Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2007. I honestly can't remember exactly where this was taken in Key West. But I know we were out and about with Peter's parents and we stopped for a snack and snapped this photo. I don't have many pictures with the three of us together, so this one caught my attention.
Quote of the day: Wherever the art of Medicine is loved, there is also a love of Humanity. ~ Hippocrates
I remember Mattie's radiology tech at his hospital would say to me that sometimes people enter the medical profession with the best of intentions. But then they spend years in the system and the passion and love they have for the practice of medicine dwindles. Unfortunately there are many health care workers who fall in this category. Not necessarily any fault of their own. I think it is the result of long work days, intensity of the job, pressures from insurers and hospital administrators and the list goes on.
My dad's admission to the hospital once again reminds me that working in a hospital is not for everyone. Yet when a kind and compassion nurse/doctor works with us, it truly can change the whole tone of the day.
It is now close to midnight, and I have been at the hospital since 9am. I am wiped out from this hospital admission and though today I wasn't fighting anyone (THANK GOD), it was still a very long day. When I got to the hospital, they had my dad up and out of bed. He claims that he pushed the call light for the nurse, but no one answered him for hours, so instead he landed up going to the bathroom in bed. Unfortunately with my dad I never know if his reporting is accurate!
Unlike the past week, today my dad was up, lively, and animated. Like a completely different person. He spent the entire day in the chair, did not go back to bed and wasn't tired. Typically my dad isn't talkative, but today it was like he had a personality change. In addition, he became almost hyper sexual. Also not like him. He started joking with nurses and so forth about his body parts and whether they were going to take photos of him and sell tickets. Totally crazy stuff and out of character. So this caught my attention. This crazy stuff continued when we called Peter and my mom, both of whom were home today.
After a full day on the 6th floor, we finally were admitted to the inpatient rehab unit at 6pm. Though everyone was very nice there, the room is in the old part of the hospital. So to me it is small and depressing. Despite that everyone we met was lovely. I helped my dad through a long intake, I unpacked everything in his room, gave him dinner, and tried to orient him to things around him. He was highly agitated and also very confused. He kept asking everyone the same questions over and over. It will be his dementia that will truly do him in with this rehab process. Yet I know I can't be there every single minute of the day to normalize his conversations and redirect his thinking and behavior.
We met one of the doctors overseeing the rehab unit and he is wonderful. Originally from Brooklyn and has a wonderful demeanor, sense of humor, and truly engaged with my dad! My dad's nurses on the sixth floor were wonderful today and three hospital personnel came into my dad's room today and told my dad that they have been observing me all week. They can't get over everything I do for him and they wanted him to know how lucky he was. Honestly this reminded me a lot of the feedback I used to get with Mattie. But like back then, I always perform my caregiving and advocacy roles unaware of those around me. It is funny how quickly hospital personnel can size up families. I may not have made any friends on the 6th floor, but I do think they respected me for what I was able to accomplish for my dad. I am quite certain without my aggressive advocacy, he wouldn't have gotten the pacemaker inserted on Friday or been admitted to in patient rehab today.
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