Hospital Update #7: Little Miss Cranky

Today was a mixed day. Summer did her part, but the various physicians (3) who visited (separately) seemed to have different information, different ideas and different criteria for discharge. Two of them were fairly indifferent. It took all of Summer’s energy to sort out their various positions and get them, at least partially, on the same page. Very frustrating, very irritating. There seems to be no written care plan for her to work from, like a checklist, just some generalities. She pointed out that she really needed a daily set of goals,  a list of all individuals involved in her care, who would be coming to visit and when, definitive criteria for discharge to work towards, and, most importantly, who is in charge of her case. Instead, we got a jumble of people coming and going and none of them seemed ever to consult with the others. So many of the one-off people that come in the room just assume she will either happily play along or can be placated with short, vague, authoritative answers. Not true for Summer! If she felt well enough, she would literally whip them into shape. We went back and forth over the same topics over and over. Probably 12-14 separate activities are performed on her, even if she is asleep and has to be wakened. No surprise to those of you who have been in hospitals.  Every medical person tells us she will feel so much better when she gets out of this unit, but no one is facilitating this end. Clearly the limits of recovery here have been reached. One cannot continue to heal further here. Our room is dark and gloomy and extremely small, also not conducive to feeling good. We are grumpy again, but determined to flee tomorrow, even if we have to sneak out (except we need our prescriptions). Look for more cheerful news tomorrow!

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