Getting a good night's sleep

A good night's sleep is supposed to be critical to our health, especially when we are ill or recovering from surgery or some other medical adventure. However the worst place to get a good night's sleep is in a hospital. I have had many 'wonderful' hospital stays - some planned and some unplanned. I never get a decent amount of sleep while I am there.

I think I can get more sleep squished into coach on a transatlantic flight full of screaming children - 9 hour Miami to London flight full of more than 120 children (really) while seated right in front of the flight attendants area where they sat and chatted.

Some of my good night's rest in the hospital have included:

Being admitted through the ER and having to wait until 4 am to get to an empty room. The nurse was very nice and asked me very few questions and said she would come back later to finish them so I could get some sleep. Ten minutes after she left, the blood work tech showed up for a blood sample, and then a visit by someone - every 20-30 minutes for the next few hours. The nurse was good - she didn't come back but everyone else did - the call for breakfast food, delivery of breakfast food, maid to sweep floor, someone for vitals, the doctor, etc.

After my hysterectomy, I had expected to recovery for five nights in the lovely hospital. Yes continuous interruptions every night - including the night they insisted on buffing the hall floor outside the patient rooms. You should have heard the nurse read the riot act to the poor man.

When ever I am hospitalized I try to minimize disruptions and noise by keeping my room door shut at all times. It is my prerogative and you bet I am going to use it. When someone walks down the hall, they always seem to glance into every open doorway.... I find it a horrible invasion of privacy. And with a closed door, a lot of the noise is minimized.

So why do they keep us in hospitals these days? Thanks to insurance companies we are kicked out as soon as possible. They are full of germs as well. And they certainly aren't quiet. I am always happy to tell the doctors that I want to go home as soon as possible and I can turn in to a horrible patient when cranky from lack of sleep. I miraculously feel 1000 times better as soon as I can get a good night's sleep.