We went up, up, up to the 9th floor today!

As per usual, Mom has talked to every person in the step down unit and has befriended her nurse within hours of being here. We have previously been on this floor for other admittances and Mom’s nurse was this same nurse once before and we remembered her well.

If I remember you in this setting there is one of two reasons:

1. You treated my mom like shit.
2. You treated mom like a normal person.

You laughed with her, you joked with her, maybe you told her something personal and comforted her when she was nervous or scared. Her current nurse is number 2, she had Mom laughing and chatting last time and today when I saw her, my immediate thought was, ‘Ah, there’s Mom’s nurse from last time, she was great’ and then wouldn’t you know..

The people passing in between are important but I will remember you if you stopped to make a difference in my mom’s day whether good or bad. I’ll always remember the custodian talking to my mom when she was lucid for awhile on her long stay at Motown about her dad also being a custodian and they both ended up in tears. On the other end of it, I will always remember the nurse refusing to call a phlebotomist while my mom was barely conscious and all her veins were collapsed because she was so dehydrated and she stuck her so many times while my mom cried hysterically. The person I vividly remember the most that day, the doctor I found in the hallway to come stop the nurse, who then called a pediatric phlebotomist for me.

Healthcare workers make or break the setting for the patients and families. We are so lucky that we have a team in full communication here at all times that they know exactly what their patients need. Yes, Mom has us to advocate for her but watching the many patients around us that don’t… I still see top care being performed. I can’t say that for many hospital settings. It makes me feel at ease when we drive back over the GWB at night.

The funny part about tonight was that it was probably the first night I felt ok leaving her. Even though she is still rocking her drains from her side, she is full of color and able to communicate clearly. She got her braids re-done and got unhooked from a ton of lines and leads. She has a lot more freedom on this floor and it is definitely good for the mental health side of all of this too.

I think her favorite part of today was being able to wear pajamas and change out of the hospital robe. Another thing she definitely is excited about is being able to eat solid foods! Unfortunately absolutely no outside food. With this lovely addition, we spent the majority of our time listening to how terrible the hospital food is there and how Morristown’s is much better. By the look of it, I would definitely agree. Questionable tuna salad sandwich for lunch. Interesting beef thing for dinner. If you know Mom, you know food is a hot topic.

Today is officially one week since admittance to MSH and tomorrow will be one whole week with a new liver.

Time flies when you’re liverin’ your best life

xoxo

nell