Sunday May 18 2008

Day 15 in hospital

Bruce has moved bed spaces today but is still in the same room. Now he has a new room mate and two spare beds which may fill up over night.

Not much to report - he has loved the visitors, can tell what all the noises are as they happen around the hospital and which trolley is on the move - especially the tea and food ones! He didn't have a Dr look a the wound today but decided that he would do his own assessment and thinks it looked better than yesterday! Unfortunately he couldn't release himself from hospital.

Big thank you to all those who have gone up to visit and for the reading matter etc he has received. He will get the borrowed mags and books back to you - it all helps to pass the time especially when he doesn't feel sick but is just stuck on the bed.

I have decided that it is a good thing the hospital does not rely on repeat business based on performance to earn their keep because their client retention would be very poor! The nursing staff are either great (and some are amazing) or 'out to lunch'. The standard of spoken English leaves a lot to be desired in my view. I am sure that the nurses understand and can write English but it seems a challenge for them to get the accents spoken on the right part of the syllable therefore enabling us to easily understand what is being communicated verbally especially when medical terms are used. I find myself repeating the words after the nurses so I know I have heard correctly. Sometimes it's critical we understand. (This is not new to me as I had a terrible time when Claire was in there last and we almost lost her though an in hospital communication/schedule misadventure where they finally did emergency surgery at 2am in the morning and we hope heads rolled for that although we don't know the outcome and strongly suspect none did). I guess I am less trusting and very wary of the staff and their abilities given the experiences that are under the bridge over the last 3 years.

Well it will be interesting to see what this next week brings - watch this space :)