Friday, December 23, 2016

Living It Up Young with Cancer and Hospital Roommates


Well, I for one have had my fair share of hospital roommates over the past five years. Not always is a young cancer patient able to get a private room, let alone a room where one is not freaking out over what’s happening to them at their age, of all things.  Major surgery is not the easiest procedure for one to experience but, as survivors, it’s something that we sometimes have to go through on a regular basis unfortunately. I have had four major surgeries over these past five years as a young adult, and have experienced many “memorable” roommates so I figured what better way to share some of these stories with you than through this blog. Please keep in mind that my stories are not meant to be offensive or disregarding the health issues of others, just expressing my experiences from my point of view.

Story 1: First diagnosis and the guy with the bad appendix

I was first diagnosed when I was 32 years old and, before I even had a biopsy done, the doctor told me 9 chances out of 10 it was cancer. I was going to have a colostomy, which may possibly be reversed down the road, but my life at that moment was never going to be the same again. So here I was, a young guy with a new odd life situation, and looking over at me was a much older man who had feeding tubes coming out of him all over the place, a guy to the left of me that had part of his leg amputated, and then an empty bed. This empty bed is where the lovely 20 year old with appendicitis came in. Oh my god, the world was over for the poor young gentleman. Heaven forbid that anyone else around him had a dire circumstance. On the day of his surgery, right after he has his surgery and he had awoken, he demanded to go out for a smoke. The nurse stressed how important it was for him to stay in his room and not tear his stitches, but no, he had to go. He ended up forcing his way out of the room to get a lovely puff of his cigarette, despite all warnings. Luckily enough for him, nothing happened, but the disregard this guy had for his well-being, and for being so persistent to have that cigarette, was definitely extreme. So for the next few days he recovered, while the rest of us wondered what his problem was because he never realized how lucky he really was to simply have his appendix removed and be done with it. I should mention that they also took my appendix while they were in there anyway, because hey, why not? :)


Story 2: The guy with the Popsicle


During my lung surgery back in 2013, there was an older gentleman, I’m guessing around 50+ at the time who made quite the impression on me and all the nurses on the ward for the week stay that I had. Besides the constant ripping out of his IV’s in the middle of the night, flinging of ‘waste’ at all hours, he had made my stay in the lovely hospital quite a difficult one. There was one day that he was slightly agitated with all of his family there at the time, and was demanding a specific treat. “I want a GREEN PINEAPPLE POPSICLE!” he bellowed over and over again. Oh he had his heart set on such an item yet, as one knows, there is no such thing as a ‘green pineapple’ Popsicle. So this set his family scrambling for some type of frozen treat that they could get the guy in order to calm him down. Finally they ended up with something; thank the lord that put his mind at ease, for a little while anyway. :)

Story 3: The “Mom” guy


My first TACE procedure was different than anything else I’ve been through to say the least. I was on an actual “Cancer” ward but was 15-20 years younger than anyone in the room I was sharing. There was one guy who I never saw, but heard all the time. I will have to assume the gentleman was quite old, yet everyone, no matter their gender, was “Mom.” He called out for his mother at every opportunity, it didn’t matter what time of day or who it was, he repeatedly said, “Mom, help me” over and over throughout the days and nights. For some reason, he wasn’t able to understand that he could push his buzzer to get a nurse to help him, so I took it upon myself to do all the pushing for him. Nurses would come to me and I’d just point in his direction and they would know to go over to see him. One day when he was in his ‘help me’ mode, he wanted a drink. So of course I buzzed the nurse and she came in. He said, “Mom, I needs a drink.” So of course the nurse obliged and brought him some water. “Oh this drink is some pissy,” he said…. I can’t go drinking such a pissy drink, Mom.” To the mainlanders out there, a “pissy” drink is one that is somewhat warm, and he didn’t want any part of such a drink. Oh, he caused some fuss over such as ‘pissy’ drink for a few hours to say the least.


Story 4: The Odd guy who came in.


Last, but not least, is the story from just a few weeks ago. After my craniotomy, I was placed into a private room which is standard for anyone going through such a procedure. I was in my bed one evening and my girlfriend, Cavell, was sitting next to me in the chair when a gentleman patient, sporting his pajamas, opened my door and popped his head in. He asked where his brother was, and I explained to him that I have been in here for the past three days and that he must be mistaken. Upon that, he waltzed in, styrofoam glass full of ice in hand. He asked me what my name was and what my surname was, which threw me for a loop at first.  Then he filled up his glass from the sink in my room and looked out the window, pausing for a few awkward moments. “Some lights”, he said, to which I replied, “yeah, either ambulances or police out there.” Then he took a swig out of his cup and looked again and said, “The red lights came from behind me pretty quick, they never told me how fast I was going and I never asked.” He took another swig of his drink, poured it out in my sink, laid his cup on the counter and left. Cavell and I looked at each other having no clue what was on the go. It turns out that this guy was a wanderer, and had been in other rooms as well. The nurse told me that if he decided to come in again, that I should buzz them. All that kept going through my mind was that I might wake up in the middle of the night with this dude staring down at me, asking if I knew where his brother was…  *Shudders*


Hospital stays are never easy. From the diagnosis, to the trauma of the surgery, and recovery, it can take a toll on one for sure. Having some of these experiences over the years has made my stays quite interesting to say the least. Sure, cancer isn’t the coolest or funniest thing to have surgery for, but it can certainly make for some interesting stories to say the least.

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