Today I worked from home in the morning so that I could head to the hospital when visitor hours first started, as Tamie’s parents weren’t available to be with Layla. I was up with Tamie, who went to work early so she could come back as soon as possible. If there’s one thing I’ve learned (or more precisely, confirmed) is that I am not a morning person.
At noon, I went to the hospital to be with my poor baby for the bulk of the nine visitor hours of the fifth hospital day. I got to see, firsthand, how screwed up a medical system can be when it treats patients as jobs instead of as people. Or at least, that’s my take on it. If you don’t want to read mindless complaints about ridiculous hospital policy, I suggest you skip this blog.
It started out fine, Layla was happily eating her lunch until she saw me… I flew past the window of the room she’d been moved to as I headed for the room she was in the day before. 5 days, 3 different rooms. The nurse turned me around and by the time I got back to the poor kid she was crying, wondering why I didn’t come to see her. I chuckled.
There were three nurses milling about as I sat with her to feed her the rest of her lunch. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was a sign of things to come. After she finished eating all the meat on her tray (vegetables are for sissies =), we moved back onto her bed… or ironing board, as it felt like after sitting on it most of the day. We talked for a bit before she settled in to watch her favourite Japanese video on the VCR-equipped TV in the room.
As the video played, a nurse dropped by and introduced herself to me – a first in all our time at the hospital. She told me she was a university student and she was doing a 4-day co-op at the hospital. Awesome. Layla’s going to get special attention from an overly eager student trying to impress, or so I thought. Over the course of the day, I found out it wasn’t just one student, and overly eager was a bit of an understatement.
On a typical day, nurses dropped by occasionally to check Layla’s temperature, her heartbeat, listen to her lungs, etc. On a day with a bunch of co-op students, I realized that not only do nurses (who still scare the sh*t out of Layla, by the way) come by, but now we’ve got aforementioned overly eager students who want their turn at listening to a rattle in a chest or taking a turn sticking a thermometer in an armpit. At one point there was a crowd of 7 people standing around the bed, each with a stethoscope, standing in a neat little line waiting to listen to Layla’s chest. At least she’s starting to get over her fear of nurses – that fear, I think, is slowly being replaced by a feeling of annoyance.
One of the rules that Tamie’s been trying to hammer home but I’ve ignored is the fact that every kid in every bed gets the same diet. Every day I’ve taken Layla a juice box or a snack that she usually is quite happy to have. Today, while she was eating dinner with me and Tamie, she asked for some juice so I got her some. Around the same time, the mom of the neighbouring baby disappeared. Not a minute later, a nurse came in and scolded us on bringing in the lethal outside food into the sanctity of the hospital room. She then continued, saying I shouldn’t even have a bottle of tea for myself in the room – that if I wanted a drink, I should go out in the hall to drink it. That’s the rules, no exceptions. Apparently. So now? I have a rivalry with the neighbouring mom… and a stash of food for Layla that I gotta sneak her when my nemesis isn’t watching.
I took a break after Tamie got there, to get some air (and drink some tea in the hall). When I came back, another rule had gone into effect. Tamie’s parents, who had been staying with Layla for a couple of hours while we tried to keep some semblance of jobs, were no longer allowed to visit her. It was bad enough that they were only allowed in when both parents were unavailable, but now, for reasons yet to be determined, no one but us were allowed to stay with Layla. So now, with no warning, one of us have to call in to work tomorrow and get the day off. The fact that Layla is probably going to be in the hospital longer than a week (more on that below) just makes the change in rules all the more ridiculous.
The last thing I’ll complain about (for now) is the fact that since yesterday the nurses have been asking us to wear masks when we come to see Layla. Annoying because spending 9 hours in a hospital is bad enough, but spending it confined to a bed, breathing through a mask with nothing to eat or drink is almost unbearable. The more annoying thing is that we seem to be the only family who get asked to wear them, as there were two other moms in the room today who were without masks. To be honest, after the first five minutes I was without a mask too, but it’s still another in a growing pile of straw on this camel’s back.
So how’s Layla doing? I wish I could say she’s doing well. I thought she was getting better, but the doctor told Tamie tonight that she isn’t responding as quickly to the steroids as she did last time. What it means is that she will probably be in the hospital an extra week (or more), her medication will get upped or changed, and in the absolute worst case she’ll be a bubble girl for the duration of her stay there. At least that’s my understanding, which is usually wrong so take it with a grain of salt.
I’ll close with words my wife said to me tonight that sum up my feelings. This sucks.
