[MuppetFace]

Hello fellow Head-Fiers.
 
The purpose of this thread is to talk about stays in the hospital. As someone with a chronic disease that requires hospitalization every now and then, it's a topic I'm curious about.
 
-->What do you do for your audiophile fix when you're in the hospital?
-->If you don't have an audiophile fix, what do you do to pass the time?
-->Got any horror stories? Bad stays? Doctors or nurses that screwed up or just wouldn't listen?
 
I've got plenty of horror stories of my own, but I'll post them when I get home from work.

 

[livewire]

Interesting topic!
 
Five months ago, I was in the hospital with a mild case of pneumonia.
Had my laptop and Grados with me from the get-go, they served me well while I was "incarcerated".
What a conversation starter my "portable" rig was!
Most people dont even get the concept of digitized music unless it is streaming from an iPod.
I shared a room with a guy who was into 1940's - 1960's big band latin music and south of the border jazz.
Thanks to him, I learned all about another music genre which I am now exploring. 
He had a set of Koss Porta-Pros and a MP3 player. When he saw my Grados, "the deal was sealed."
We spent the rest of the day discussing music and sources. (along with all of his guests that were visiting)
The nurses were even asking questions as well.

 

[MorbidToaster]

I opened this thread thinking it was about Hospital Records. 

 
It's okay though. I'm subbing to hear the stories. I haven't had to much time in the hospital myself (thankfully) but I've developed a pretty bad anxiety towards them from watching people in my family go through them.

 

[pigmode]

Hope things are going well MuppetFace.
 
I had about a 7-10 day stay in Oct 2009, after a traumatic brain injury with a fracture and sub dural hematoma in the right frontal lobe area. I basically woke up in my room, without having been conscious in emergency.
 
Mentally I was a bit spaced out, so I spent most of my time window shopping and activity dreaming/planning etc. through reading magazines. That's how I got back into audio and returned to head-fi. Plus I was on heavy doses of intravenous pain killers, due to the pressure of the hematoma against the brain.
 
Anyway I was lucky with the nursing staff, as they were all top notch, professional and friendly. In fact as a result I've come away with a much higher respect of nurses in general. Except for the injuries, the experience was like a bedridden vacation. 
 
 

 

[Merck]

I've never had an overnight stay in a hospital before but the couple of surgeries I've had went very smoothly.  The nursing staff on hand when my wife was giving birth were very nice and informed.  

 

[nikp]

I've never had an overnight stay either and out of my entire life, I've had probably 1 or 2 surgeries in a hospital. Interesting topic!

 

[buffalowings]

I hate doctors, nurses and anyone that wears a white coat and a lapel on their breast pocket and walks around, taller than any of their patients.

 

[nikp]

Quote:

I hate doctors, nurses and anyone that wears a white coat and a lapel on their breast pocket and walks around, taller than any of their patients.

 As much as I hate them, they have my respect. It's a noble job and I have always wanted to be a doctor (but don't have the ability to be one).
 

 

[Uncle Erik]

As a lawyer, doctors are my natural enemy.

Though I've been blessed with only small procedures and routine stuff over my nearly 40 years. Strangely, I fear dental procedures yet have personally liked every dentist I've met. Great folks. Go figure.

This week, I've been poked and prodded by medical staff for a new job. Went well. Yesterday, I got into a long conversation with two nurses because I was wearing Mr. Taylor (from Taylor of Old Bond Street) cologne. Nice people and lots of fun to chat with.

Still, my most extensive medical stay was hospitalization as an infant. I got very sick and nearly kicked off from dehydration. Big props to the hospital staff, though I don't remember it. I've had some family in the hospital lately and think they were taken care of well. Including one much-loved cousin that cancer claimed.

 

[MuppetFace]

I've been in the hospital many, many times. Given this, I've had a pretty diverse assortment of doctors and nurses. Some of them were totally awesome. Some of them were enlisted in Lucifer's hellspawn army. It's very frustrating when you've got a doctor who wont listen to you. Seems crazy, but it happens. You come in with a very specific problem like a blood clot, but then suddenly he's / she's poking and prodding your arm because it has dermatitis on it and now wants to focus on that.
 
But yeah, I have a lot of horror stories.
 
Had my bladder torn open due to an enema. Couldn't walk afterward for a while. Not fun!
 
