My 71 year old sister-in-law had a hysterectomy yesterday and is coming home today. She's always been in terrific shape for her age but being released from the hospital just one day after surgery seems a little premature. I remember when we were kept in the hospital for 5 days of observation after giving birth.
My last experience with hospitals in Canada came a year and a half ago when my husband, who had cancer, was there for a week of tests. He was in a ward consisting of 3 other elderly men, all suffering from different maladies. One was senile and kept trying to climb over the bars of his bed. I was afraid to attempt to handle him so I'd go searching for a nurse but often had difficulty locating one. They were never just standing around doing nothing but always very busy taking care of too many other patients. There simply weren't enough nurses on staff to properly take care of their patients.
One evening, as I left to go home, I saw a trail of dried blood on the floor of the main hallway in the ward. When I returned the next morning, it was still there. It's upsetting to think that there isn't even enough cleaning staff to keep our hospitals as free of germs as possible. And anyone sick enough to be in a hospital in the first place will have a weaker immune system.
We realize that we'll probably have to rely on the health care system more as we get older and it worries me to wonder what degree of care we can expect. Apparently, major surgery allows us only one day in a hospital bed.
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