When you are on the other side of the bed at the hospital, it gives you a whole new perspective. I have a close relative in ICU right now in critical condition. Trying to figure out what her real condition is, is difficult. When you have different doctors who say different things, you don't know what to believe. One tells you one thing and another tells you something else. ITs maddening.
It makes you realize how hard it is for families of critical patients. They really don't understand whats going on. The doctors assume they know little and so tell them little.
When you are in the room of a loved one who is sick, your senses are attuned to everything and everybody. The words of all the staff involved are heard and the way they are said can reassure or scare the shit out of the family. They are hanging on your every word and nuance, needing a sign that everything is OK. Needing a sign of hope.
What made the day easier today was a couple of the nurses telling us as we left that they would take good care of our loved one. Everybody assumes that good care will be given, but that verbal reassurance eases the mind a little bit.
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