I decided to spend the night and here's what I found, not only is the staff awake but the patients are too, or at least one is. Lab draws at 0100, vital signs at 0130 and why you ask? I can't answer and I'm left to make my own conclusions. Convenience, and not the patient's? Don told me there were alot of people in and out of his room at night and now I understand! Add to that alarms going off, his room directly across from the nurses station with his door left open, the general noise of a busy renal unit and it's easy to understand why he is so tired during the day
Last Friday my husband walked in here very out of breath but under his own steam. Today he is a "patient" and all that entails ; lack of independence and choice, an object to poke and prod. The nurses are very nice, as is everyone who Don has come in contact with. But I somehow think the longer we stay here the more ground we are losing.
Maybe I am directing the anxiety that comes from the big changes we face, Dialysis and the forever life style alterations it brings. Maybe it is the lack of control I feel in this environment, an environment where I want to say stop for a minute and let us process what's going on. But there is no stopping and we are swept up in this health care machine whether we like it or not.
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