What's your longest hospital stay?

boobar

3 days....3 times

Appendix - mild enough
Pilonidal Sinus - horror show
Leg injury - not so bad but 5 months on crutches

Sound Bite

10 days for an almost ruptured appendix.

Op, are you bored? What do you do to pass the time? Do you get enough visitors?

BoardsMember

2 weeks with badly broken leg, post op infection. Wasn't able to sleep properly and was listening to the radio for the live US broadcasts of the start of the gulf war.

Good luck to OP

JustAThought

Not me but my relation - almost 6 months - in with shattered leg, caught MRSA, shriveled to a third of their weight & almost lost their marbles - sat facing a wall & toilet door for 6 months & 8 beds away from the TV so coukdn't see it & poxy hearing to boot : (
Lots of visits & yelling stories - half Dublin knows my (shouted) private business by now. deafness is a curse on a ward. Not to mention filthy HSE 'hygine'.

JustAThought

My Dad was in for 2 months ( also!) and at the time I had a new puppy! He was on the ground floor ward & after a while We ran out of chat so I'd bring the puppy & hold him up outside the wards window & have the craic! You never saw a ward full of people cheer up so much as when there was a puppy galloping along a windowsill! I'd ring dad from outside the window & wave & have a chat! Great fun! I loved that dog.

brianregan09

7 weeks back in 1995 over in England had a lung transplant

Comerman

4 weeks back in 2007 aged 41 to have my stomach removed because of a poxy tumour, went in on my sons 10th birthday in November and was home to put the two bikes together that were in the shed from Santy,lost 3 stone and had a slice of turkey on a saucer for christmas dinner. Morphine is a wonderful thing :cool: kept telling my wife cancer is only a word unless you let it be more and this sh1t aint going to kill me. Attitude and family got me through it really but then again I've lost close friends to it since so really I was a "lucky one". Best of luck OP, hope all goes OK for ya.

Shrap

No overnights here either - just a couple of short visits to pop out two sprogs. 10 hours was my longest, I think. Feeling super lucky here OP, hope you get back on your feet soon - best of luck x

One More Toy

Lady is a tramp wrote: »

Ooh I spent a lot of time in one of those when my dad was getting treatment there. Hated the place!

Likewise, it grows on you though!

Better to be a visitor than a patient :-)

DareGod

Woah. You'd think you have problems until you read a thread like this.

Mine was five nights.

To spend a few months, a few years (!!) in hospital..... unfathomable.

citytillidie

1 month in 92 great to miss a month of school

Trebor176

Ten days a few years back, and getting diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. In those few days, I was never stuck for things to do, and the staff were top notch.

Reiketsu

Three weeks when I was pregnant due to preeclampsia and HELLP Syndrome. Two weeks in they induced me at 35 weeks and I stayed another week for some minor things afterwards. Thankfully that has been it

The One Doctor

Two weeks after a heart operation as a toddler.

everlast75

*Reads thread - Takes long hard look at himself - Tells himself to shut up complaining about being tired.

Badly Drunk Boy

May I ask a question (and I know the answer, in most cases) about overnight stays in hospital? Why do people wear their pyjamas all the time? Obvious answer: It's comfortable. Well, I'm really asking about people who are ambulatory, not those unable to leave the bed. In the few days I was in hospital, I wore my everyday clothes, and would have found it strange to be wearing pyjamas all day, especially around other people and having visitors.

Beasty

If they had let me have my clothes I would have done a runner.....

allibastor

about 8 days with Meningitis when I was 17.

Brought in with a temp of 108 after the Doctor kept telling my parents it was only Flu, till I collapsed at home. Got rushed in ahead of a girl who was kicked in the chest by a horse, I remember that bit, and having to have the lights turned off as I went through a corridor!!!

