For three weeks I had the chance to observe inhabitants of the hospital environment closely. From a sleep-walking old lady who walked around with open eyes in almost total darkness to nurses.
Here’s the truth about nurses. Most of the caring and healing you will get in a hospital really depends on the quality of the nurses. You will see them 90 percent of the time and really your recovery depends a lot on good nursing. Because really, they fetch you fresh water and wipe your paralyzed butt. Speaking as a person who had a temporarily paralyzed butt( yes, stroke does also paralyze your butt), let me tell you, it is a relief when someone cleans you up.
As an old “auntie” said to a young nurse, “Your profession is a sacred one!”
Auntie was scolding this young lady for being a bitch. The honest truth is, I found out that a quarter of all nurses really want to marry a rich dude who will “rescue” them from their life. A few bright ladies secretly dream of being doctors. I mean, I sorta suspected that this nurse might be doping the patients with her own prescriptions. I started asking what each pill was supposed to be. I also mentioned it to the doctors, who immediately shot a glance at a particular nurse.
Really, it is easier to marry a rich dude as a airline stewardess or bar hostess(do the mistress thing, work on the almost universal male weakness for young boob!). And as for doctors, plan hard to study for your MCAT exams and go to a med school! Honestly! I mean, if you aren’t smart enough to figure this out, seriously question your own desire to be a doctor!
To be brutally frank, the best nurses I met are either Filipino(extremely caring and concerned about the patient) or Indian( hell, they speak English). Chinese nurses from the PRC are really low down on the nursing scale. Generally rude and would take the easiest route to problem-solving. Honestly. if you want to go to the toilet at night, they ask you why, especially if you are wearing a diaper. They would rather sponge you on the bed than accompany you to the shower. My god! How about human dignity and helping the patient to relearn independence? Also, a warm shower beats sponging any day! They avoid showers cos the patient is more prone to falling in the bathroom( a big hospital no-no) and they might get wet(some people can’t control where they spray the water, try getting a stroke and showering yourself.). They also try to avoid showering patients who appear paralyzed or somewhat paralyzed).Imagine washing every part of someone who can’t move. Some old ladies with full body paralysis have not seen a shower in months, maybe years!( I refer a lot to old ladies cos the wards are gender segregated.)
Really socialist China hasn’t taught the idea of service to these ladies. I was mostly showered by Indian nurses until I could use the shower on my own. (Indian ladies have no issues about bathing you or wiping your butt if that is the job scope.)
Am I paralyzed? No not at all. I have acute weakness on my left side so I move like a drunk on that side. Not all patients who have stroke are paralyzed. A lady on an opposite bed could actually walk sans any walking aid!