I woke up a bit grumpy this morning. Sure, part of this has to do with the fact that I woke up at 3:30 and couldn't convince my body that it needed more sleep. So at 3:45, I rolled out of bed thinking that a warm shower might send my body the message that it was still bed time. When I came out of my room, I saw that the screen saver was no longer up on the nurse's computer - this meant that she had been in my room charting on me while I was in the shower. I knew that it wasn't time for her to chart on me yet because she is supposed to check on me and chart on me once an hour, and she had been to my room at 3:40 (I had pretended to be asleep because 1.) I wasn't in the mood to talk to her, and 2.) I figured that if I talked to her it might wake me up more and that there would be no way of going back to sleep). I had specifically gotten up at 3:45 for my shower in order to avoid her. Apparently she remembered something she had to do in my room, or she had heard the water running in my bathroom. Either way, she was in my room and she was writing about me.
This charting has made me more and more irritable over the past few days (if you have seen my last two blog posts you would know some of the background). This morning, as I was laying in bed after my shower, slightly bitter at my nurse for charting that I was in the shower in the middle of the night, I realized the reason for my grumpiness. I have no privacy.
I understand that I am in the hospital, and not having privacy pretty much comes with the territory. However, it wears on you after a while. I am getting tired of being around people. Not the people who come to visit me - I love to have visitors. It is fun to see friends and family and it sure makes the time pass by much faster. Not Keith - I think I would be going crazy here if it weren't for the fact that aside from 6 hours where he has gone home to take care of a few things, he has been in my room constantly, aside from going to work, since last Monday morning. But I am getting tired of people checking on me each and every hour. I am trying to not be annoyed, because I realize that it is their job and this is the reason that I am in the hospital. However, I wish they would just come in to give me my medicine and to put me on and take me off of the monitor (this would only require them to enter my room 8 times each day).
Part of the reason that I get a little bit annoyed is because I am low maintenance. I don't need people doing things for me once an hour. If something is really all that urgent I will push my call button to get in touch with my nurse. If I do not need medicine or monitoring I will let you know if I actually need you. I think I am the exception and not the rule, as many of my nurses tell me that I am a really easy patient (granted, I'm just kind of along for the ride right now; many people in high risk maternity are much higher risk than me).
What bothers me more than the hourly checks from nurses (and it does happen every hour - I have a TV in my room that I have tried to watch all of 4 times because I have not yet made it through an entire TV episode without being interrupted...and I refuse to leave the TV on while someone is in my room providing me health care because that was a big pet peeve of mine during my internship. Well, that and cell phones) is the interruptions from people bringing fresh linens and newspapers. Please stop coming to my room and asking me if I want to buy a newspaper! I really feel like it is in poor taste. My medical care is probably costing about $20,000 to $25,000 for this two week stint. You really can't throw in a free newspaper? As for the people who bring fresh linens, they are usually male. This wouldn't bother me if they would knock and wait for an answer before coming into my room, but most knock as they are opening the door. One opened my door this morning without even knocking. I thought it was Keith coming into my room because he doesn't knock, and then I saw a man arm that I didn't recognize. It wasn't a big deal because they only open the door part way (the towel cabinet is just inside the door of my room), but I would be really angry if one of my healthcare providers were doing a womanly medical procedure on me (which has happened a few times since I have been here) or if I were changing clothes in my room (which I learned not to do pretty quickly - now all clothes changing takes place in the bathroom...but what do people on complete bed rest who don't have bathroom privileges do?).
This is a long term floor, and the nurses tell the patients to treat the rooms like their own apartments (bring in pictures, plants, blankets, decorations, but no dogs - they used to allow dogs but one bit a nurse and she was out of work for 8 weeks), but how am I supposed to do that when strange men are coming into my room multiple times a day? I don't care if male doctors or nurses see me in less than flattering situations because they are my healthcare providers. But I really don't need the guys delivering towels to barge into my room whenever they want.
So this is what has been bothering me. I am tired of the lack of privacy. I am kind of nervous about going home tomorrow (possibly, if everything goes well today), but at the same time, I am ready for a break from being cheery and presentable at all hours of the day and night.
This charting has made me more and more irritable over the past few days (if you have seen my last two blog posts you would know some of the background). This morning, as I was laying in bed after my shower, slightly bitter at my nurse for charting that I was in the shower in the middle of the night, I realized the reason for my grumpiness. I have no privacy.
I understand that I am in the hospital, and not having privacy pretty much comes with the territory. However, it wears on you after a while. I am getting tired of being around people. Not the people who come to visit me - I love to have visitors. It is fun to see friends and family and it sure makes the time pass by much faster. Not Keith - I think I would be going crazy here if it weren't for the fact that aside from 6 hours where he has gone home to take care of a few things, he has been in my room constantly, aside from going to work, since last Monday morning. But I am getting tired of people checking on me each and every hour. I am trying to not be annoyed, because I realize that it is their job and this is the reason that I am in the hospital. However, I wish they would just come in to give me my medicine and to put me on and take me off of the monitor (this would only require them to enter my room 8 times each day).
Part of the reason that I get a little bit annoyed is because I am low maintenance. I don't need people doing things for me once an hour. If something is really all that urgent I will push my call button to get in touch with my nurse. If I do not need medicine or monitoring I will let you know if I actually need you. I think I am the exception and not the rule, as many of my nurses tell me that I am a really easy patient (granted, I'm just kind of along for the ride right now; many people in high risk maternity are much higher risk than me).
What bothers me more than the hourly checks from nurses (and it does happen every hour - I have a TV in my room that I have tried to watch all of 4 times because I have not yet made it through an entire TV episode without being interrupted...and I refuse to leave the TV on while someone is in my room providing me health care because that was a big pet peeve of mine during my internship. Well, that and cell phones) is the interruptions from people bringing fresh linens and newspapers. Please stop coming to my room and asking me if I want to buy a newspaper! I really feel like it is in poor taste. My medical care is probably costing about $20,000 to $25,000 for this two week stint. You really can't throw in a free newspaper? As for the people who bring fresh linens, they are usually male. This wouldn't bother me if they would knock and wait for an answer before coming into my room, but most knock as they are opening the door. One opened my door this morning without even knocking. I thought it was Keith coming into my room because he doesn't knock, and then I saw a man arm that I didn't recognize. It wasn't a big deal because they only open the door part way (the towel cabinet is just inside the door of my room), but I would be really angry if one of my healthcare providers were doing a womanly medical procedure on me (which has happened a few times since I have been here) or if I were changing clothes in my room (which I learned not to do pretty quickly - now all clothes changing takes place in the bathroom...but what do people on complete bed rest who don't have bathroom privileges do?).
This is a long term floor, and the nurses tell the patients to treat the rooms like their own apartments (bring in pictures, plants, blankets, decorations, but no dogs - they used to allow dogs but one bit a nurse and she was out of work for 8 weeks), but how am I supposed to do that when strange men are coming into my room multiple times a day? I don't care if male doctors or nurses see me in less than flattering situations because they are my healthcare providers. But I really don't need the guys delivering towels to barge into my room whenever they want.
So this is what has been bothering me. I am tired of the lack of privacy. I am kind of nervous about going home tomorrow (possibly, if everything goes well today), but at the same time, I am ready for a break from being cheery and presentable at all hours of the day and night.
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