Stupid questions for a story - what's it like being the hospital for days?

[Geek King]

Sounds like hospital food depends on the hospital, and possibly which section and which meal requirement. The hospital where I delivered my three children had great food, even the liquid diet, but that may have been them pampering the maternity ward.

Actually, that does remind me, but the food was pretty decent when I was in. They had a short menu with a nice variety of choices you could order. Even outside of special dietary issues (which I was not on), a person should be able to find something they liked. All the patient had to do was call in the order within the alloted times (two hour slots for all three slots), have the bed tray ready, and it would be delivered to their room.

Most of the food was maybe just a step below TGIFridays, of a Ruby Tuesday in quality (less spicing, but you got salt and pepper to add if needed), except for the baked chicken, which was way too dry both times I tried it. I had burgers, baked chicken, a fruit plate, western omlet, and fish dinner (Tilapia, I think). All had sides of fruit or veggies available, a dessert, and choice of beverage--coffee, juice, or Pepsi products.

[Sapphire Silk]

I really don't know what it's like to be an inpatient.

Whenever I'm a patient, I sleep. And sleep. And sleep. They have to wake me to discharge me

[Primer]

With copious snippage...

I had neck re-fusion done the first of June. (C 5-7 were fused in 2003. 5-6 did great, but 6-7 didn't, and I started having acute symptoms again last fall). I was in the hospital for 3 1/2 days, the first one in "medium care" the rest in regular. I was hooked up to a morphine pump that I was allowed to trigger every 10 minutes.

I was fairly narcoleptic for the first 2.5 days of the 4-day stay. It was tricky eating, because I'd take a bite or two and then nod off for fifteen minutes. By the time I was able to finish a meal, it was two hours later and the food was cold.

THIS!!! Sometimes I'd wake up 45 minutes later still with a mouthful of half-chewed food. I'd find a program on TV that was halfway interesting, and the next thing I knew, something entirely different was on. But anytime anybody came into the room for anything at any time, I was awake and aware of them. Go figure.

Vitals, catheter if necessary, etc. For my hospital stays vitals were basically temperature, blood pressure, heartbeat, checking that the IVs were still good, and that I wasn't dead.
Sounds like hospital food depends on the hospital, and possibly which section and which meal requirement.

Also the oximeter for the oxygen levels. Some nurses get really worried if the level falls below 95, when anything in the 90s is ok. They would also keep asking if I'd had a bowel movement yet. Gee, I'm hooked up to a foley catheter, the other end of which ends in a bag attached to the bed, and IV lines--you think I'm going to be able to have a BM without somebody knowing about it?

As for food, yes, it really depends on the individual institution. My mother loved the food at the hospital branch she was in, but the food at the branch I was in was lackluster, at best. Never before have I NOT had an appetite, it was so bad.

When she's awake, they'll be bugging her to practice deep breathing with a plastic thingy.

IIRC it's called an "incentive spirometer." I'd swear I have about half a dozen of those things around here somewhere.

BTW, at the 2-week check up, the doc was very happy and said I could wean myself from the hard collar and start driving whenever I felt comfortable doing so. He originally predicted 3 months in the hard collar. I drove today for the first time, but can see I need a bit more PT before I have my stamina back.

[RichS]

I was in the hospital for 10 days following my car accident; it felt like a week...

The only interesting part was when my roommate, an older man, attempted to leave - I didn't know if he was under orders to stay, but I remember when he was returned to the room he was strapped down. He and his bed were gone the next day.

That, and the pain from the subdural hematoma, gash behind my head, and I.V. is all that I remember...

[Silvercat]

IIRC it's called an "incentive spirometer." I'd swear I have about half a dozen of those things around here somewhere.

Oh, that's helpful. Thanks!

Thanks for all the input everybody. Now, I need to go back actually write that chapter. (I'm working on earlier chapters at the moment).

[42_42_42]

I've had 3 hospital stays. Two were post-surgical stays and one due to complications from the first surgery (that arose over a year later). The two post-surgical stays were the shortest.

For the first 24 hours or so after my surgies I basically slept. I was on a morphine drip and pump and it kept me knocked out. Which, considering the size of my abdominal incisions, was a damn good thing.

The next day, when they took away my lovely morphine, things were less pleasant. I still slept a lot, but they had me getting up to move around and walk and once they took the catheter out, I *had* to get up to pee every couple of hours (saline drip was still in).

The next day, the day I went home (but not until late afternoon), I felt better. Still very sore, but better enough to be ready to be out of that room and home. So most of that day is grumpy and bored. Plus very very very ready for a shower.

The other hospital stay was four nights, I think. My hubby rushed me to the ER with severe abdominal pain. We thought I had appendicitis, but it turned out to be a partially obstructed small intestine from scar tissue from my first surgery. They gave me morphine shots but it basically did nothing for the pain. I was i.n absolute kill-me-now agony for over 12 hours. This is when I learned that you don't pass out from pain. God how I wished I could pass out. Eventually I started projectile vomiting and they stuck a tube down my nose into my stomach to pump it out. That was uncomfortable as hell, but at least the pain was gone. Then I was mostly bored and really really thirsty as I was, of course, NPO. I was also extremely dehydrated, despite being on a saline IV. Probably because they kept not being able to get it set right and it'd occlude (not sure if that's the right term) and they'd have to move it, but of course they'd have trouble setting the new one because my veins were all shit at that point b/c of being so dehydrated. One of the lines too 4 different nurses plus an anesthesiologist over 2 dozen tries to finally get it. Not really sure why they didn't do a pic or central line.

Once the pump was out of my stomach, I was basically just sitting around, hungry, bored, and with low blood sugar, but high bp, and getting really pissy and having severe withdrawal symptoms (cold sweats that would drench me and the bed and the shakes) from not being on my Effexor. Eventually the blockage sorted itself out (no surgery for that) and I was allowed to try sucking on some ice and then when that stayed down, some clear liquids. When that stayed down and I finally had a bm (5th day at hospital, nothing eaten since the day I went in and I threw all that up, I'm surprised I was able to produce anything) I was able to convince them that I would adhere to whatever dietary restrictions they set on me and I was released. Was on a clear liquid diet for a couple weeks and then the follow-up appt was allowed to go to full liquids which I did for over a month after that out of just being too damned scared to eat real food.

In sum, hospital stays are pain, discomfort, and tedium all rolled together. Unless you've got good drugs, then you're unconscious and none of that matters.