I'm Back
I'm back. Back from rehab where I was sent for 20 days to get my legs back. I was admitted to the hospital because I couldn't walk. Could barely take a step. This meant if I had to go to the bathroom, someone had to help me get to the room. The rehab center/nursing home is where the hell started. As I said, I had to be helped to the toilet and lifted off it. This meant that every time I needed to urinate, I had to call the nurse. I "normally" go to the bathroom 2-3 times a night. The very first time I pulled the call cord, help didn't arrive until I peed on myself. Their solution? A diaper. Again, I wet myself before help arrived. Another diaper. The third time, there was no response so I laid in my own piss until the morning shift discovered me. They cleaned me up, dressed me and cleaned the bed. Word got around and the night shift, apparently, thought I had reported them and they started a sarcasm campaign,,,treating me like I was a traitor,,like I was out to get them. They finally got a portable commode and placed it next to my bed. I quickly learned to struggle out of bed and onto the commode by myself, saving the frustration of calling for help. The commode was never emptied on a regular basis and I usually called them after a b.m just to get rid of the smell. Ice water was a premium having to ask for it, so I saved the small glass of water that came with lunch and supper. The food wasn't the best,,,not even good for the most part. Breakfast was either hot or cold cereal with cold scrambled eggs, cold toast, and a cold sausage patty. The toast, if you could call it that, was limp looking like it had been passed about 2 feet above a flame. The National Hockey League should get the recipe for the patty. It would make a tougher puck. Always over cooked and hard to cut,,much less chew. Lunch and supper were a little better. Inconsistent, some were good while others less so. Sometimes there was a "mystery" meat that you couldn't identify until you tasted it. The most consistent thing about the meals was that hot food was either cold or luke warm and cold food was warm. Iced tea had very little ice. The best meals I had were sloppy joes and a hamburger. Some of the desserts were very good. But, the rehab team was fantastic! They forced me to improve. I used a wheelchair and the very first day I had to wheel myself to the class. I'd never used a wheelchair before except with someone pushing me, so it was hard for a while. Until the last week I was there, I was never asked if I wanted to clean myself up or told the procedure to take a shower. I would need help. It took a survey interview with the head of the facility and head nurse to get a shower and explain, fully, the night I soaked and how I was treated. I went through all this to get my legs back. I'm using a walker now and will until my legs are stronger and I switch back to my cane, and, maybe?, no cane? I'm walking myself to health.
Replies
Good for you!!!!! I sure do wish you the best and you get your strength back. You have a good start thanks to the rehab team! I had to laugh when you described the hospital food. My husband had a hip replacement and the food they fed him was pretty much unacceptable. I don\'t understand why hospitals (the place to make us healthy) try to kill us with their food. Just kidding, but shouldn\'t be like that.
Take good care of your sweet self and keep on keepin\' on!!!
Oh my goodness, it\'s terrible how they treat people in these places, like a bunch of animals. They think it\'s an inconvenience, but Karma is a bitch and what goes around comes around and i hope every last one of them ends up in the same type of situation!!!! I think that was really your motivation to get out of there and not have to go back. Glad to hear you\'re up and using your legs again. In the last years of my moms life she resisted walking on her own and preferred to use a wheelchair, which was a hard thing for us trying to help her do daily things because she decided she didn\'t want to do them for herself. I\'m glad you\'re \"stepping up\" to take action because it\'s very difficult if you are alone. Take care my friend, you are often in my thoughts. Deb :o)