Life after cancer

I had difficulties in my stays (two to be exact) in the hospital for pneumonia after treatment for cancer. Staying in a hospital is always unsettling with being woken up at unusual hours and with visits (always unscheduled) from doctors, dieticians, case managers, nurses delivering medications and the like.

In my case I was being fed via a feeding tube, and this necessitated visits to be fed. I was also connected to IVs for hours at a stretch.

All of that that was annoying enough, but the worst was having the bed alarmed because I was labeled “Fall Risk”. This meant that I had to press the “Nurse” button, wait for a response and then wait for someone to come to the room to turn the alarm off and help with whatever I need to do – usually go to the lavatory. I am not sure why I was a Fall Risk. Maybe just policy for patients my age (83). It was most irksome and the thing I disliked about the hospital the most.

The hospital would not release me to my home, only to a rehab facility. That caused a delay as my insurance needed to approve my choice. But at long last I was transported to a rehab facility which eliminated Fall Risk and made existence more pleasant.

Of course, I still needed the medications, IVs and feedings via the feeding tube on the schedule of those providing which meant that I had an unsettled schedule which was still annoying. And that is where I received the most important lesson of my recovery.

One day I fell asleep before I got my third feeding (via the tube) of the day. Whoever it was that was responsible for the feeding did not wake me up. When I did wake up sometime after midnight, I pressed the “help” button. A nurse responded and I complained at length when he told me that he couldn’t give me the feeding.

His response was that yes, I should have been woken up but that they (the facility) were not responsible for my recovery. The person that was responsible for my recovery was me.

It took me a long time to get back to sleep.