Another Hospital.... Another Surgery..
Now the recovery begins. My day began early in the morning; 2am to be exact. The thunder rumbled and flashes of lightning awoke me an hour earlier than the alarm clock so I just got up. Dad had to be in Johnstown at 5:30am for his surgery. You know the hurry up and the wait. We arrived at 5:15 am at the designated desk for the check-in. No one there. So we wait. By 5:30am ten people were not too happy about having to wait. I just sat and listened to everyone saying. "If we can make it here at 5:30am; why can't their workers be here on time?" The girl finally showed at 5:40am. Boy if looks could kill. Of course she had to set up and people were bombarting her as soon as she sat down. Hell people, you all know that as soon as you get upstairs you got to wait again. By this time dad's pacing. The girl finally asked who was first? Yep, that would be us.
On to the 3rd floor we go. This is the floor of questions and flashes of asses. We didn't stay long here; dad was sent to the 4th floor and I to the 6th floor lounge to wait. Why they call it a lounge I'll never know. There were no lounge chairs and it was so cold in there that I thought it was the morgue. I settled in a corner only to get back up and start playing musical chairs. Everywhere I sat I had breeze on my head from the vents that spit out ice cold air. The Lounge started to fill with the ones from the first floor and my musical chairs came to an end. Cold and in need of a good cup of coffee and a cigarette. I head back to the first floor for the cafe and the front door to get warm. Ok its 7:20am; I'm finally warm again and head back into the front door and I meet up with dad's doctor. Cup of coffee in his hand and his nurse carrying all the paper work. We chat on the elevator, they get off at 4 and I go back to the morgue on 6. Ok, by the time doc scrubs and views the x-rays and chit chats are over the OR called the lounge, surgery began at 8:15am. I wait in the morgue. At 11am; surgery over and I wait for the doc talk.
All is ok and I get his room number. Which is as the girl states about two blocks away. Down one elevator thru a maze of halls to another elevator, up to the 9th floor, another maze of halls and I'm there. Guess what? I wait again. Dad finally arrives at1pm. I'm asked to wait in the hall while they settle him in.
Then; this is a first for me. He has to order his own food. They give you a menu and you hit the food button on the phone. The other end already knows who you are and where you're at. What your dietary allowance is: Reg., soft, or liquid. Tell them what you want and within the policy of 50 minutes you get your meal delivered to your room. Pretty cool for me. But the older folks have alittle trouble with this. They have to remember to order 50 minutes ahead of when they want to eat. The old way the meal was served at a certain time and you picked from a menu that was handed to them yesterday. Anyway dad got his meal in about thirty mins. not bad. After eating he needed a pain shot and a nap before they got him up to walk. Yep, now you walk the same day as surgery. Some in the halls were doing fine; others were getting sick and yet a few were passing out. By this time I was ready to head home. I needed a nap. For some reason the hour drive only took 35 minutes. My foot must have fallen asleep ahead of me. Anyho; things are good so far. Then there's tomorrow.....
On to the 3rd floor we go. This is the floor of questions and flashes of asses. We didn't stay long here; dad was sent to the 4th floor and I to the 6th floor lounge to wait. Why they call it a lounge I'll never know. There were no lounge chairs and it was so cold in there that I thought it was the morgue. I settled in a corner only to get back up and start playing musical chairs. Everywhere I sat I had breeze on my head from the vents that spit out ice cold air. The Lounge started to fill with the ones from the first floor and my musical chairs came to an end. Cold and in need of a good cup of coffee and a cigarette. I head back to the first floor for the cafe and the front door to get warm. Ok its 7:20am; I'm finally warm again and head back into the front door and I meet up with dad's doctor. Cup of coffee in his hand and his nurse carrying all the paper work. We chat on the elevator, they get off at 4 and I go back to the morgue on 6. Ok, by the time doc scrubs and views the x-rays and chit chats are over the OR called the lounge, surgery began at 8:15am. I wait in the morgue. At 11am; surgery over and I wait for the doc talk.
All is ok and I get his room number. Which is as the girl states about two blocks away. Down one elevator thru a maze of halls to another elevator, up to the 9th floor, another maze of halls and I'm there. Guess what? I wait again. Dad finally arrives at1pm. I'm asked to wait in the hall while they settle him in.
Then; this is a first for me. He has to order his own food. They give you a menu and you hit the food button on the phone. The other end already knows who you are and where you're at. What your dietary allowance is: Reg., soft, or liquid. Tell them what you want and within the policy of 50 minutes you get your meal delivered to your room. Pretty cool for me. But the older folks have alittle trouble with this. They have to remember to order 50 minutes ahead of when they want to eat. The old way the meal was served at a certain time and you picked from a menu that was handed to them yesterday. Anyway dad got his meal in about thirty mins. not bad. After eating he needed a pain shot and a nap before they got him up to walk. Yep, now you walk the same day as surgery. Some in the halls were doing fine; others were getting sick and yet a few were passing out. By this time I was ready to head home. I needed a nap. For some reason the hour drive only took 35 minutes. My foot must have fallen asleep ahead of me. Anyho; things are good so far. Then there's tomorrow.....
posted by DLaine | 8:10:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home