Ah yes, a visit to the hospital, nothing better except for maybe pulling my own teeth, unless you are the patient then it is loads of fun. Over the past months I have had the privilege of pulling my own teeth, sorry, I mean visiting the hospital, on a number of occasions, and I can honestly say "take a sweater with you because it is cold in there".
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| What do the red ones do? |
As a patient you have the anticipation of whatever is about to happen, which can be very overwhelming right up until the meds kick in and than it can be a real trip, if you remember anything at all. To think you can go through surgery exposing yourself to the world, okay maybe only a handful of people, get wheeled through the hospital half naked, and not care, throw up on yourself and if lucky someone else, still not caring, have a bowel movement as loud as you want and still not care, because you are a patient. What about us, the visitors, the family members and friends that spend the day waiting for our loved ones?
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| Nasty memories |
Arrival time 5:30am, surgery starts at 8:00am, recovery time 11:00-12:00, and finally sent home or admitted, depending on surgery, with a pocketful of meds to kill the pain and blur the coming days. Now lets look at this from the other side. Arrival time 5:30am, sit, surgery at 8:00am, go get a coffee and sit, recovery time 11:00-12:00, sit and wait for the doctor to tell you where to go and sit some more. Finally, if admitted, you get to sit and watch your loved one sleep and if you are really lucky you will have another patient in the room that has a portable commode, and uses it, a lot. When I say a lot, I mean the paint is peeling off the wall and the pages of the book you are trying to read are curling at the corners. It is at this point that you realize that pulling your own teeth really can't be that bad after all.
To start with, lazy boy chairs for the people visiting and if that is not possible than there needs to be a drug that will help keep our butts from going numb while sitting all day. As well, disposable gas masks are required because that was nasty and no one should be subjected to something so horrific. Finally, a bar, for anyone that is staying more than 5 hours, as a cold beverage is the only med we are ever going to get.
When the day is said and done it is all about the patient and making certain that they are okay and looked after. Besides, if you are good at looking after the patient and keeping track of their meds than when the going gets tough they won't miss one or two pain killers that you slip into your own drink, not to mention the extra sleeping pill you slip into their drink. After all, the patient needs rest and the nurse needs happy thoughts. If you have multiple patients and no access to meds than it would be best to consider yourself lost and prepare the hospital as you are the next patient, for a long, long time.