Zaph

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

May I ask a question (and I know the answer, in most cases) about overnight stays in hospital? Why do people wear their pyjamas all the time? Obvious answer: It's comfortable. Well, I'm really asking about people who are ambulatory, not those unable to leave the bed. In the few days I was in hospital, I wore my everyday clothes, and would have found it strange to be wearing pyjamas all day, especially around other people and having visitors.

Any time I've been in hospital I wore a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. I don't own a pair of pyjamas and I certainly wasn't going to buy any just for a few days in hospital.

Lady is a tramp

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

May I ask a question (and I know the answer, in most cases) about overnight stays in hospital? Why do people wear their pyjamas all the time? Obvious answer: It's comfortable. Well, I'm really asking about people who are ambulatory, not those unable to leave the bed. In the few days I was in hospital, I wore my everyday clothes, and would have found it strange to be wearing pyjamas all day, especially around other people and having visitors.

Ah I usually wear normal clothes. Even if it's just a trackie or whatever. Makes me feel less of a victim or something! At breakfast this morning, I was the only one on the ward showered and dressed ... I think it's important to keep to a routine and not become institutionalised. (Obviously this only applies if you're mobile ... which, actually, I'm not at the moment due to a massive injection I just got up my arse ... ouch!)

boobar

boobar wrote: »

3 days....3 times

Appendix - mild enough
Pilonidal Sinus - horror show
Leg injury - not so bad but 5 months on crutches

I had that horror show 4 times!!!

In for a week the first and second time and 2-3 days for the other.

The recovery time at home was a pain in the butt too. Pardon the pun lol.

Lyaiera

I was on for a week with blood clots in my lungs. Nearly died from it. The consultant wanted to keep me in until my bloods levels normalised but I told a nurse and junior doctor I was going crazy. They argued my case that as I was only one buys trip away, I could give myself daily injections and come back to the ward every day to get my bloods done so I should go home. Which I'll be forever thankful for. I was genuinely going crazy, listening to guys moan in their sleep about times they were abused, and watching people collapse. I had a relapse of my psychosis and if I didn't get out when I did I would have gotten worse.

gustavo

Thanks for all the well wishes
Apologies if I missed any questions

Sound Bite wrote: »

10 days for an almost ruptured appendix.

Op, are you bored? What do you do to pass the time? Do you get enough visitors?

I usually get a few, not as much as before
I have a television and an iPad and a laptop, the latter two of which I control using Sip/Puff technology (blowing into a tube)

Canis Lupus wrote: »

Hold on. Two years and counting? Pardon the pun but unbroken? What actually happened to you and why are you in hospital for so long? What is your day to day life like?

I suffered a complete fracture of the c1 vertebrae so am paralysed from the neck down, yea it has been unbroken
Here is a list of goals I had over t ime which will help explain why it took so long

Stabilse the spine
Stabilise the breathing
Get the voice back
Test I can swallow so I can eat and drink again (5 months)

Get chest infections under control (2 months )

Test the phrenic nerve to see if I'm eligible to have a phrenic nerve stimulator inserted
Await this operation (6 months)

Let the PNS settle for six weeks before turning on (6 weeks)

Turn it on for 5 minutes to test reaction
Build this to the 12 hours required to go to rehab (5 months)

Wait for a bed in rehab (4 months so far)

embee wrote: »

was in Beaumont Hospital for 10 weeks before Christmas. I have MS and it got very severe so I was hospitalised and had to relearn walking. I am now at the beginning of a 5-6 week stint in the National Rehabilitation Hospital. Craic galore.

How was it? When I am done here I am going there for 3 months

My friends created a site about my injury if anyone is interested

http://www.friendsofaengus.com/

osarusan

Do you get out at all Gustavo? Have you been back to the Showgrounds?

(You may recognise me from another site)

AvyStreet

Appendix when I was maybe 13. Maybe 10 days. Jesus two years - the thoughts.
And the mere mention of the words 'spinal injury' just deeply freaks some part of me out.

I got a muscular back twitch earlier and that was more than enough. Stops you stone dead, theres no moving, you're doing nothing til its finished the job and thats it. Horrible.

