HOSPITAL SCHEDULE TRUMPS PATIENT NEED

Memories of the two years Paul battled his cancer appear randomly with no accounting of time sequence. They are like dreams with a time sequence of their own, unaware or uncaring of our need for order.  For the choppiness I apologize.  Thus another memory.

Nurses are too often robots. They enter the patient’s room on a computer schedule. Vital signs must be taken every six hours.  Every six hours even though it is the middle of the night and the patient is sleeping peacefully after hours of wakefulness.  Sleeping medication is given to an awakened patient.

Paul had his complaints; he voiced them with vigor for he was not prone to silent acceptance of anything that annoyed him. The staff passed off his bitching as unimportant because hospital procedure was what mattered.

Then came that Sunday morning.  That morning after our late night Scrabble Game.  The sun was just peeking  in his East facing room.  Paul was deep in sleep, the best sleep he had had in days when a nurse entered.

“He’s asleep,’ I said

“I need his vitals.”

“Why”

“For the record.”

“But he’s asleep.  Can’t you get them later?”

“I’m sorry, that will throw off my schedule.”

As she approached his bed, I felt my heart race, my face flush. “Get the hell out and let him sleep ,”I said. “Come back when he is awake.”

Sleep the rest of the night eluded me.  I remained on duty, protecting the rights of my sick husband against the schedule keepers.

Not until the next Saturday night when I returned for my nightly visit did he sleep through the night without serving their schedule.