Tag Archives: hospitals

Dear People,

Again, it took longer than I had expected to get back to you, but those of you who have had the experience of putting somebody into hospital will understand. The whole world (my personal world, that is) suddenly changes, and there are new dimensions, new schedules, new expectations and new fears to deal with. Like – are the nurses good and friendly and capable? Do the doctors know what they’re doing and to whom they are doing it? Do they remember which Sasha leg is supposed to get the skin graft? Does the nursing station serve the family members hot coffee and tea whenever they need it? Turns out, we are in a very, very old hospital (when is the last time you saw windows that opened with a crank?), and nobody has tea and coffee for family members, as the former hospital did. That’s okay. There’s a cafeteria downstairs and after hours there are machines that dispense. What they dispense is — well, it’s hot, anyway.

As for Sasha (you were wondering when I’d get around to the most important part of this adventure, yes?) – his graft surgery went very well, or so the doctor says, and he doesn’t seem to be having a lot of pain, so far, which is a good sign. To my surprise, they haven’t put the leg into any harness or other kind of restraint, but he’s wearing the soft boots which he’s had on for months, and we do our best to keep the leg up on a pillow. Oh, yes—we were urged to have our caregivers here night and day, because Sasha’s memory is severely impaired, and directions given to him by a nurse are forgotten ten minutes later So his caregivers (Chimmy, Vickie and Carlos) are his memory.

There have been glitches in communication about the particular pain medication being used by our primary care physician, and the nursing staff is sometimes aware and alert and other times somewhat clueless, depending on how well the outgoing nurses brief the incoming ones at the times of shift change. One breakfast tray never made it to Sasha, but he ate a good lunch.

We think he’ll be here until Monday or Tuesday, and we still have hopes of getting a private room, but the hope is fading, since this hospital was inundated by sick people on Monday, and they’re still full. Our doctor did his best to get us on the private room list, since a very compassionate friend offered to pay for it, but there is little hope that’ll happen. Luckily, the other patient in this room is a very nice gentleman, so there is no problem. Besides, we’ve learned to be grateful for human beings who are pleasant and cooperative, having experienced the alternative the first night we were here. There was a 26 year old male who didn’t like being intruded upon by another patient, and expressed (repeatedly) his dislike of women talking – obviously, he meant women doing anything – and during the night, he cursed Vickie, who was caring for Sasha, and kept cursing until he fell asleep He was probably in pain, having crashed his motorcycle, and he also was probably the only son of a gangster who had taught him to spread fear and panic wherever he went, in order to get his way, and the son was only trying to emulate Daddy and didn’t know any better. The nurses who had come in contact with this future crime kingpin made clear their joy at his transfer to another floor, although they tried to be discrete, and we were more than happy to find him absent when we returned the next day. It was a thankfully brief reminder of the fact that we, ourselves, live in a community (worldwide) full of really good human beings, kind and compassionate and loving and possessed – one and all – of minimally destructive dark sides. Of course, I mean all of you.

Love and Blessings - Ann