WebKittyn Warbles
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Tips on Surviving A Long Term Hospital Stay Far From Home
Alright, so maybe eight weeks isn't exactly an era but it's a long time to be in a hospital on the floor with all the really sick and dying people far from home. Albany Medical Center was too far for my mother or Darkstar to make it up often so I spent a lot of those eight weeks alone. I learned the tips for surviving long-term and even making it not so horrid.
1. Make friends with the transport guys who bring you to dialysis/therapy/chemo, etc. When we would go down the empty hallways they'd roll that bed fast and it was actually fun.
2. Befriend the belittled workers who clean and change the sheets and deliver the food. They are the ones who do the grunt work.
3. Have an outside source to send contraband munchies or whatever you need. In my case it was blow pops, fritos, smokes, chocolates and board games.
4. Keep some sort of candy in your room and offer it to the nurses. Those blow pops were a livesaver.
5. Find out which Dr. you can bargain with. I didn't want any more Heparin shots and my Dr. wanted me to walk if I wasn't getting the shot so he begrudgingly conceded that the hike downstairs and outside to smoke a cigarette once or twice a day (which I was going to day anyway) was enough exercise to keep me off the Heparin and save the lower abdomen shots.
6. Attach to one primary Dr. and tell him all. Let the intern work the case but attach yourself to the primary. I was lucky, I had 3.
7. Don't get attached to fellow patients. Remember what floor you're on. Sometimes when they take them out of the room they don't come back.
8. Don't eat the Xanax.
9. Find out which night nurses are willing to give you a midnight sandwich or look the other way while you scoot down to the vending machine for Reece's Pieces and fritos.
10. Have someone bring your own blanket from home. Having my fuzzy pink blanket made it easier a lot of the time.
11. Remember to laugh. Look around as you're sneaking food and going for your smoke. There are people on your floor a whole lot worse off than you.
1. Make friends with the transport guys who bring you to dialysis/therapy/chemo, etc. When we would go down the empty hallways they'd roll that bed fast and it was actually fun.
2. Befriend the belittled workers who clean and change the sheets and deliver the food. They are the ones who do the grunt work.
3. Have an outside source to send contraband munchies or whatever you need. In my case it was blow pops, fritos, smokes, chocolates and board games.
4. Keep some sort of candy in your room and offer it to the nurses. Those blow pops were a livesaver.
5. Find out which Dr. you can bargain with. I didn't want any more Heparin shots and my Dr. wanted me to walk if I wasn't getting the shot so he begrudgingly conceded that the hike downstairs and outside to smoke a cigarette once or twice a day (which I was going to day anyway) was enough exercise to keep me off the Heparin and save the lower abdomen shots.
6. Attach to one primary Dr. and tell him all. Let the intern work the case but attach yourself to the primary. I was lucky, I had 3.
7. Don't get attached to fellow patients. Remember what floor you're on. Sometimes when they take them out of the room they don't come back.
8. Don't eat the Xanax.
9. Find out which night nurses are willing to give you a midnight sandwich or look the other way while you scoot down to the vending machine for Reece's Pieces and fritos.
10. Have someone bring your own blanket from home. Having my fuzzy pink blanket made it easier a lot of the time.
11. Remember to laugh. Look around as you're sneaking food and going for your smoke. There are people on your floor a whole lot worse off than you.
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