Over the past few days I have continued to reflect on my stay in hospital. I thought that I might elaborate on a couple of aspects here.
Meals: The meals were okay but I did lose weight. At meal time, a tray was placed in front of each patient and I grew accustomed to where the various dishes, drinks and cutlery were placed on the tray. However, there were a couple of times I ran into difficulty.
Usually, different aides would ask if they could help in removing lids, etc. However, twice when I wasn’t paying attention, aides got to my tray before I did. The lids were removed before I felt what I anticipated what would be covered dishes. One time I stuck my hand into my water glass. This wasn’t too bad. At least it wasn’t hot coffee. The other time I stuck my fingers into some sticky substance. I think it was dessert but I had to eat the rest of the meal with sticky hands.
Motto: If you are going to help someone, be sure to ask first if your help is needed and explain what you are doing.
I was grateful when staff offered to fill out my menu request for the next day. This was certainly something I couldn’t do on my own.
Mobility: I was fortunate in that my stroke didn’t affect my mobility. For the ten days I was in hospital, I determined that I would attempt to keep as much as possible to my routine of walking. I soon discovered that this was best to do either early in the morning or later after the evening meal when most other patients were in bed or at least in their rooms. The problem with this routine was the staff. Everything seems to be digitalized these days and the hospital computer screens were mounted on larger rolling wheels. While this was convenient for the staff, it was most inconvenient for me when staff left the equipment int the middle of the hallways. I was sure that sometimes they could see me coming with my cane, but rarely did they seem to make an attempt to move to the side.
Advocacy: As I mentioned in my previous post, a hospital stay these days makes having an advocate for your needs almost imperative. Staff seemed to me to be flooded with information but this wasn’t always conveyed to the patient. Patient records were kept diligently and in detail. Staff seemed to be always tapping away to make effusive notes on each patient. Lyle wondered how they would ever have time to read everything that was written. I tended to agree with his summation.
For instance, I was due to have a test where I was to have no caffeine for 24 hours prior and nothing to eat or drink the morning of. Nobody conveyed this information to me or to the early morning staff. I had my usual cup of tea, was taken down to the cardiac unit, only to discover that my full day of tests needed to be postponed for another 24 hours. What is that saying about the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing?
Time: My days in hospital went quickly with various appointments and the nights tended to crawl. I couldn’t see the wall clocks and I was so glad that I had my audible watch with me. My original watch battery had expired only a couple of weeks previously and I had only had my new one for a week or so. I guess that timing was everything!
Having said all this, I must say that in general, I found the nursing staff and doctors to be most helpful. My gratitude to all who work in the medical profession. What would we do without you!
Thank you, thank you!
