Well, my friends, I just got moved to my private room. Today was a great day, in spite of the fact that my roommate must think she's the only person on the planet! She had completely taken over the bathroom by leaving all her stuff strewn in there. She had loud conversations when I was trying to nap.
But for me: my catheter was removed in the morning. I got out of bed twice today: the first time I made it to the bedside commode. I had never used one of these before, so when I went to wipe, I misjudged and dipped my hand in a pot of pee! I used one of those premoistened hospital bed bath cloths to wipe my hand, then I took my walker to the bathroom so I could wash hands with soap and water. My roommate admonished me to not use the toilet because her commode was sitting over it. I explained that my only wanted to wash my hands, so she told me that her stuff was in there and maybe I could wash my hands somewhere else. I went in to our SHARED bathroom and washed my hands anyway!
I had two PT sessions which consisted of me learning how to get into and out of bed, using the commode, walking a few steps with a walker, and doing ankle pumps, and other leg exercises in bed. I was thoroughly exhausted after both sessions and needed to nap. My husband and sons were present for the second session so the PT trained them as well.
My roommate received loud visitors, switched on lights, TV, talked on the phone, etc, unplugged my bedside light so she could charge her phone and generally had no regard for my needs. Maybe this evening when the hospital staff disturbs her again by taking another hour to sanitize the room and bringing yet another unsuspecting post surgical patient in, she might reflect on why she's had a new roommate every day since she had rotator cuff surgery two days ago!
I held my tongue because the charge nurse had already come to me around lunchtime to tell me that a private room was going to become available for me for the rest of my stay! I was estatic! My room is small, but MINE. It has a lovely view of the Sacramento skyline, but most of all if I want it quiet at 1:00 am, it will be quiet! No snoring, phone dings or rings, or sounds of southern explosions coming from the other their side of the curtain! If I want to close the blind at 2:00 pm and turn off lights to take a nap, I can do so without being disturbed! I'm hoping that I'll get to go home tomorrow afternoon or evening, but getting a good night's sleep tonight will do me the world of good! Some of you suggested earplugs, which the nurse did provide, but they didn't help.
Here's what I did wrong though: the nurse gave me a norco in a little cup to take with my dinner because I was starting to feel pain at around a 5. With the hustle and bustle of dinner being served, packing my things up to move rooms, and actually moving, I forgot to take the pill. By the time I got moved to my new room I began to feel the worst pain ever since the surgery yesterday and had to ask for additional meds. The staff were cleaning up my area and discovered my pill still in the cup. It was about an hour past when I should have taken it.
I just took the pill about 15 minutes ago, but it hasn't caught up with the pain yet. Now I'm suffering and I could have prevented it. This is the highest level of discomfort yet, about an 8 on a scale of 1-10. Not very smart of me! But also, the nurse should have ensured that I'd taken the pill by watching me take it when she gave it to me. I'm the one who's post-surgical and still processing narcotics through my system. Again, I've had to request every ice pack that I've received here. I think they should be given routinely. This is the orthopedic floor for goodness sakes! But all in all, I am so glad that I did this! I'm feeling great, all considered!