Hospitals

Hospitals. They seem hit-or-miss most days. I have only ever been hospitalized once in my life, and that was when Todd was born. Since both the pregnancy and delivery were very uneventful and normal, I wasn't a patient with very many needs. Heck, my appetite never even floundered-- Todd was born at lunchtime, and I ate my cold meal ravenously right after he came out-- while still in the delivery room!

I wish I could say the same for my mother. Now, don't get me wrong-- she's been in contact with some excellent, caring, responsible doctors. Just look at the timeline: my dad's company switched to a new insurance provider effective 1 Dec. My mom was able to secure a flurry of immediate appointments and referrals with all the right kinds of doctors-- to the point that surgery itself was scheduled for 13 Dec, a mere 12 days later. That cannot be called anything but a miracle, and for that we're very thankful.

However, now she's on to the recovery phase, spending time in the recovery ward of the hospital, where the staff is less than stellar. Yesterday I dropped by in the afternoon, intending to stay for an hour at most, just to check in on Mom. Instead, I wound up staying for over 5 hours because I had to play go-between and drag the nurses in when they wouldn't respond to my mom's call button, as well as help mom out with things I knew the nurses would drag their heels in getting to.

A number of things aggravated me about the nurses on duty. All of it boiled down to one thing: a bad attitude, not only toward their patients, but toward their work in general. Of the nearly dozen nurses on duty, only one did not possess a holier-than-thou attitude and act with disdain everytime I asked a question or asked for help on my mom's behalf. At one point, we couldn't understand why the nurse who had been tending to my mom all day, just stood there staring vacantly at my mom, who was waving frantically for help. (turns out that it was because of a shift change-- the "night nurse" had officially taken over, but would it have hurt for the "day nurse" to at least come by and reassure us "I'm off duty now, she's your new nurse"??)

Although it's my mom's responsibility to try to get up and walk around to regain her strength, none of the nurses could be bothered to help her up and help her walk around. That I could not understand-- not everyone has family who can spend the entire day at the hospital helping out, I would've expected one of them to come by my mom's room and *force* her to get out and move around a bit, as part of her recovery process! But no. They were all very mean and acted like we were bothering them and they were doing us immense favors for things like putting a bedpan in or helping adjust my mom more comfortably on the bed.

There were many more such "horror stories" from yesterday, but I won't bore you with the details. The important thing is that my mom's slowly improving despite the laziness, arrogance and impatience of the staff charged with her care. I would hate to think how I would feel and react if I were in her situation-- unable to move about, riddled with pain, and helpless because nobody around me (save for family, of course) will help.

She was sitting up when Allan, Todd and I came by today, and her voice was louder. I mean, it was by no means her normal pitch, but at least I didn't have to lean in and put my ear near her mouth to understand what she was saying! Todd entertained her a bit by telling her about his fun-filled day... which I think I will save for a separate blog entry!

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/338529494)