Okay I am going to say it. The last few days have been torturous, somewhat. Without getting into major TMI all I will say is that Monday morning I awoke at 8:00 am and knew that I had to get to an emergency room. I was not thrilled about the prospect but it just had to be done. Thankfully I could find a few pieces of wheat bread and (gag me) yellow american cheese and washed it down with plain water while I waited for our friend to come and drive me. Toms alarm was already going off, but I am sure it was not the way he wanted to start his day either. God bless him he stayed with me in the ER for as long as he could and then left to take care of business here, to eat, and take care of the dogs so I was left there without my support system, but I understood and had sent him on his way anyhow. Finally after five hours they stabilized me and a few hours later I was in my own room.
It was quite interesting to be in the ER for those hours alone. Instead of focusing on my problem I could hear all that was going on around me and believe me there was plenty of commotion. One woman who was on a gurney literally on the other side of the wall from me kept screaming for a phone. She cursed and screamed at every nurse, doctor, or aide that came near her. Constantly she was yelling that she was going to report the first nurse that had come over to her and then continued to scream for a phone. After 40 minutes someone finally wheeled her over to the phone in a chair, where she called her healthcare proxy to whom she read a laundry list of demands and coerced into driving her to Presbyterian in NYC for her surgery that she was going to definitely need to repair her broken back/hip, spoke to his wife, called her doctor, called her pharmacy and left a message for someone else. While the nurses and doctors are running around dealing with people with serious issues, like the man with the chest pains in the bed next to mine and the 20 something writhing in pain with a temperature of 104 and of course me, with my health issue, she is screaming into the phone her last wishes, if they have to put in an i.v. have them put it into my right arm, etc. After she was finished with the phone she was sweetness and kindness and lovey dovey to the males in the ER and more congenial to the women. Now the medical staff were not fawning over me for the 8 hours that I was in the ER but I knew that they were watching everything that I was hooked up to, from the monitor to the two drips on the i.v. from their station. They knew every little bleep and blip that was going on with me even though they were tending to probably 40 other people in there, so I felt secure and safe in their hands. I had my call button and they came running when I rang it; usually to go to the loo and checked on me just as often as the other patients in my unit, which was very often.
All I can say is God bless the health workers at any hospital, but especially Staten Island University South. EVERYONE that they spoke to, regardless of why they were there, was spoken to with dignity, concern and dare I say it warmth. I heard a whole bunch during those 8 hours and I can say that I can understand the patients demeanors from being upset, scared, ill, in pain, or even mentally unstable, but I was incredibly impressed by the way that ALL of them were treated and spoken to. Unfortunately, there were some patients that took the care that they were receiving for granted. The woman that made the ER a misery for not only me but many other people with serious problems for hours, and hours, will I am sure, write nasty comments about the ER staff when she receives the follow up survey in the mail. Even though she was claiming that her back and/or hip was broken from a fall two days before, she was released after a cat scan and x ray showed that she was perfectly fine. In the ER they stabilized me, the young girl was eventually sleeping peacefully in her bed and the man next to me was moved upstairs as well after he was stabilized and that was just 3 out of MANY that were crowded into that ER. After I was moved to my room I continued to receive top notch medical attention. The doctors, nurses, aids, dietitians, porters and everyone else there did their jobs, did them well, and I thank them for now I am back at my computer and home again.
I came across some nice prayers in my Healing Prayers book, while in the hospital, to Saint Camillus, who is the patron saint of nurses and hospital workers. St. Camillus was born in 1550 and fought for the Venetians against the Turks, became addicted to gambling and by age 24 had lost everything. He became a Capuchin novice, but was not professed because of a diseased leg he had contracted during the war. He devoted himself to caring for the sick and became director of the St. Giacomo Hospital in Rome. He did receive permission to be ordained and founded the Ministers of the Sick also called the Camellians. In 1605 he sent members of his order to minister to the wounded troops in Hungary and Croatia, thus establishing the first field medical unit by doing so. He died in 1614. The Prayer is as follows:
Most merciful Father, You have shown Your love and care to your people in many ways, especially to the poor and the sick. Your servant Saint Camillus honored the sick as living images of Christ, and because he treated them with Your compassion, You have welcomed him among Your saints.
We graciously put in Saint Camillus hands, ourselves and our loved ones, as well as all nurses and hospital workers. Through his intercession, please grant us Your abundant graces through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
God bless ALL doctors, nurses and hospital workers for the jobs that they do and remember to keep them in your prayers too!
Peace!
Mare
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