Wake up- time for your sleeping pill…
When I spent four nights in hospital recently, three of them were on the orthopaedic ward. (Night two was in the high dependency unit after surgery).
The first night I didn’t sleep too well- one old man on the ward was calling for the nurse half the night (and being ignored), another made very loud very strange noises like a cross between snoring and gargling.
When I returned to the Ward on day three, the old man had gone but there was someone comatose with their head bandaged instead. As soon as it got dark, bandaged man came to life. He had apparently been beaten up and was out of it big time. He kept getting out of bed and wandering round the Ward, pushing alrm buttons and trying to climb out of the window. At one point, I came awake and found this strange man wandering past, staring at me. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel threatened by him at all, but most of the other patients did. The night nurses spent most of the night cajoling, shouting at and pleading with him, but as soon as they were gone he was off again. The staff were so distracted that they never got round to closing the blinds or the curtains until the middle of the night.
On the plus side, however, he so spooked the others that the death rattle noises remained absent for the rest of my stay.
The following day, the Police came and talked to concussion victim at length, but he wasn’t saying anything. They must have tired him out though, because he didn’t wander about quite as much that evening.
February 12th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
This brings back memories
I remember a chap in the LGI who insisted on spilling his catheter bag over the floor once it was full
He also insisted I’d takenhis bed. Constantly
Oh, I haven’t even started. I was only in there 1 week
The 2 month in jimmys .. welll
February 12th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
My Dad was in and out of hospitals during my Teens and he used to tell me stories like this. I didn’t really believe him at the time but now realise they are oh so true.
The saddest part is when people become so institutionalised so quickly, it only takes a couple of weeks.
February 13th, 2008 at 5:00 am
Becoming institutionalized is awful and it is quick. What upset me the most was to see it happen to the young people with Crohn’s disease on total parenteral nutrition. Sometimes they were there for months at a time and how sad to see them spend their youth like this.
Glad you were in and out quickly, it’s not a nice place to be for long.