Not St. Elsewhere

• Care: The care I received at Methodist Hospital was absolutely excellent. From John the concierge who helped me from the car to the wheelchair and wheeled me into the emergency room to Don the volunteer who wheeled me from my room to my waiting car on my discharge day. There were Florences (2), Mark, Pema, Megan, Terry, Leah, Linda, Irma, Neils, Dr Houle, Nurses assistants, Nurses, etc.
• 3-5800: The food service was great. I was inclined not to eat and that is what I had been doing in the days leading up to my ER visit. I told Mark my nurse that I was not going to eat since I was in for diarrhea. He said that I had to eat. Every meal was well prepared and tasty. The 3-5800 # ... room service (really)
• My roommate Tony: He was sicker than I. I prayed for him. After the C-Diff diagnosis came in at 6:45 a.m. on Sunday they spirited Tony away and I was alone in isolation. I am praying for Tony for a complete recovery.
• Dr Cara Houle: Smart, caring, excellent communicator!
• UN staff (mostly at the N/A (nursing assistant) level): Countries represented: Jamaica, Ghana (that would be Florence # 1 and Florence # 2 .... cousins), Guyana, Nepal, Tibet, India, Scotland, Georgia, Ukraine, Somalia and more. All of these had an excellent command of the English language (obviously with an accent). Each one had an interesting story. I would ask them: when did you come here? Why? How did you learn English? I would try to guess their country by their accent and skin color. I don't think I was right once! They were all very sweet. The United States attracts fine people!
• When the button is pushed: It is normally the nursing assistant who comes first. I had to push the button every time I had to go to the bathroom. It was a lot of times. This help is messy business and they were great.
• I was in a Stryker Corporation hospital bed. Bert ... thought this would interest you. The bed had as many features as a luxury car (able to weigh the patient ... alarm when I got up, etc)
• Training and education. Where the nurses went to college: Normandale Community College, Gustavus Adolphus College, Minneapolis Community and Technical College, St. Catherine University, and others. The nurses - every one - had a passion for their calling. It was truly impressive.
• Weird advice: Came from my sister-in-law who is a nurse. Put a barrier cream on your butt. I ignored that advice until it became obvious that it was very wise. Nursing provided a tube and it cured the issue.
• Unusual characters (1 was funny):
  • The hacker: I think he was in the room across the hall. I really felt for this guy and prayed for him. I kept my door closed to keep the sound out.
  • "I just peed": This one cracked me up. A woman announced loudly "I just peed". This happened more than once.
  • "I'm so depressed": This may have been the same woman as above but by the voice I think it was a different woman. I heard this woman a lot. I prayed for her.
  • "H E L L O": The funniest was the "H E L L O" guy. This was the 2nd to last night in the hospital. He would cry out "H E L L O" ... repeatedly. Like he was exploring a dark cave or something. I really wanted to get up (but there was an alarm on my bed and other issues like I'm wearing a gown with my butt hanging out!) to help the guy
• Tethered: I had an IV the entire time. Every where I went either I or a N/A had to wheel this thing behind. Once in my rush to the bathroom (on my own ... not something I was supposed to do) I closed the door on the IV tube and yanked hard on my arm. Ultimately they pulled that IV point (right arm) and moved it to my left hand