You'd think just sitting around all day wouldn't make you tired. But sitting in a hospital for 14 hours a day is one of the most draining and taxing things on the body. I will say that emotional exhaustion is far worse (in my opinion) than physical exhaustion. And that's what this week was. Even after I'd come home and literally crash into bed, I couldn't sleep. My mind was racing too much (I get this worrisome, anxious trait from my mother, who gets it from her mother.) Which just made each day more and more tiresome.
I get to the hospital, pending which day, between 7am and 8:30am (and leave every night between 9:30pm-10:30pm) I head straight up to Grandpa's ICU room. Most mornings Grandma is already here. We sit and talk. About anything and everything. The hospital has wireless internet but they are having problems with the modem off and on so I don't really get my laptop out. I spend my time doing various things...reading Hunger Games, journaling, and talking. Actually, reading and journaling only consume about 10% of my time here. The other 90% we just talk.
I wish I could video tape all of it. I wish I could relive it all. At night, I am too tired to journal in detail. I just hit the main points. My mind is too tired to think and recall all the conversations, and my body is too tired to write it all.
We've been reminiscing about all of our memories. Grandpa and Grandma are shocked I remember as much as I do.
We talked about my childhood obsession with my pillow. Neither of them remember how I happened across it. We assume when I was little, we came in town to visit and they let me use this pillow and I just became attached. It was Grandpa's small down-filled Navy issued pillow. It's the most comfortable thing ever. I absolutely had to have this thing to sleep. I recalled one time we left it in St. Louis and my grandparents had to one day ship it to us in Illinois...I was a mess without that thing. And I still have it =) I can sleep without it and don't cry if I don't have it, but I still love that pillow. I find it comfortable but I think I love it more for the memories =)
We also talked about all the places they used to take us to eat. The way Leah could never pronounce Gingham's. The giant checkerboard game in Cracker Barrel and how they were the ones who taught me how to play, in that very "store". Just so many memories we shared.
I listened to more stories about their childhood. Grandpa and his siblings visiting the farm every summer. Their courtship, engagement, and young married life. Stories of my mother and her three siblings. Stories of my childhood or my siblings that I dont' remember. It was just a great time! A lot of the stories I had heard before but I love hearing them. They never get old.
Being cooped up in the hospital really wasn't bad. It helps when you have great company. But another huge help was this particular hospital. It's only a few years old. It's built so nicely and very accommodating. Every single room is a private room. A HUGE private room. Grandpa was in ICU immediately after his surgery but once he was not longer in ICU, he still got to stay in this room. No room changes. It was nice. Check out how spacious and nice these rooms are. Every single room in this hospital looks like this. (My mother was also in a room like this after he parathyroidectomy and her fake-stroke/Bell's Palsy)
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| This is the view standing in the doorway. Each room has a nice sized television. There is also a DVD player if you want to bring in your own OR you can visit the concierge's desk and borrow one (no cost or anything). They have about 50 to choose from! Behind that curtain are more cabinets, one hides a small refrigerator for guests to put their drinks or food in. There is also a safe in one so you can lock valuables. You open and close it with a credit card so no one can "guess" your passcode. That long bench is VERY comfy and we took a few naps on it. Each room also has it's own thermostat so you can have your room whatever temperature you like! |
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| View from the other side, in front of the window. This small love seat actually transforms into a bed! You push the 'unlock' button on the bottom, and slide the far arm out towards the door. Then the cushion folds out towards the door (right now it's folded on top of itself, making it twice as thick.). It's about 6'0 long when it's pulled out. Which is great because it can make for additional seating. The nurses will also provide pillows and blankets for guests taking a nap or spending the night. In this hospital, they allow guests to spend the night in the rooms, even ICU rooms, with the doctors permission. [Grandpa wasn't allowed guests for long periods of time and no overnight guests for his first 2 nights.] |
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| I'm standing a little to the side of the television. That door to my Grandpa's left is the bathroom which is HUGE! It has a toilet, sink, and a pretty large shower! To the left is the nurse's station where they have their computers. Underneath the desk is a small door. They order the medicines and the pharmacy actually sends them up to this compartment, similar to the drive-thru's at the bank! It's so neat!!! |
This hospital ONLY had nurses on three-12 hour days. It's really nice because for the first three days, we had the same two nurses. They worked 7am-7pm and 7pm-7am. It was great because you could really get to know them and trust them. Not to mention these nurses were so amazing! I wish this would have been how Wash u/Barnes was. I felt like in my 14 days there I NEVER had the same nurse. And a lot were there strictly to do their job. They didn't really care about me, just their paycheck. But Grandpa's nurses seemed to really care. I loved it!
As for food, I love how they do it. Their menu for patients is HUGE!!!! Each patient is given 3 meals a day. There's no specific time. So you call whenever you want breakfast and order. You tell them your room number and what you want. If you can't have something because of a specific diet, they tell you so and you choose something else. And then your food is in your room within 30 minutes! When I was in the hospital, you got MAYBE two choices, and it was brought to you at the same time every day. I hated it. (Then again, I ate nothing but Jell-O, pudding, and beef or chicken broth for 12 straight days before the started letting me have something a little more solid.)
The cafeteria was also really, really nice! The best I've seen. They had a real pizza oven for made to order pizzas. Chicken wing bar with different flavors of wings. A grill with fish sandwiches, burgers, chicken, hotdogs, etc. A huge salad bar with salad fixings but also a few different pasta salads. A dessert bar. A deli meat bar. Many different soups. And at both lunch and dinner they have about 6 fancy entrees (panko crusted tiliapia, chicken in white wine sauce with mushrooms, etc.) The food was GOOD!
And inexpensive. For instance, one morning, I got scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, two pieces of toast, and a carton of milk and it cost me $3.20.
One night for dinner Grandma and I each got a burger and fries, plus she got a salad and I got pasta salad. We each got a soda and she got an apple dumpling. The total for both of our meals was $5.75!
This hospital is amazing! They are so friendly, so accommodating, the food is good, and the nurses and doctors are AMAZING!
I'm thankful the hospital was so nice otherwise 14 hours in a tiny room, with a roommate and awful might have made it complete unbearable!
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