For people undergoing SEEG testing at Abbott Northwestern, they have a 24-hour monitoring policy. I always needed to have at least one staff member in the room with me at all times. Sometimes it was a nurse, sometimes it was a nursing assistant, sometimes it was a handful of people (especially if it involved me needing to use the bathroom). I could have buried my face in a book, spent my time staring at my phone or laptop, or chosen a number of other ways to distract myself until eventually being allowed to leave the hospital. So what did I do?
I talked to people. I told stories. I listened to stories. I used what was in some sense a captive audience to help pass the time. (Thankfully, no one covered their ears and yelled “LA LA LA LA LA!” to try to get me to stop talking, which I appreciated.) I plan to write more about events that occurred during SEEG testing, but I wanted to take some time to write directly to them.
To my care staff:
The English language includes a large number of very important sentences. Sentences like “You’re really funny” and “This picture of your dog is so cute” and “You bumped my toe and now I can’t feel my right arm!” But perhaps the most important is “Thank you.”
Thank you for keeping me healthy and safe, for bringing me things to eat and drink in the middle of the night, and for making my stay here much nicer and more enjoyable than if I’d been just sitting around and waiting for SEEG testing to be over.
(Some of this blog entry applies to my wife as well. Teresa spent a large amount of time here in my hospital room with me, but she was also driving back and forth between the hospital and home, taking care of our dogs, spending a few nights sleeping on a lumpy chair here instead of our comfy bed, and doing her best to watch over me and make sure I was okay. I’m extremely glad that I married up.)
You all did a great job making sure that I was comfortable, tending to my needs, and I always felt like you truly cared about my well-being rather than making me feel like you had to do these things because it was part of your job description. (While Teresa isn’t here to back me up, I’m sure she appreciates what you did for her, too.)
I may have joked about it with you in person or in this blog entry (see: “my captive audience”), but I truly appreciate everyone’s willingness and even eagerness to listen to my stories. I like to think I’ve lived an interesting and unusual life and I truly enjoy being able to share with others. Usually for entertainment, occasionally for wisdom, but rarely just to hear the sound of my own voice. I definitely appreciate people not automatically clumping me into that last category.
I’d also add that while most of you may never have a “captive audience” to talk to, you have some amazingly interesting stories of your own and I’m glad that you were willing to share them with me.
Some of the nursing assistants talked about going back to school to earn a nursing degree. Do it. There are a few good reasons to wait (young children, ailing family members, money, etc.). There are also a lot of not-so-good excuses to wait. Don’t listen to the excuses. Do it. I’m completely confident in your ability to succeed.
I wish I could have said goodbye to a lot more of you (including some who visited just long enough for someone else to take a 15-minute break), but that simply wasn’t possible. If you’re reading this and we met during my stay, please pass along my best wishes and gratitude to anyone I missed who spent some time in Room 6029.
As a final note, I don’t know if a blog entry can provide written permission to share information without violating HIPAA guidelines, but you’re welcome to tell people that you met Shawn, the Assistant Scout Master from Season 1 of Beauty and the Geek, he was hard to recognize because of the large wrap of bandages around his head due to SEEG testing, and there’s a Beauty and the Geek channel on YouTube where you can watch the source of some of his stories. (That said, he isn’t planning to visit the hospital again for the sake of answering questions about the show, so you may be out of luck in that regard.)