The World is a Stage
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Mom was standing in the washroom, preparing for bed, when she felt herself falling, leaned against the wall and slid down, without hurting herself.
Unfortunately the reason she fell was because of a fragile fracture, which basically means the bone just broke by itself. Hey, she’s 91 years old.
Mom wore a button, which, when in distress, she could press and the operators would contact her, or us, or send an ambulance. The problem is, Mom has not had to press that button for a few years and didn’t remember to push it, so she scooted across to the floor to a phone, which was low enough that she could reach it. She called me, I called the ambulance.
Mom went to Tillsonburg emergency and was sent quickly to University Hospital in London as they had a bed, however because of her blood thinning medication the surgery was delayed a few days.
University Hospital has a great service – e-cards. You go to their website and within three minutes you pick a picture, write a message and send it to the patient's room. Mom got about 30 e-cards in two days and was overjoyed that so many people cared.
The hospital also had co-ed rooms! Whoo-hoo! The ladies in the room were pretty excited when Frank was wheeled in. Decorum was kept, as this floor was all about hip and knee surgeries, and the curtains concealed. It is an excellent way to maximize bed use in a hospital.
After about a week at UH, Mom was transferred back to Tillsonburg to First South. I was so relieved for now her friends could visit and I didn’t have drive two hours a day. She was put in a private room, which to some sounds nice, however it is also very lonely. I was ready for everything to ramp up and get the old girl running up and down the halls, but alas physiotherapy has been cut back in our hospital. I happened to be there when a therapist came to Mom with some in-bed exercises for her hip. She would come once a day and expected the family to lead her the other two times.
It wasn’t enough to get Mom moving, and being left in the room alone for so long became depressing. Most of the day Mom just sat in the room uninspired and did nothing, perking up only when people came in.
Our hospital does not give patients the choice of a light or large meal at noon. You get the large meal at noon and sandwich or soup or other light meal in the evening. My Mom has never liked a big meal at lunch so what she received was overwhelming for her and frankly not very appealing. She tried to force some food down, but most of the time ate nothing but the dessert. This was a radical change as Mom has always been one to eat virtually anything (she usually loves hospital food) and became extremely upset that she was wasting the food... food that she knew she needed to eat to stay strong. But she couldn’t. The timing of a large meal seems like such a small thing, something that everyone should be able handle, however those who make these cost saving decisions aren’t 60-90 years old, weak and out of sorts from pain or illness.
A problem that has occurred in all hospitals for decades occurred at both hospitals. That is having a meal delivered to the patient and the patient is unable to reach the food. This happens more times than you would believe. Food is set down quickly and the server leaves too fast for the patient to even realize they can’t reach the food. Or they can’t open the juice or milk or take the cover off the coffee. By the time someone arrives that could help, the food is cold and the patient is usually exhausted from trying to reach the food and is no longer hungry.
Mom’s next trip was to the new Woodstock General Hospital for physiotherapy. I didn’t really want to do the driving again, but once I found what their therapy department did, I was overjoyed. I call it physio boot camp. Her room was in the therapy unit and she ate with others, also there for therapy, not by herself.
Mom had three hours a day either in physiotherapy, occupational therapy or recreational therapy. When she was not working out she was expected to be doing things in her room that she would do at home, so in came the knitting, puzzle and colouring books. The ‘could you help me’ attitude became ‘this is how you do it, now do it yourself’ attitude.
This therapy department was uplifting and encouraging all day long. Exactly what is needed especially to get seniors to push themselves back into life.
It was an amazing journey for Mom, three hospitals in six weeks. She has come through like a trooper and is now happily ensconced in the Tillsonburg Retirement Residence on Rolph Street.
We learned a lot. First and foremost is that every patient needs an advocate so they understand what is happening, ask questions and make sure things are done properly. Most hospitals are too short-staffed when it comes to dealing directly with the patients.
And all hospitals need to develop e-cards.