Making the Best of Finding Yourself Unexpectedly a Guest...

This is sometimes what 'next happens' on "What Next Happens" so I thought I'd show you a bit of what the hospital I go to looks like.

The View From My Hospital Bed

This was at the beginning of Spring. I was so thrilled to be called up to a regular floor from the Emergency Unit where it is so hard to get any sleep. It was so nice to get a bed by the window. As you can see the windows are quite large. The view is amazing and there are always lots of things going on. It was just as the 2010 Winter Olympics were starting so there were torch relays going down some of the highways below.

A Rainy Photo of the View to the Right of My Room

It helps the time to go by faster when there is so much to look at. This was a beautiful grey day that made the other colors stand out more. On the far left you can see the Pattullo bridge and below it the skytrain line.

When I am on the skytrain going into downtown I often forget the hospital is even there above me. However, when you are in the hospital the skytrain takes on a complete fascination. You cannot believe there are people every day living there normal lives, walking around healthy. You wonder if you will be able to take the train by yourself again...

An Eye In the Sky

A large part of success as a patient is taking walks. A) It's good for you and it feels good to get out of your room. B) Nurses very badly want their patients walking and in the hospital everything about your stay revolves around your nurse. If you can please them, they will make your stay much more comfortable. So, once you are feeling well enough...walk!

In B.C. there is a huge prejudice towards a certain ethnic population. Often they are the ones who do the cleaning at the hospital. I found that the floors in our unit were kept spotless and I think this picture reflects that!

Blurry City Night Lights

I wish I could have gotten a better picture of this view out of my window at night. It was spectacular. This picture still shows the vastness, I think. Look at how far you can see the lights extending.

The very nice woman (my age with a darling 3 year old) who had kidney stones across from me had her curtain open and was having some problems. I still got up and took the pic but I was very quick about it as I wanted to respect her privacy.

A condo or apartment in B.C. with a view like this runs $350,000+ (just a private room in the hospital is $210/night). So I appreciate the views I get to see when I am here!

Don's Room

My friends J & M brought me that sweet turtle. If you are wondering whether to bring grown friends stuffed animals when they are in the hospital? Do. They are great to stick in the small of your back etc...when the hospital beds and pillows aren't cutting it. They are something warm and cuddly in a very sterile, impersonal and unloving atmosphere. And, they will bring repeated smiles and joy to the patient.

This hospital has co-ed rooms. So, for my stay, although the people changed, the ratio was always one older gentlemen and three women. It makes privacy difficult but I imagine it is even more challenging for the one man amongst all women.

The neighbour to my Left was an older woman named Marvel. And she was! She had amazing energy. Her great-grandaughter rides horses and is named "Destry Marvel". I thought that sounded like the name of a heroine in a great old-time western.

The neighbour across from me was Don. The first time I, and some of my guests heard his voice, none of us could believe it. It sounded like somebody pretending to be whispering like the evil person in a horror movie.

It sounded like he was arguing with someone on the phone but it was so difficult to understand what he was saying and because the curtain was closed and I hadn't met him yet, we didn't know if someone was just play-talking like that.

When I met him it looked like a shark had tried to bite his head and neck off. He had staples encircling his neck and shoulders like a zipper. It literally looked like his top had been ripped off and sewn back on. It turned out he had suffered an aneurysm.

He and his wife were from way up North on one of the more remote but very beautiful B.C. islands so he had to be medically transported which took time. By the time I met him he had undergone two operations to deal with the aneurysm which had been lodged near where his neck met his chest.

The Doctors had stopped the previous surgery when it got too dangerous, were letting him rest for a week and he was scheduled to go in again.

It turned out when I thought I had heard him on the phone, I had. He had been calling his family but got the wrong number. The person on the other end of the line was so alarmed by his voice they assumed he must be having a medical emergency so they were trying to call 911 for him. He was trying to explain that he WAS in the hospital. He had to wait for his wife to come in so she could phone them and explain.

His situation appeared so frustrating and challenging, but he was SO nice and chipper. He was probably late 60's early 70's I would say. His kids came in each day to spell off the wife or stay with her and they all would play crib or talk.

I always try to stay positive despite my pain and in Don I recognized someone else who was really living that way. But, I also admired his lack of fear. He had a huge surgery coming up in a week and yet he was calm and had a great sense of humor.

People were not always kind in the room about his voice and could be impatient, but he WAS patient and easygoing. I also admired how he took time for himself every day to rest and do what he needed for his body. He was balanced.

I got out of the hospital and after I had said goodbye I could not stop thinking about him. I phoned a couple of weeks later to see how his surgery had gone. The hospital said he was no longer there, but they couldn't give me anymore information. Grrr.

So, I started looking through the internet for phonenumbers for people with their last name who were from Northern B.C. I didn't know where exactly they lived, only that they could see otters and whales and seals from their house, which gave me a general idea.

Finally after asking 4 people "were you in Royal Columbian with me...." there was a pause on the other end of the line.

"I can't believe you called!?!? I'm so sorry, I have sad news, Don is gone." The breath left my body briefly. I was shocked. He had such a good attitude and had overcome such immense odds. I had not even contemplated him dying.

It turned out he didn't even make it to the surgery. A couple hours after I left he aspirated on the sandwich he was eating for lunch and after much effort they could not revive him. It is so easy to get pneumonia in the hospital.

Oh, for Don to die of pneumonia after surviving being ripped apart and put back together still breaks my heart.

His family was doing well though sad. They were drawing close and choosing to dwell on positive things.

Don was an inspiration to me. I remember him just hours before his death smiling that shy smile, his blue eyes twinkling and full of life. I will remember him that way until I see him again.