Survived So Far

The thing one must remember when going into a hospital is that the nurse is your primary contact and friend (if they are one) If they are good, they are highly underrated! They do jobs that are below their education for still too little pay and actually come around to the side of the bed-which doctors rarely do.

I finaly got sprung from the elegant New York University Hospital yesterday. I arrived on Wednesday the 5th and well I'm still not oriented to time, so I'll have to find a calendar. Our rooms had white boards that were supposed to announce the date, day and name of our nurse and na, but info was rarely changed. It's a really good idea. My fourth night there I woke up trying to figure out whether if was my third of fourth. Passage of time is a lot of what of one has to look forward to. I did have some extremely skilled, smart, compassionate nurses at NYU. I am very grateful. Unfortunately, I had one nurse who I got off on the wrong foot with on my 3rd night-still on morphine. Our bile continued and Sue got involved and at the end I was afraid of being alone this nurse at night. I noticed that the nights she was "my nurse" I had nausea and in one case vomiting, something I had no other nights. I also noticed that she had to be supervised to do a simple procedure-actually one I could have done on myself-having had back surgery a number of years ago. I have a disability and tried to explain this to her, but she infantilized me or treated me as a recalcitrant patient. NYU is affiliated with Rusk Institute, one of the first rehab. hospital in the us named for Dean Rusk. When people with disabilities are not allowed to explain their situation -we are the most educated about our situations-but talked around-well as my mother would have said,"It's a sin and a shame." ( or maybe I'm reading too many medical mysteries?)
Fortunately, I was able to leave before she came back on duty.
Now I'm home sweet home, albeit with a drain to empty and dressings to change, but so what. I'm so glad to be home with the beloved.