Adorable

2 years and counting?! Holy crap, I hope you're okay!

As for me, the longest would be 5 months when I was around 4-6 years old. Doctors made a mistake whilst operating on my leg. I've had several more hospital stays/operations, but nowhere near 2 years!

Edit: Am I the only one that actually likes hospitals/hospital stays? :$

Lady is a tramp

Wait so are you saying the past four months are actually unnecessary extra time in hospital because you're just waiting on a bed? That's ridiculous! :mad: Any idea how long you'll be waiting?

What kind of progress do they hope to achieve in rehab, and how long do you reckon you'll be there?

Sorry for all the questions!

cassid

10 weeks with back injury. I was 21 and in a ward with about 10 / 12 women, all in their 70's and 80's. I could not walk at the time so stuck in bed.
Meet some amazing people, wonderful nurses and patients. Lady beside me died one night, I cried for two days, we were pals for weeks and I had no idea she was that ill. There was one lady with dementia and she frightened the life out of me, she would come over in the middle of the night and whisper into my ear, when you are stuck in bed, there was no escaping. I used to hear grown women crying getting procedures done behind curtains, I used to find that very upsetting. I was in charge of the remote control as I was the longest in the ward and could use it, from about noon, you would hear is cornation street on yet ? don't forget to put it on. If someone under 70 came into the ward, they were put beside me and it was great to have someone my own age to talk to.

You made friends with the porters and nurses and used to get the gossip and help with studying at night, I used to test them during exam time. I got lovely little presents from the nurses and when I was moved to another hospital, several of them visited me which was lovely. It was a strange experience for an naive 21 year old. I remember coming home, my brother collected me, and I was so happy to see the sun in the sky and buses on the street.

Off to have a wee look at your site Aengus, I thought 10 weeks was bad. You could probably write a book on your experience in those 2 years. I hope things work out for you. xx

Ciderswigger

Five days. I broke my back about 10 years ago and I can still remember to this day the doctor coming down and shouting at me because I was still there. He told me I was supposed to be out by 10 that morning. I gathered my stuff, carried my runners in my hands because I couldn't bend down to put them on and went and stood outside the main entrance while I cried and rang my mum.

About two/three days later the hospital rang my mother to ask if I was at home. I was so upset that wasn't thinking straight and just walked out. I never signed a discharge form and technically should have still be in the hospital. It was the biggest farce ever.

Though I've just broken my ankle and have to see if I need a plate inserted, so check back in with me this day next week and I'll let you know where I'm at!

howyanow

5 weeks was my longest stint for mental health issues.
Didn't feel like a hospital all of the time as you would not see many patients with physical injuries and no doctors /nurses wheeling patients around.
Was daunting to begin with but found it very comfortable after a week and then had a private room.
Would go back again if had to

Turtyturd

A couple of days in The Richmond hospital when I was a kid to get my tonsils out. Would have been about 3 but can still clearly remember the horrible feeling of being left in there alone. Ended up being sent home because I was so upset and had to have the operation rescheduled.

Only other one I can recall, other than visits, was a few hours in for a fractured ankle a few weeks back.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

About ten days.
I went in once with tachycardia, my heartbeat was off the wall and my usually on the low side blood pressure was sky high. They got monitors on me straight away, and had me being monitored in coronary care. So, that night I had a crap sleep and was only after going back to sleep after being woken up that morning, dozing in and out when I jolted awake to see about 9 doctors around my bed.
I thought I was on my last legs, but turns out most of them were only students.

Ciderswigger

LexieOnRale wrote: »

I jolted awake to see about 9 doctors around my bed. I thought I was on my last legs, but turns out most of them were only students.

That happened to me too. I was so out of it on pain meds that I looked at them all and declared "Well I'm right where you want me boys, flat on my back. Go for it"

My mother was mortified.

Rattser

I had a fractured skull and ended up spending a week in hospital . My memory went to **** and I had the CAT scan.

