Friday, April 27, 2007

Shakes and fries

When I was in the hospital, I made a point to tell every new nurse and patient care person I met how important their job was and how much I appreciated their efforts. It takes a really special person to be a caregiver like that and I feel each and every one of those people contributed to my recovery in some important way. They checked my condition, medicated me, bathed me, counseled me when I was down, and seemed genuinely happy for me when I was released. Nursing is so much more than a job. It's a part of who those people are. Thanks again, 5th floor nursing staff at Atlanta Medical Center.

On my last day, I asked Lou, one of my Patient Care Associates (PCA) how long people generally stay. She replied they had just released someone that week who had been there three months. He was sent to a nursing home, where he'll live out his life. He was hit by a car while on his bicycle and the car's driver was never caught. He was in his 30s. Lou then told me a crazy story about her friend whose foot was broken when a car swerved around her at a stop sign. The car's tires ran over her foot. Think how close that car had to be to her!

I asked another nurse if she had ever been hospitalized and she had in 2000 after a serious car accident resulted in serious internal injuries. She spent six months at Atlanta Medical Center and was so inspired by the experience, went on to nursing school and now works for the same hospital where she spent all those months recovering.

Eddie was one of my night nurses. He came in one night to find me sitting at the edge of my bed, trying to get to a chair in the room. Instead of hollering at me for such stupid behavior, he actually helped me to the chair. Then he and that night's PCA changed my bed sheets and rearranged some things to make me more comfortable. He was one of my favorite nurses.

Patients can be pretty unruly I imagine. All those drugs I was on really made me wacky, that's sure.

Non Sequitur
I haven't had coffee since March 26 and I don't yet miss it. I've had some caffeinated beverages, like a Coke-cola or the like, but not many. And since Len makes my food, it is generally dressed more in the way he prefers, like no sugar or Splenda in cereal, etc., so I haven't even had sugar or substitutes for weeks. I'm not drinking enough water -- trying to cut back on bathroom breaks, frankly, but as soon as I can do the bathroom on my own I'll cause a drought.

Doggles
I try not to think about Scully because I'll miss her too much. I know she is having a nice extended visit with her cousins and that she is very well cared for, so that is enough for now. But I really do miss that crazy dog. Devon reminds me every day why she isn't here, though. He never fails to jump on a particularly sensitive spot and cause me great pain. At 13 lbs, that's something I can handle. But now that Scully is tipping the scales at 66.5 lbs, she'd send me back to the hospital if she did that to me!

Thanks, Suzy and Clark, for taking her in. It means so much that you've done that for us.

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