# Mrs. L.A. is in the hospital **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 3, 2017, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980 "2017-06-03T05:17:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/81 "2017-06-06T22:28:50Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > _Much_ better today. Eating Jell-O, and broth. She may be released tomorrow afternoon. Great news. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/82 "2017-06-06T22:54:18Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I just have to change out of my work clothes (shorts and T-shirt today – isn’t telecommuting wonderful?) and I’ll be off to pick up the Spousal Unit. 🙂 > > The vet gave Creamsicle a shot of long-lasting antibiotics (one shot, two weeks) and an anti-inflamatory. She was almost normal when I brought her home. No lifting her right-rear paw. Today she _might_ be tender with it, but I have to squint to see it. I kept her inside yesterday afternoon and evening, and she and Tonka have been lounging on in chairs on the covered part of the deck all day today. Woot! I’m glad the ladies are all improving. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/83 "2017-06-06T23:15:44Z")
Good news! I hope both ladies are resting comfortably! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/84 "2017-06-07T03:20:37Z")
She’s home! 🙂 Still sick, but she has her oxy, BP meds, and Nexium. She needs to call her boss tomorrow. She’s scheduled to be the on-call nurse next week. (i.e., she does her regular rounds, and then is on-call for after-hours – even middle-of-the-night – calls.) I don’t think that’s going to work. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/85 "2017-06-07T03:27:48Z")
Yaay!! Hugs all around. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/86 "2017-06-07T03:52:52Z")
Sleep well, all three of you! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/87 "2017-06-07T03:54:12Z")
Great news!!! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/88 "2017-06-07T16:04:28Z")
Criminy, I’m exhausted! Working Friday morning from 0630 until I called 9-1-1, working on Saturday and Sunday, working Monday through today, the trips to the vet, and of course daily trips to the hospital. And the _worry!_ Plus missing meals, and not eating well when I did eat. OK, enough complaining. Back to work. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/89 "2017-06-07T16:45:25Z")
Yeah, you’re probably not going to eat well under the circumstances but YOU NEED TO EAT! Also catch naps when you can. If you don’t take care of yourself you can’t take care of anyone else. But best wishes and speedy recovery to all. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/90 "2017-06-07T19:18:28Z")
Yay for being home! I’m sure Creamsicle is all over the resting part. I hope you and the missus will do the same. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/91 "2017-06-07T19:21:15Z")
Great news! [/fistpump] ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/92 "2017-06-08T00:46:40Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > She’s a very private person, and would be appalled if she knew I posted this. Marital HIPAA ended when she entered the hospital. Then she became our problem. 😉 > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > She has called me a ‘fixer’; if there’s a problem, I try to fix it. I can’t do anything to fix her, and I don’t like this feeling. At all. > [@race\_to\_the\_bottom](#): > > You are doing the right thing. She may have told you to go home, but that is because she is the good wife. Hold her hand as much as you can. Make sure the doctors and nurses are aware that you are her advocate. Your presence will ensure she is more than just an anonymous patient. See if there is any kind of private or comfortable area for families to take breaks and refresh themselves. If she is able to take meals, try to arrange those times together. In the past few months I got it kicked into my head that the squeaky wheel’s spouse lives longer and ingreater comfort. Don’t be shy! You are there everyday and have but one patient to monitor. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/93 "2017-06-08T00:49:37Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > In addition to all the moral support \*\*ThelmaLou \*\*mentions, there’s a lot of practical good you can do. > > Be there when the doc comes through early in the morning. Ask questions. “What’s her status? What has changed? What do you intend to start, stop, or change? What stays the same?” Take notes of all of it. Understand what meds are ordered and why. Ensure he got a clear report from the overnight staff. Ensure the attending nurse(s) during the day are reading the orders right. Talk to your wife to ensure you’re understanding what she’s experiencing and make sure it’s being communicated clearly to the med staff. e.g,. They get used to the usual amount of whining from the generic patient. So they apply the usual discount. If she’s somebody who never whines, her legit complaints will be having a large discount applied. You can correct that. Folks who are ill or on drugs are crappy communicators. Be her envoy. > > I lived in the hospital for about 4 months with my wife a few years ago. As I said to everybody every day: “I don’t know beans about medicine, but I know a lot about finding and fixing failures to communicate clearly.” > > Most mistakes of omission and commission in a hospital are simple failures to communicate. Somebody means to write X, actually writes Y, then the next person does Z instead. Somebody sees something, means to write it down, then gets distracted and forgets. Then it’s shift change and the info is lost forever. Watching everything and blowing the whistle when it appears things are starting to veer off course is hugely valuable. > > That’s the kind of fixing you can do. > > Also speaking from experience, as somebody who works in a very real-time job the leisurely pace of medicine is very, very hard to take. Doc checks in once every 24 hours and makes a slight tweak to the medication or whatever every 48 hours. Meantime you’re thinking “Hell, this house is on fire and you’re diddling around wasting days between inputs. You oughta be here doing something every _second_!!!” > > Not really. The body heals slowly. Modern medicine can help greatly. But it can’t work much faster than the body’s natural pace. A lot of what they’re doing is simply keeping the patient alive, fed, and physically safe while waiting for (slightly augmented) nature to fix / repair / heal whatever. Repeating in full because this should be posted in every hospital instead of that bullshit mission statement. ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/94 "2017-06-08T00:54:34Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Repeating in full because this should be posted in every hospital instead of that bullshit mission statement. Thirded. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/95 "2017-06-08T01:19:52Z")
I’m so glad to hear all has come good, **Johnny L.A.** Such a scary time – I’m relieved all is well now! My best to you and Mrs. **Johnny L.A.** ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/96 "2017-06-08T02:46:39Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > She’s home! 🙂 > > Still sick, but she has her oxy, BP meds, and Nexium. She needs to call her boss tomorrow. She’s scheduled to be the on-call nurse next week. (i.e., she does her regular rounds, and then is on-call for after-hours – even middle-of-the-night – calls.) I don’t think that’s going to work. It must be quite an adjustment being the patient instead of the nurse. Very glad to her the Mrs. is back home. Johnny’s home cooked meals will hasten her recovery. Johnny has posted several mouth watering meal threads in Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/97 "2017-06-08T02:54:59Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Johnny’s home cooked meals will hasten her recovery. Alas, none of that until she recovers. Not even the Saturday hashbrowns she says in is the pre-nup I have no knowledge of. She’s a step up from a liquid diet. She can have bland, soft food, and she has to avoid fats. She couldn’t eat the pasta and chicken the hospital gave her before her discharge. She’s ben eating fruit cups and Jell-O. I went out and got her some watermelon-agave popsicles today, and she had one and liked it. I made myself a breakfast burrito (I cheated and nuked the bacon), and she said it smelled good but she couldn’t eat it. She said I can probably do the hashbrowns a week from this Saturday. I have some cod in the freezer, so maybe I can do the Greek-style poached cod again. Or else just lightly season it and bake it. I’ve been trying to cook healthier meals recently, so when she gets back to eating real food this will be an opportunity to expand my repertoire. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/98 "2017-06-08T03:14:53Z")
**Deedeeknowitall** , the wife, better half and also a nurse, says “Welcome Home!” and has pretty much sussed out what **Mrs. L.A.** had wrong with her. Your cooking will go great lengths in getting her on her feet again. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/99 "2017-06-08T03:18:18Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > **Deedeeknowitall** , the wife, better half and also a nurse, says “Welcome Home!” and has pretty much sussed out what **Mrs. L.A.** had wrong with her. Your cooking will go great lengths in getting her on her feet again. C’mon, spill the beans\*. **Johnny** can’t be blamed. 😃 \*Deliberate reference. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980/100 "2017-06-08T12:15:38Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Alas, none of that until she recovers. Not even the Saturday hashbrowns she says in is the pre-nup I have no knowledge of. She’s a step up from a liquid diet. She can have bland, soft food, and she has to avoid fats. She couldn’t eat the pasta and chicken the hospital gave her before her discharge. She’s ben eating fruit cups and Jell-O. I went out and got her some watermelon-agave popsicles today, and she had one and liked it. I made myself a breakfast burrito (I cheated and nuked the bacon), and she said it smelled good but she couldn’t eat it. > > She said I can probably do the hashbrowns a week from this Saturday. I have some cod in the freezer, so maybe I can do the Greek-style poached cod again. Or else just lightly season it and bake it. I’ve been trying to cook healthier meals recently, so when she gets back to eating real food this will be an opportunity to expand my repertoire. BTDT. Cooking for a soft-food diet can be challenging. As unappetizing as it sounds to us healthy people, you can make some of her favorites, like the hashbrowns, then puree them. As long as they’re not too greasy they still work as soft. She’ll enjoy the flavor just the same and a little bit of that as a treat makes the rest of the soft-food program a lot more bearable. If she likes them, stewed tomatoes are another low-effort product that’ll jazz up otherwise boring mush. Either as-is out of the can, or better yet after a quick run through the blender/processor. Getting in some familiar flavors, if not exactly textures, is a big boost to morale. Doubly so if the malady or the medication (or depression) makes eating otherwise unpleasant or uninteresting. Lots of people have worse outcomes during recovery simply because they don’t eat well enough to power the machine. Don’t be one of those people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-l-a-is-in-the-hospital/787980.md?page=6)