Friday, August 22, 2008

Planet Hospital

After weeks on planet "Move", I've now continued my voyage through outer space to land on planet "Hospital" (planets "Holiday" and "Break" seem to be in another galaxy, or have disappeared into a giant black hole). Right after the final boxes were unpacked,my mom got a call to tell her that she was expected in hospital the very next day. So since Monday that's where I've spent 99% of my time. Surgery was on Tuesday, now we're on the road to recovery (hopefully).

Planet Hospital is not a very nice place to be, and I already had to face battle. I won't go into detail, but give just one clarrifying example of this war-zone. My mom was away for surgery for over 6 hours. And...no one could tell us how this went, or give us any feedback whatsoever. No one told us we could actually go and see her in the recovery room (we found out ourselves through the reception). We had to beg a nurse to write down my phone number, so that the doctor could call me later(he was again called away for an emergency). First, after more than six hours of waiting, we were bluntly told that this was "not done". No, we don't take phone numbers here. No, doctors don't call relatives who have been waiting for news whole day long. This was followed by a minor nuclear explosion on my side, some peace talks on P's side, and finally: victory, 'cause dear doctor did call to give the very long awaited feedback.

However, the war against the little (wo-)men in green continues, as painkillers are not working, fevers are "forgotten" and left untreated, and "within 10 minutes" can mean anything from "within two hours" to "not for today, maybe tomorrow".
Strange that it's those very same green (wo-)men that are actually saving my mom's life...

1 comment:

stallie said...

Ziekenhuizen zijn nooit leuk!!! En universitaire ziekenhuizen zijn dat nog minder. Voor heel veel chirurgen en personeel is een patiƫnt maar een nummer. Jammer dat je dit nu zo moet ondervinden. Schrijf ook maar eens een briefje naar de ombudsman/vrouw. Ben je heel sterk in! En uit persoonlijke ervaring weet ik dat dokters en verpleegkundigen ook niet altijd overeenkomen. Maar daar ben je nu ook vet mee maar nu kan het genezingsproces beginnen. Heel veel moed en sterkte toegewenst! Dikke knuffel aan je mama die ik enorm bewonder! Groetjes,
Carolinexxx