The staff looked after me so well. The nurses and doctors here are amazing. We are lucky to have them.

con___manx1

Rattser wrote: »

I had a fractured skull and ended up spending a week in hospital . My memory went to **** and I had the CAT scan.

The staff looked after me so well. The nurses and doctors here are amazing. We are lucky to have them.

The same thing happened to me. I couldn't remember a thing about the accident and still can't to this day. I woke up with blood coming out of my left ear. I Spent roughly a week in hospital. Had a cat scan and all that too.

gustavo

osarusan wrote: »

Do you get out at all Gustavo? Have you been back to the Showgrounds?

(You may recognise me from another site)

The half Japanese Limerick supporter
You were a rare voice of sanity on that forum
I should go back there more often

Anyway I have only been off the grounds twice but both momumental occasions
The Bosnia match and Star Wars

Lady is a tramp wrote: »

Wait so are you saying the past four months are actually unnecessary extra time in hospital because you're just waiting on a bed? That's ridiculous! :mad: Any idea how long you'll be waiting?

What kind of progress do they hope to achieve in rehab, and how long do you reckon you'll be there?

Sorry for all the questions!

I believe that the delay is because I have a tracheostomy and thus have to to go to a specialised 4 person ward

I believe that first I will be assessed and then a plan is drawn up which will involve physio, Occupational Therapy, Career and Psychological services, I will be there for twelve weeks

XxMCRxBabyxX

I've had 4 one week long stays between Tallaght, St. James's and Beaumont. Once for monitoring seizure activity (and of course my epilepsy decided to behave for the first time ever) and the other three were all for surgeries - two in 2007 removing my parotid gland and the other was awake brain surgery a few months ago.

JohnMearsheimer

I spent 10 days in hospital when I had my first MS attack. I didn't know that it was MS at the time. The left side of my body went very weak. I couldn't hold anything steady in my left hand and I felt I could drop anything I was holding at any second. I was dragging my left leg a little when I walked and I couldn't co-ordinate the left and right sides of my body. Had MRI scans and a spinal tap and was put on steroids for a few days. Thankfully my body eventually recovered and returned to normal function.

KingMonkey

did abt 3 days getting tonsils out

was alright except from waking up after i went on some kind of deranged rant about how brutal the government was,that and the iv needle bent in my arm and the nurse wouldn't change/remove it until another came on then she did

there was a young guy in the room next to me tho and all he did for those 3 days was scream and moan in pain,that was pretty horrific

TG1

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

May I ask a question (and I know the answer, in most cases) about overnight stays in hospital? Why do people wear their pyjamas all the time? Obvious answer: It's comfortable. Well, I'm really asking about people who are ambulatory, not those unable to leave the bed. In the few days I was in hospital, I wore my everyday clothes, and would have found it strange to be wearing pyjamas all day, especially around other people and having visitors.

I know for myself once I was able to get into a wheelchair and move around all I wanted to be was dressed. I had spent 1.5 weeks bed bound and it felt like such an achievement to get dressed with a bit of help and wheel down to get a coffee and watch the world go by...

Op I'm really feeling for you from your posts and the website. My own injury was a crush injury so at the start there was all the talk of spinal involvement etc. and it was probably the most terrifying time of my life. I really can't imagine what you've been through in the last two years, I think you are an amazing person to be making your way through this.

JustAThought

God I'm horrified to read what happened to you - talk about unlucky - and positive artitude. Great shot from the stadium! How do you manage to type all that - dont tell me you have to use sip technology for that too??
I discovered audiobooks.com a while back when bedridden & couldn't read - A friend told me about the MOOC's which structure some indoor time too & can be pretty interesting. I don't know how you do it - fair dues - I don't have that character or personality strength.

Galwayguy35

5 weeks in hospital when I was 16, made longer because I was stuck in a ward with a bunch of cranky oul fellas who didn't want the TV on only when the news and Today Tonight was showing.

This was back in 1991 when smart phones were non existent so the time was long.