SashaSue

I love those suggestions, thanks so much! Writing a letter to their DON seems like such an obvious thought, but it's one I hadn't had. And maybe more personal notes to the specific nurses who have really gone out of their way advocating for his treatment and such. Because the dr.'s have not impressed me nearly so much as the nurses. No calories/nurtition of any kind in the IV drips of someone who's not eating? A switch from IV morphine to liquid oral lortab because it's something he could continue at home, when he's going to hospice, not home, as the dr. would have known if he'd done more than a precursory glance at his chart? Haldol for "anxiety," despite that being like hitting a straight pin with a sledgehammer, and of course, its being contraindicated for an older patient with demential related psychosis? I could go on and on with the things like this with which the nursing staff has helped us. All of which have made a big difference in my grandfather's daily quality of life, which is really all we're shooting for at this point.

This is so random it's almost OT, but I'm posting it anyway. I'm currently working on prerequisites to apply to grad entry psych. np programs. My grandfather is currently in the hospital (kind of a suck hospital, it seems to me), waiting to get well enough to be movced into hospice care. Some members of the nursing staff have been extra specially helpful and great, with things like helping my grandmother figure out what's going on, advocating for certain treatment changes with his doctors, answering my (probably super annoying) questions about both his treatment and nursing generally. Eventually he will be leaving, one way or another (I hate to sound so morbid about it, but that's where things are). When he does, I'd really like to do something to thank the nursing staff for being so great (my grandmother's been in this hospital before, and the nursing care was not at all impressive, so I feel like the nurses working w/my grandfather now are kind of going above and beyond the hospital's expectations). All I can think of is sending them vats of flowers and fruit, but there's probably something better? So I'm wondering about what kind of appreciative gestures you guys have gotten in the past that really meant something to you? Or what kind of ... I don't know, random little thing it might make your day to have show up? I'm not sure how coherently I've asked this question, after being in a tiny, hot, hospital room with two crazy old people all day, my brain's a little broken, but hopefully I've conveyed the gist of the crux. Thanks for any suggestions!

I started mine two weeks ago. I was kind of terrified about it, having been out of school for 15 years. So far it's going really well though. It's weird spending so much time amongst the youth of America, but all in all, pretty great.

When I'm the voice of reason, things are very, very, bleak!

Double posted, sorry!

Losing access to meds can make people really panicky & nutty. This woman may be a nasty piece of work 24/7, I have no idea, but I think a lot of people will try whatever they can think up when they find themselves without access to the things they and/or their kids need to live. I doubt she understood how impossible what she was asking was. Many people wouldn't. rxlist.org & needymeds.org are both clearinghouses for pharma company patient assistance programs. Needymeds.org has more info. on things like state and federal programs for accessing meds & other kinds of care.