Gma and hospitals.

Dum dum dum.
So....
I'm going to write a little post about my grandma/ hospitals. Gma for short, and that's what I normally call her when talking about her in a written format. She did also once sign some cards with Gma as her writing was deteriorating and Grandma was just a little too much.

My Gma was taken into hospital a few months ago. Think she had a stroke but they haven't specifically said that it was. She was up and down, then up and down, and now finally up again. She was always in her bed when she first went in, things from not being able to move to just being plain confused. And now she can walk a bit! She still needs a certain amount of care so it doesn't seem like she will be able to come home but rather be moved to a nursing home, instead of a hospital ward.

While both my mum and Gma have recently been in hospital I've learnt a few different random things. I have never worked in a hospital/care home so please don't take anything to heart if you do work in one.

1. My Gma has now been in hospital for 3 months and has only had one shower. I find that shocking, I can understand nursing staff having to give her a bed bath when she can't move and completely out of it, but having a bath or a shower once a week doesn't seem that hard. Surely its normal part of 'nursing' people, especially ones that can not do it themselves? I just wonder how often people that can't physically wash themselves actually get a good proper wash?

2. The food varies dramatically. I know you hear people complaining about hospital food all the time, I have only ever eaten cocoa pops in hospital so I have no personal experience. But the food varies from good to bad, from hot to cold, and generally tasteless, with also the order to which they are given to be varied. Food storage and sharing. So Gma was allowed to share biscuits but now she's not. Mum was allowed to store food like butter and Philadelphia in a fridge but she wasn't allowed to touch it and it had to be labelled. Fair I guess? Reduce cross infections etc between people.

3. Clothes! This is probably the most talked about thing with my Gma. And I know for a fact that most of the relatives of people on the ward go through similar things. Things that she wants from home and that the nursing staff say aren't there, only for us to turn up in the evening, open the door and it being in plain view. Ie.'I need more vests.' 'There's already 3 in there.' 'Oh. They said they could find any.' That is just a simple example. There's also the random things that pop up, weirdest thing being... a bag full of hair rolls (that were full of hair)! Bizarre.

My Gma is quite funny at times too. We took her down to the cafe today for a hot chocolate. We could only find a wheelchair without feet rests. Which Gma soon pointed out was probably for people without feet. Great :P

My Gma is rather short so she has to have a special sized zimmer frame. Infact it is from the children's ward and its bright green. Love it! Haha.

Rant over and out.
Bryonyruth Xx

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