
and is making great strides in her recovery.
And just to add one more hill to the roller
coaster my wireless server was down this evening.
It also helped that my night nurse, Katha, is the
same one that came up to interview and assess me last week.
I will miss the fun I had watching everyone come
and go from my bed in 603 and the all the great people working up there on 6
West but I’d rather sit here and stare at the mountains and deal with the added
stress of actually making progress here on 5 East.
I am on the mailing list for Ipso-Reid’s online
surveys. In a beautiful touch of irony, they sent me one today about healthcare
and in particular doctors’ performance. You talk about timing being everything.
Hee hee!
And I finished my first night in my new home with
and orange and one more of Eric’s delicious biscotti. Note to self: Eat orange
before sweet thing not the other way around.
To be continued...
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