One of the first things I did when I arrived I called up my 88 year old grandmother to let her know that I made it to a nursing home before she did. Talk about a surreal experience ..this one was for the books.
After 3 days in the hospital I was transferred to a nursing home..I was told it was a rehab facility, but when I was brought there my roommates were two 90 year old woman..one was talking to her doll and the other was screaming at the nurse accusing her of trying to kill her. This place sure looked like a nursing home..rehab facility my ass! I begged the ambulance drivers to bring me back to the hospital or just let me ride around w/ them at this point anywhere but here. I saw the sympathy in their eyes, but they couldn't do anything about it..they did tell me if I could find an alternative setting they would have no problem bringing me back.
Backtracking for a second..I spent 3 days in the hospital due to my hip, lungs, and not being able to tolerate any food, but due to insurance companies (a whole other issue that I should blog about) the hospital wanted me out of there asap, but since I was still pretty sick and could not return to my home due to the stairs- a rehab facility was the option that was picked. Unfortunately I had no choice in the place I would be going to according to the nurse/case manger of the hospital floor...if I wasn't so drugged up on meds I may have been able to stop this situation, but since I was and didn't have anyone w/ me at the time in the hospital..I was packed up and shipped out to "Happy Acres" (not the real name ..protecting the identity of the real place) . After the fact I found out that there were many other places that would have excepted me and my insurance. Somewhere that would have been geared more to someone my age, but that is now in the past. I can't change what happened so lesson learned but I will be making a complaint to the hospital so hopefully it won't happen again to someone else.
So "Happy Acres" was honestly out of any nightmare you would have about a nursing home...it was quite dirty, one nurse to a floor, screaming old people who were scared. I really thought maybe I was having a drugged out nightmare from the morphine, but since I could feel the pain in my hip I knew it was for real. To add to the nightmare..my pain meds as well as my other meds for nausea and allergies were not transferred so now I was suffering physically as well as mentally (I finally received them at midnight). Then the kicker was the fact that I also have celiac which means I cannot have any food w/ Gluten in it which this facility was not prepared for. Then for the icing on the cake was the bed I was in was making my leg and hip numb..at first I thought "Houston we are having a problem here, something was seriously wrong w/ my hip", but then I realized the bed they put me in had my hip in hip flexion, so it was making my whole hip situation worse causing more swelling and pressure. I told the nurse this and she said it was an old bed and that they could maybe get me another one in 24 hours..in 24 hours I think I would have to have surgery again if my hip stayed liked that..literally my whole leg was numb. Thank goodness for the friends who were there w/ me that night ..two brought me gluten free food and one of them fixed my bed by unscrewing the bottom so it stopped crushing my hip. I need to give a shout out to my peeps who were with me that day..Mom, M, N, N, and D....not sure if I would have survived that experience w/ out you..seriously! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After everyone I knew left me there..I put on my ipod and tried to pretend I was somewhere else..it was hard with the lady next to me reciting her life story throughout the whole night by herself..in a different situation I would have probably started laughing or sat down w/ her and asked her questions ,but pretty much 3 days w/ out sleep and extremely bad pain I was in no mood to find anything funny so I just try to tune it all out..thank you Norah Jones and Lucinda Williams.
That morning my friend N informed me that I could stay at her place for the first two weeks of my recovery since she didn't have stairs and that they were breaking me free from the nursing home...YES! The Charge nurse came into visit me shortly afterwards and told me that she didn't feel that me leaving was the right thing to do and unless she deemed it medically ok..I couldn't go. Well that wasn't going to happen..so I explained her the situation as carefully as I could..I may have added a few tears in as well...she agreed to let me go and send visiting nurses and Pt to where I was going. So for the rest of the day I had to endure one very awkward sponge bath, and then by 4pmish I was rescued...YAY!
I really hope the only time I will ever return to a nursing home is if I volunteer in one (which I think would be a good idea at some point ,because it sure looks like they could use the extra help) It just wasn't the place for this current situation...it was definitely the strangest 24hours in my life thus far.
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