A tale of two hospitals

As luck would have it, this Palm Sunday I haven't gone to Mass yet.  I will! I still have one evening Mass at 7pm, and it's 5:39pm. I'm dressed and ready to go, so all I have to do is get a salad together. And we'll have a lovely late dinner tonight when I get home.

That is not why I'm writing though.

I got a call at 6:39 this morning from my mother's caregiver at the assisted living residence. The ambulance had taken my mother to the local hospital (Surrey Memorial) because her nose had started bleeding and wouldn't stop. She was spitting blood and there was blood apparently everywhere. I hurriedly got showered and dressed and drove down there to the newly opened Emergency Ward. Walking in to the triage area, I asked about my mother and was directed to a specific area where I found her immediately. She was on a gurney, half sitting, with a nebulizer, and quite comfortable. In the few first minutes she had two nurses check on her and talk to me as well. Mom was going for some chest xrays after the fluid in the nebulizer had completed and then we'd wait to talk to a doctor. The nurses were attentive and asked mom a lot of questions about her medicine and her ability to use it, and her mobility. A geriatric doctor also came by and asked mom lots of questions and had a few suggestions for her. It did take some time after the x-rays for the doctor to come, but in the four hours we were at the hospital, mom got excellent care. The doctor explained the prescriptions (she was in danger of developing pneumonia, or in fact had an early onset of it) She has four new prescriptions to use up this week, and she has to see her regular doctor, but I believe the prognosis is good.

After getting the meds for my mom, it was off to see my mother in law in Langley Memorial. She also has pneumonia. One thing I noted right off, is the parking is 2.50 less for two hours. My visiting time with mom at Surrey cost me $16.00. (3 hours) Two hours at Langley Memorial was $7.00.

Finding Lucy was more than a challenge. Walking into the ward, I went to the nurses station, where three nurses did their best to pretend I wasn't there, even with eye contact. They simply looked away and looked at other things. I went to the apparent room where Lucy was supposed to be. The names outside the door didn't match hers, and indeed she wasn't there. There were three nurses in the hall, two seated and one standing, talking about non-nursing related topics. Again, eye contact, no question, they ignored me. Frustrated, I asked where Lucy might be. They said ask the nurses station. I went to the nurses station again, and caught one nurse's eye, who was on the phone. I made gestures to indicate to her I needed her help. That not working, I had to end up going from room to room, looking at the names for some clue where my mother-in-law was. After five minutes of frustration, the last nurse I tried to talk to said, "who are you looking for?" I told her, and said that her name isn't on any of the door patient lists. "Oh, we don't necessarily update all the time" Really? I said, "I saw her name on the list in the nurses station, but couldn't make out where she was."
 "Oh, we don't necessarily update that either" the nurse said with a deadpan look.
 Really, again.

I found Lucy sleeping in a stuffy, not very sanitary room. The bathroom was clean, but the whole ward is old and over-used. After Lucy woke up, a nurse came to help her with her nebulizer. He never came back to check to see if it was finished (the water was evaporated in the water area of the nebulizer). After 15 minutes she took the nebulizer off, but her oxygen had not been attached to its oxygen source. I said to call for the nurse with her button, but her button was placed in such a way it was almost impossible for her to push it. I had to do it for her. She needed her oxygen right away (She can't be without it). I went behind her bed, found the oxygen leads and the supply line and got it going for her. Success. Around five minutes later, the nurse came and said, "Oh your nebulizer is finished? I told him we reconnected the oxygen supply and he said, "Oh that's good."

Really? That's good? What do I know about attaching an oxygen supply? What if I did it wrong? What if I wasn't even there, and Lucy was without oxygen, which she needs 24/7?

Right now, I'm doing what my mother told me to do when I got angry. I'm counting to ten. Really.

Conclusion? Even though the parking is expensive in Surrey, the quality of care is far superior.
Thank you SMH for looking after my mom so well.

How's this Lent going for you?

Every year, like every other Catholic I know, we look forward to making big changes through Lent. More of this, less of that. And every year, like every Catholic I know, I fall short. It's never a perfect situation.
I've come to the understanding this year that it's not supposed to be. I think we're supposed to see the humanness in our trying, and the human-ness in our failing.
After all the whole purpose in the end, is recognizing that we need God in our life.
Big stuff this year. I was giving up drinking any kind of alcohol. I'm not a heavy drinker by any stretch of the imagination. I thought this would be easy. I thought that I would normally have a glass of wine two or three times a week, and a one cocktail maybe once or twice as well.
It's interesting, because I sure "felt" like having a glass of wine a lot more than I thought I used to. And of course, yesterday ... almost at the end of Lent, I gave in to not one, but two glasses of amazing red wine. So there's a fail. But no more. I'm waiting until well after Easter to have another. (At least I hope)
The other thing was to get to Mass early. The 7:30 Mass, but not only that, to pray with the Priests, the morning Liturgy of the Hours. Originally, quite good. But then this week, hit with the biggest cold I've had in years. It seemed more than a cold. I couldn't stay awake, I was so weak. Gary got the same cold, so we walked around the house like zombies for three days.
Am I beating myself up about this? No. I think the "trying really hard" was the real lesson. And knowing that no matter how hard I try, I will always need God's help to really succeed.