When you live in a bed for a week, bed management is important
Things accumulate; well meaning family and visitors bring stuff – food, magazines, newspapers, technology, clean underwear, slippers that you forgot you had, enough hand cream to lubricate Mimico etc.
Then there is the three times a day visit from food services when they deliver The Tray. It’s not called breakfast, or lunch or dinner – it’s just called The Tray. If you don’t consume everything on The Tray and decide instead to keep that Jell-O Chocolate pudding for a later treat, or you decide the banana could do with an extra day of ripening to lose its green tinge, then you have more stuff, some of which can roll around instead of staying put.
Mind you there are stash places. Your bedside cabinet, under the pillow, in the sliding tabletop with the pop up mirror, but remembering where you put stuff, and being able to reach it takes more recall than I sometimes have, under the circumstances.
The daily sheet changes help although yesterday we threw my glasses out with the dirty linen and only caught them as they were being carted off to the laundry I couldn’t have imagined that. Blind and breathless!
There are however advantages to living in a bed for a week and my number one pleasure is the guilty bliss of peeing in bed. There is nothing like waking up at 4 am and knowing you don’t have to (can’t) struggle out of bed so you reach for the jar. Ahhhh!
Monday, December 8, 2008
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4 comments:
Hi Mr Applin, I've been reading your blogs for months and I realized that since I'm not commenting, you don't know that your words are making it out to me in Vancouver. I wanted you to know how much I value your writing. My memories and experiences are limited to a dinner time at your house when I'd be over playing with Katie and now I feel I have gotten to know you better. I also find that learning your perspective has helped me as a nursing student because I'm reminded that each of the patients I encounter have a personal experience and story, like you. I'm sure they are taking excellent care of you at TGH and my thoughts are with you for a safe and speedy recovery.
-Rosemary Cooke
and what role has Mimico played in your life that you would reference it now?
by the way, this is my first ever entry in the blog universe.
thanks for getting us into the twentyfirst century.
big hugs and best wishes
Marilyn and Kennedy
Marilyn and Kennedy - so good to hear from you! As for Mimico I nothing about it. I just chose the name because it sounded better than Mississauga. I think I might have driven through once or twice but my impressions of Mimico are of an old time neighbourhood caught in a bit of a time warp. Probably totally wrong
Rosemary. Your comments are very interesting. After 3 weeks here I've met my fair share of nurses, a lot of whom are young graduates in their 3 to 6 month probationary period. The are witout exception, caring and well trained. No Nurse Ratched here.
But it does take time for some of the younger ones to feel comfortable talking to patients. No matter how well educated and experienced the patient is, we are all very vulnerable and dependent!
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