I was going to check on Sam last night anyway. Since he was doing so great yesterday morning, and since I didn't stay very long with him, I was going to go back and check on him; take him his clean clothes and see how his day went. Before I went, he called me. He told me he had a problem. I went over ...
I found him sound asleep slumped over in his wheelchair. I had a hard time waking him up. Because he wasn't waking up, I finally said, "Sam, would you like to get into bed?"
He looked weakly up at me and nodded.
I went out into the main room and asked the nurse if someone could please come put Sam into his bed.
The main room was full of people getting ready to go to dinner. The patients were sitting around watching TV and talking while they were waiting. A few of the Physical Therapists were sitting around taking a needed break. The nurse was sitting at her little station.
As I asked the nurse about getting Sam into bed, she said a bit snotty to me, at least in my mind, "It's almost time for dinner. He needs to go to the dining room."
I turned to her, looked her straight in the eyes and said, probably a bit louder and meaner than I intended, "Does he even look like he'll be going to the dining room????"
I must have said it louder and meaner than I intended because every eye in the room was now watching me, and two physical therapists and a nurse went running into his room.
They helped undress him, and they put him to bed.
After he was in bed, I went to talk to the nurse. I asked her how his day went.
She told me, "He's had diarrhea all day. That's probably why he's so weak now."
Again, a bit loud and rude, because I was mad and frustrated, I said, "He's had diarrhea all weekend. What are y'all doing about it?"
She informed me that she had taken a sample and had a call in to the doctor.
I did calm down, and I did tell her that I appreciated that, but we had been told that a call had been made to the doctor over the weekend. Had they lied to us? Had the doctor not gotten back to them? Who was it that dropped this ball? Needless to say, she didn't tell me much. I'm not family.
She also told me that he might do better if he had some gatorade. I asked her if she would get him some. She told me that they did not have any. I looked at her and told her that I would go get him some gatorade, but that I would be back.
I went and got the gatorade, and while I was out, I called his daughter to tell her what all had transpired.
She, too, was angry. We had been under the impression that the doctor had been called days earlier. She wanted to know who was responsible. She could get answers that I could not. I took the gatorade back to Sam's room, poured it into a cup and checked on him. He was sleeping soundly, so I left.
I knew his daughter would be there soon. She was going to take him some soup since he missed supper. What I thought was funny was that she asked me what flavor soup he likes best. Potato. He loves potato with green chile, but I felt given the circumstances, he didn't need the green chiles, but he does love his potato soup.
I'll be going soon to check on him this morning, and I'm taking a powerade with me....
What it makes me think of more than anything is all of those people who do not have anyone to speak up for them. The ones who are alone.
I overheard one woman talking the other day in the dining room and she said she has outlived everyone she knew. Who speaks up for her?
No comments:
Post a Comment