Re: Hospital

[Guest guest]

My mother is in the hospital.

She told me to log on and let you all know why she isn't posting or

answering anyone who has sent her any email. If any of you sent her

messages pls. know she isn't here and will be gone for a few days more.

I don't know if I saved all the posts so excuse me if there was

anything important pls. address it to Mira on the forum email, then

I'll know I can print it for her.

There was over 100 or more postings and emails and I am not sure which

is for her and which isn't.

Thank you

Dalia

On Monday, Aug 18, 2003, at 10:05 US/Central, jmfranken@... wrote:

> What is wrong with you people - how rude is this email??? -

>

> Just remember " everyone is an asshole, it just depends on who you are

> talking to " .

>

> Let's cut it out gang this is doing no one any good, it is a waste of

> energy - don't respond to Jeff if he annoys you, but let's move on

> here to more important subjects!

>

> Thank you - ann

>

>

[Guest guest]

That's a very good idea. I think a similar thing has helped my

grandmother in the nursing home she lives at -- my cousins have made

that room so personal and the staff treat Grandma like she was their

own grandmother!

Wow, Tina, with kids those ages you sure had to do something other

than camp out at the hospital with him, didn't you? I've been there,

when my husband was so severely dehydrated that he had to be

hospitalized (every time he has ever had a 'flu shot!) but at the

time he was in the military and didn't have the option of camping

out at the hospital even if I'd been able to leave the babies (ages

4, 2, and 3-months - and breastfed) and we were too far from home

for his mother or other family member to be there either. I'm just

grateful now that his condition wasn't anything more serious.

The military doctors have you over a barrel, especially if you are

only a dependent instead of the service-member. If you argue with

them too much they can have you banned from receiving anything but

emergency care at a military facility and you will have to go to a

civilian doctor and the military may or may not pay for it.

Still, I did win against one when my youngest was born. The

pediatrician (whom the nurses all treated like a god so he was

really stuck on himself) wanted the baby to be under the bili-lights

because her biliruben was high (it always is with my babies, but we

had learned over the years how to deal with that - first thing to do

is to get away from the hospital! -- nurse the baby as much as

possible and hold her in the sunlight for a while every day) and he

also wanted her to get a bottle instead of breast milk. He claimed I

wouldn't want to be bothered by coming down to the nursery to feed

her often enough (every couple of hours) and that he didn't want her

removed from the lights long enough to bring her to my room more

than once every four or five hours. But I told him I would and he

gave me that " we'll see " look -- at least he didn't flat out refuse!

So, even though the staff refused to wake me up for the feedings, I

walked to the nursery every two hours and fed my baby. In no time at

all the nurses were leaving her entirely to me, didn't change her or

anything. Believe me, I was really regretting the surgery to have my

tubes tied which is what required a longer than usual stay after

having the baby (long enough for the biliruben levels to get up

there -- the military acceptable biliruben level is about 10 points

lower than the civilian acceptable level, so in any civilian

hospital they wouldn't have bothered to put the baby under the

lights). But we both survived -- even though I was incredibly bored

when I wasn't in the nursery with my baby.

I also had to fight to get to have my baby on my bed with me when

she was allowed back to my room. A few months later I visited with a

friend who also had a new baby and she said her solution to that

problem was to bring a baby carrier (front-pack) to the hospital and

simply put the baby in that. Then the nurses couldn't claim that she

might fall asleep and drop the baby -- and no one in their right

mind would roll over with something like that on their chest! Since

I hadn't thought that far ahead I had the back of the hospital bed

raised and sat cross-legged with the baby cradled in my legs and

leaned back to sleep. The key was to sleep lightly enough that I

woke up the second a nurse even thought about putting her head in

the room. She was our fourth baby and by then I certainly knew how

to sleep with a baby in the bed, and was extremely used to

interrupted sleep! You may wonder why I wanted the baby in bed with

me, but after our first baby was still-born I found I just couldn't

sleep unless our babies were right there with me where I could feel

them and check their breathing.

OK, enough rambling....

Luci

> <<When you have someone with you in the hospital it

> immediately marks

> you as a real human being in the eyes of the hospital

> staff and they treat you better. >>

>

> When dh was very sick and in hospital my children were

> 8, 6, 4 and 6 months. I took in a photograph we had

> recently taken of the whole family along with a

> picture of my 6 month old wearing a bib saying , " I

> love my Daddy " . I stuck them on the wall of his room.

> I felt it made him more like a person and not a

> patient. Lots of people said it worked and commented

> it was a good idea.

>

> Tina