On Saturday, Grand Final BBQ in Bentleigh pending, we got a call about Kim’s mum being at Dandenong Hospital because of breathing problems. Kim had spoken to her the night before and she had been upset because her various ailments had been getting worse. So it was not a huge surprise when we got the phone call to say her neighbour had taken her to the emergency room.
It was a bleak, squally, wet day – the sort that you want to stay inside for, and so the hospital felt surprisingly comfortable at first. Being one of the most alcohol-fueled days of the year for many Victorians, I’m sure it got a lot worse in emergency later on that evening after the game finished. We spent 6 hours there with her and as the day wore on, it became more disturbing to see the continual stream of people in pain walking in the front door – crying, groaning or just looking miserable in their pajamas. After awhile I faced away from the entrance area and watched TV to avoid it all.
We were eventually put into a short-term-stay ward, and got to watch the oddball staff, many looking like patients themselves trying to look after 20 people in beds separated by curtains, and not doing a lot of caring. They gave the guy beside us a cardboard “jug” to piss into and barely bothered even closing his curtain properly. Kim and I wondered afterwards if you just become oblivious to it all after seeing it day-in-day-out.
It wasn’t the greatest day really, but at least her mother was admitted overnight which means they’ll have to run more tests and not just fob her off with vague future appointments to see specialists. We may be approaching the day where she lives with us because emphysema, lung and lymph cancer and anorexia and a “blocked or burnt throat (from the radiation treatment scarring)” are not a good combination.