Chapter 5

To rest or not to rest...

People always assume that since you are laying in a hospital bed for the greater part of the day, that you must be well rested.  Well, I am here to tell you that ain't true.  There have been so many sleepless nights and so many different reasons why.

     Let's start with the climate control of the room.  There was none!  Here it is at the end of fall, and I can't turn on the heat.  Yes, there was a thermostat but, for some odd reason, it didn't control the temperature.  Even weirder, it would automatically go from cold to hot and hot to cold at a whim.  In the middle of the day, cold air would blow out of the vent.  It was cold enough for me to stay wrapped up in my blanket.  When my food was brought in, I didn't even want to take my arms out of the covers.  Then, a few hours later, it would change to a normal room temperature.  So I would shed a couple of blankets and enjoy it.  This is the time of day that felt good.  Gradually the temperature would go back to cold.  "Hello nurse will you please turn the thermometer up so the heat will come on?" I asked.  "Sure thing Ricky," she said.  "It was already on 85.  Hmm, that's strange.  Well, it should come on soon.  Do you need another blanket?" she asked.  "No, I will wait to see what happens," I said reluctantly.  If I got any more blankets, then I wouldn't be able to move my legs because of the weight.  During the rare occasions when I did sleep for a couple of hours at night, I would wake up sweating my butt off because it was so warm.  By the time I finally cooled off, it would go back to cold again.  This was a continuous cycle throughout the day.

     Another reason for my chronic lack of sleep was the fact that the lab technicians would come by at all hours of the day and night.  My circulatory system was a mess.  My blood composition was all screwed up.  Some levels were low and some levels were high.  My doctor ordered daily tests of my blood so a lab tech would come up and draw blood during the day.  Then, in the early morning hours, a lab tech would come in and draw more blood.  Sometimes they would catch me running on fumes and about to pass out.  Sometimes they would wake me up.  Oh what fun!

     Although I didn't have to worry about urinating because I had a catheter, I still had to use the pot for other things.  There's no worse feeling than not being comfortable sleeping through the night because you don't know if you'll make it to the bathroom.