Had an epidural headache because of a leaked epidural, made all the worse because the doctors were convinced it was anything but that (muscle tension headache, post surgical soreness, stress, insanity on my part, etc.). Some of THE worst pain I've even experienced. And I've experienced a lot. Had to get a spinal injection and lie on my back for 24 hours to fix it.
 
Had six+ hour emergency surgery due to an obstructed bowel that was left untreated for too long (when I was first diagnosed, before anyone knew what was even wrong). Came pretty close to dying, with a heartbeat of 150 BPM and only weighing 90 pounds.
 
Anyway... those are just a few quick musings!

 

[buffalowings]

 
Quote:

As a lawyer, doctors are my natural enemy.

Though I've been blessed with only small procedures and routine stuff over my nearly 40 years. Strangely, I fear dental procedures yet have personally liked every dentist I've met. Great folks. Go figure.
This week, I've been poked and prodded by medical staff for a new job. Went well. Yesterday, I got into a long conversation with two nurses because I was wearing Mr. Taylor (from Taylor of Old Bond Street) cologne. Nice people and lots of fun to chat with.
Still, my most extensive medical stay was hospitalization as an infant. I got very sick and nearly kicked off from dehydration. Big props to the hospital staff, though I don't remember it. I've had some family in the hospital lately and think they were taken care of well. Including one much-loved cousin that cancer claimed.

psh, it's like the mailman is to a dog

 

[ardgedee]

Quote:

As a lawyer, doctors are my natural enemy.

But also a resource of the legal ecosystem. Thus the cycle of nature is ever renewed.

 

[MuppetFace]

Personally, I don't like bringing anything but an old mp3 player and some cheap-o earphones with me since I'm OCD about germs. Being on medication that suppresses my immune system doesn't help with that, either. I wouldn't want to come home and shower all that off, only to have it put back on me when I wear my nice headphones.
 
Of course, I could clean them. But being OCD I'd always wonder if it was a good enough job. So I settle for bad quality music.

 

[Sylverant]

But at least doctors are generally great, child pediatricians on the other hand...mostly horrible experience that no one should put there child through, aside from the implications of bunching sick children together in one room. 
 
9 years ago I was sick for a week with no signs of getting better, so my parents took me to the pediatrician, who told me I had the flu and "should drink plenty of gatorade." Week later after severe dehydration and weight loss I was rushed into the emergency room. Nearly died of diabetes.
 
I was then stuck in the hospital for 2 weeks both because I kept screwing up my control and the pancreas honeymoon period made it impossible for me to bring my blood sugar up a couple times. I don't remember ever talking to anyone, other patients or doctors for any extended amount of time. It was the new game-station they had near my room that kept me going, I basically played Gamecube and N64 the entire time 

 

[MuppetFace]

 
Quote:

But at least doctors are generally great, child pediatricians on the other hand...mostly horrible experience that no one should put there child through, aside from the implications of bunching sick children together in one room. 
 
9 years ago I was sick for a week with no signs of getting better, so my parents took me to the pediatrician, who told me I had the flu and "should drink plenty of gatorade." Week later after severe dehydration and weight loss I was rushed into the emergency room. Nearly died of diabetes.
 
I was then stuck in the hospital for 2 weeks both because I kept screwing up my control and the pancreas honeymoon period made it impossible for me to bring my blood sugar up a couple times. I don't remember ever talking to anyone, other patients or doctors for any extended amount of time. It was the new game-station they had near my room that kept me going, I basically played Gamecube and N64 the entire time 

That's an unfortunate experience! I can say I've had plenty of bad experiences with doctors as an adult, though. In my own case, I was misdiagnosed a few times too and nearly died from it. Another doctor wanted to perform surgery first before even doing any tests to try to figure out what was wrong. If you watch that show on TV called "Mystery Diagnosis" you'll hear all sorts of stories from people of all ages---children, teens, adults, elderly--- who get dismissed by doctors or ignored and end up in hell because of it.
 
There's also sexism involved sometimes. As a woman, you'd be surprised how may times I've been told "it's just in my head" or "I'm just being hysterical" or "it's just hormones." You wouldn't expect that in the year 2011.
 
The bad doctors make the good doctors all the better at least. When you've been in serious pain and ignored, it's like your savior is standing in front of you when you finally get someone with compassion who will listen. I remember most, if not all, of the names of the good doctors I've had.