A Visit to the Spital

A trip to the hospital is never any fun, especially if you’re the patient.  They wake you up in the middle of the night to take a sleeping pill…….wasn’t I already sleeping when you woke me up?  They come in at all hours to take your vitals, they poke and prod, and they even bring you food that no one wants to eat (unless you’re in Austin Heart Hospital…….family members have told me that they have the BEST food).  Although you may have a private room, there’s very little privacy – ie. the gowns they give you to wear barely covers the front, which leaves the back side for all to view.  Let’s just say that hospitals are NOT on anyone’s top 10 places to visit.

But visiting hospitals is not an enjoyable task either.  It’s often freezing, with no way to change the temperature.  Most rooms only have 1 chair……..so if you take along a friend, someone has to stand L  Then there’s the noise from outside……no, not outside the building, just the room.  Many times there are children running up and down the halls, nurses chattering about the patient in room ???, doctors giving orders, equipment being moved from this room to that one, and the receptionist giving commands over the intercom.

Yes, there are many things we complain about when dealing with hospitals, and most are legitimate.  But all those issues seem very small when you visit the hospital here.  I can’t speak from the patient’s view, but here are a few observations that I’ve made the past few days.

Our sponsored daughter, Gabi, had an emergency appendectomy last Tuesday night. It began over the weekend when she complained of stomach pains.  Monday she was picked up from school and taken to the hospital, where they spent the next 5 hours trying to figure out what was going on.  They finally determined that she had appendicitis and was sent home……..what????  They wanted to wait and see how she felt the next day…..are you kidding me?  So home she went.  Tuesday aftermoon she was back at the hospital.  Yes, she would need surgery, but since it was late in the day, they wanted to wait until Wednesday.  When we were told of the hospital’s decision, I asked if I needed to stay with her during the night.  Answer: no one is allowed to stay with the patients (unless they are very small children).  This child had never been left alone before, much less in a hospital (something else new to her).  Can you imagine her anxiety?

Well, the surgery didn’t wait until Wednesday, but was performed late Tuesday night.  No one was there…..not because no one wanted to go, but because the hospital wouldn’t allow anyone there.  So what if there was another emergency that arose?  Who would make decisions for Gabi?  The hospital assured us that they would call if necessary.  I don’t know about you, but me making important decisions when awaken from a deep sleep is not a wise choice.  Anyway, the surgery went well and the appendix was removed before further issues arose.

Now let’s talk about visiting the sick in the hospital………..first, visiting hours are from 2-4p.  Yep, just 2 hours a day to visit, unless you are parents (they can visit from 9:30-10:00a).  When you arrive at the pediatric floor, you exit the elevators into a hallway that’s about 8’x30’ with 10-12 chairs along one wall.  You ring a bell at the wing door and wait for someone to answer.  When they do, and sometimes it takes 15-20 minutes (speed is not one of their requirements), you tell them who you’d like to see.  They will close the door and proceed to get that person for you.  Depending on how the individual feels that day determines how they will arrive to see you………walking, in a wheelchair, or on their hospital bed.  Yes, the staff will actually roll the hospital bed into the hallway (with everyone else to be visited).  You, along with 10-30 other folks, sit together in this hallway and visit.  It really does make for some quiet, intimate conversation.  Plus, you can see what everyone else’s medical issues were.  When 4p comes along, any remaining patients are returned to their room, not to be seen again until 2p the next day.  Rules are strict!!

On our visit Friday, the nurse informed us that Gabi needed some medicine.  Ok, so give her some.  No, the hospital did not have it and we needed to go to the pharmacy and purchase it ourself.  What??  A hospital without medicines??  Found out that this happens all the time.  The one good thing about having to purchase your own is that you’re not overcharged.  Today (Sunday) Gabi told us that they ran out of toilet paper in her room and the nurses didn’t have any to give them.  Seriously?  Well, add toilet paper to the list of things the hospital doesn’t provide.  Dacian shared with us that his wife (who is a surgical nurse at this hospital) often has to provide her own surgical gloves, tape, disinfectant, and other misc supplies.  Also found out that you must bring your own pajamas – open rear gowns not provided.

So, you thought American hospitals were bad (and some are), at least they provide toilet paper :)