No more silk pajamas, this is serious business

 About 9 pm last night I got a room on a med surg floor. What a relief. These nurses know their guts, and have the guts to tell me what to do. No more, "let her do what she wants, she is a nurse". 

I arrived and the assessments, plan of care, serious discussions began and I felt at home. No more ER, OR, PACU or any other acronym for "short-term care". This is Medical Surgical and has represented the heart and soul of adult hospital care for decades. Long before the silly specialty units with their fancy names. 

It is like a home-cooked meal with mom, after a week of fast food. It just feels right, homey, warm, clean and no-nonsense. And whether you think you are going to follow the rules or not, you are. 

My "non-compliance" stems from the same place most people's non-compliances arrises from, lack of knowledge. When we are doing things that hurt us, we do it out of ignorance, fear, anger perhaps but  not knowledge. 

During the move last night, I wretched, drank ice water, got pain meds, wretched some more, demanded an x-ray to look at the Oral-gastric tube, and demanded more water. I think I was pretty annoying. They gradually advanced up their chain of command, got the X-ray, gave me water and gently brought me around to the place I am this morning. COMPLIANT! Fully, absolutely, no questions asked, compliant. 

It was my very young, almost shy night nurse who quietly said, "We can't assess your bowl progress, because you are taking too much water and the bowl is stressed. It needs to rest". She was kind, considerate, matter of fact.  Like a kind friend, who gently tells you they are taking your keys, because you are too drunk to drive.  I looked at her face and said, "Tell me what to do."

Which is pretty amazing considering I have about 40 years more nursing experience than she does, but not a day of credibility on a med-surg floor.  She is the credible one in this scenario. 

She began her mission to civilize me and had my compliance within minutes. I'm getting, no more water, at all. Also, no more talking out loud, at all. And no more, "give Carol what she wants!"

So at 6:00 am this morning, I gave up my water basin, sent out my "I can't speak" message and chewed slowly on a piece of crushed ice. My gut has officially been given the day off and the pay back has already begun. I have had 2 normal poos!! I know, such mundane stuff, until it isn't working, then it is the talk of the family. 

Graham and Jess arrived last night. A welcome relief for Gene. Lizzie brings her own sparkle to every day and arriving at Amma's house will be a special day, I hope.  I know each of us needs to be supported and loved and the circle needs to widen when we find ourselves in dyer straights. I certainly want as much support for those supporting me as I can muster.  For those of you who have been sending texts, wondering how it is going, and keeping me in your hearts.  I will say, the past 2 days has been a "fire-hose" blast of questions, delays, uncertainties, lab sticks, IV boluses and just feeling awful. And I am so glad I am back to a place where I can write a coherent sentence and give you a snap shot of what is happening. 

So today begins the "wait and see" period. I will be in the hospital for IV fluids and gastric suction. I will be giving my distended, traumatized, overwatered, immobile and post-operative bowel a rest. And we all hope that it will heal, wake up and decide to continue forward in service to me. That is not guaranteed, but certainly hopeful. 

It is 9:00 am, time for meds. Thank you for keeping me in your thoughts.

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