BBB's hospital adventure with crazy room mates

I was in the emergency room for 12 hours before I was moved upstairs to the patient rooms. I got settled into my bed next to a woman in her sixties. About 1 o'clock in the morning, I began to hear thuds hitting the drapery seperating our beds. Then something hit the drape so hard it hit my arm resting on my bed's rail. I later could see that she was pulling the bed rail padding on her bed and throwing it at me. She did that several times. I didn't say anything about it to the nurse.

The next morning, I heard her constant phone demands to the nursing staff for Sprites, which I learned she couldn't have because she had diabetes. Then she started demanding blankets, which she would throw at my bed. I later learned that she was unable to walk, so I felt a little safer from her attacks.

She started throwing her phone, her TV control, and her nurse call button on the floor, then asking me to retrieve them for her so she could call the nurse again. I would get out of bed, return the device to her, and get back into my bed. After this happening a couple of times, I told her to push her help button. She would say she couldn't find it and demanded that I push my button. I did this several times all the while she was yelling about the poor service by the staff. I got mad and told her to stop being rude to the staff.

That night at midnight, I turned off my TV so I could get some sleep. The woman started yelling at her husband ( who was not present) demanding that he take her home immediately. I learned that no one in her family wanted her home. About midnight, I went to the bathroom and shut the door when I left. The woman started yelling that she knew her husband was in the bathroom with me because she heard him close the door. Then she demanded that her TV be turned on because she had a right to watch it in the privacy of her home. I objected because I wanted to get some sleep. Then she began screaming at me.

I finally pushed the nurse button and asked if I could be moved to a different room. The nurse and I were whispering about the situation and the woman screamed that if we had anything to say about her to say it to her face and not whisper about her. At that point I lost my patience and said "OK, I will tell you to your face. SHUT UP!"

My bed and I were move into the next room unit. It didn't improve my situation much. It was occupied by a tiny woman in her 90s. She wouldn't put her hearing aid into her ears because she feared they would fall out and the nurses would step on them and they were expensive. So she talked very loudly. Everyone that come into the room to care for her, to visit her, or even me when I had to go by her bed to reach the bathroom, had to hear her story. She wanted to be moved to a hospice because she wanted to be left alone to die. I must have heard her story at least 50 times word for word. She had this verbal battle with everyone who tried to give her the required treatments for her bladder infection. Her doctor had posted an order to offer her food, medicine, treatment, etc., but to not force her if she rejected them. One night shift nurse refused to follow the order and I was bombarded by the constant loud story of her begging to be left alone to die. Finally, I told the nurse about the patient's problems and wishes. I was shocked when she replied "I don't want her to die on my shift." I reported this to the Head Floor nurse who reminded her of obeying doctor's orders for patient's rights to refuse treatment, etc.

I was in the hospital for five days. The only good thing about these strange room mates was that their intrusion into my life didn't give me much time to worry about my own condition. I'm just lucky, I guess.

BBB