• Welcome to Crohn's Forum, a support group for people with all forms of IBD. While this community is not a substitute for doctor's advice and we cannot treat or diagnose, we find being able to communicate with others who have IBD is invaluable as we navigate our struggles and celebrate our successes. We invite you to join us.

Hospital Roomate Stories!

J

jyarmo

Guest
I know that many of us have had extended stays at hospitals because of our conditions. I've come to learn that no hospital stay is complete without atleast one wacky hospital roomate. Do any of you have any stories regarding hospital roomates that you have had?

I'll share one with you all.

Last summer I was in the hospital because I had a partial blockage. I have found in the past that the worst pain with blockages is experienced out of the hospital, and once I'm under medical supervision things tend to improve quickly! However, there was one thing, one person who made my stay less than stellar!

My roomate was a older, single man, somewhere in his late 50s or early 60s. To tell you the truth, it's hard to guess his true age, but his bitterness and rude behavior definetely made him seem older.

This guy was truely crazy. He would boss everyone around, regardless of whether they were a nurse, doctor, or visitor (including my visitors!) He asked one of his visitors to wet a facecloth for him with hot water. He sent her back FIVE times because "it wasn't hot enough" and he had asked for a "hot towel, damnit!"

What made things very strange was that although he had broken a bone (and potentially had a hernia), he was on the IBD wing! He frequentely told whoever was around that without a doubt, he was in the most pain out of anyone on the floor! Puh-lease!

The nurses hated him and this resulted in a terrible cycle. This guy would complain more, act ruder, which resulted in the nurses checking up on him less often, getting him to complain more. This was no fun to watch as his roomate, let me tell you! I had to hear about his constant complaints, many of which were trivial. The worst was him complaining about the small portions of food he was getting. I was not on any foods at this point (no liquids or solids...all my nutrition was getting taken care of via I.V) so you can imagine how sympathetic I was towards him!

It all came down to the night before I was able to leave. Remember, this was at the end of the Summer and I had just finished high school. Many of my friends were going out of town to different universities, so I wanted to call them and say goodbye. I called about 4 -5 friends, and spoke to each of them for a little while. I imagine this took 1.5-2 hours total.

Throughout this time, this guy was yelling,screaming, swearing and buzzing for a nurse. Eventually one came in, (don't forget! The nurses were avoiding this guy like the plauge) and he took the yelling to a new level. He claimed that he was roomed with a "lunatic" who was going non-stop between the washroom and the telephone, causing a raucus. Did this guy have any clue what IBD symptoms consisted of?!

At first I felt bad that this guy was complaining about me. The nurse came over to me after she had finished with him and said that if I wanted to I could move to a different room. At first I said no, I was fine where I was. The nurse asked me if I was sure two more times and I told her I was each time. After she left, I decided to go over to him to appologize. He essentially said that I was nuts and that I was wasting time on the phone because "I was listening to what you were talking about and it wasn't important". He than asked me what I was doing in the hospital and when I told him I had Crohn's disease he said "What, is that a mental disorder?" I had had enough.

I went to the nurses station and told a different nurse that I had been offered the chance to change rooms and that I wanted to take up the opportunity. This nurse knew the situation and went back to my room to help me get my stuff together. In a flash, I was moving my belongings to a new room! Two nurses told me how they couldn't believe I was able to handle that guy for so long!

My next roomate was an unbelievably nice guy and we had a great conversation that lasted well into the night. HE even knew about my roomate because the nurses had complained to him about "this crazy guy in another room".
 
D

doubledown

Guest
Thats a funny story. I guess it still is to you, but you had to go through it all once which was not fun. I think that guy needed to be reminded that he was not in a hotel.
 

cookey

Mama Crohnie
OH BOY!! Do I. I was in for one of my flare ups one summer, the hospital was so busy, and very short of beds..that they stuck me on the Geriatrics floor. I was put in the room with a very sweet elderly woman, but I was not told of her condition until the next morning, as they wheeled me up in the wee hours of the morn. Such a sin, this woman had Alzheimers Disease...and although it was a little funny at the time, it certainly wasn't when she passed away. Sweet little lady who introduced herself to me, then all of a sudden...she screamed out "LOOK" I being so young didn't fully understand her condition..so I called for a nurse and told her that she just screamed out for me to Look out the window. Tha'ts when the nurse told me of her condition. I was very very sick at this time, one of the worst flare ups I had ever had. The nurse left, and Mrs B..yelled out again "LOOK" I said, "what's wrong Mrs B, are you okay"? she looked at me and said, "the soldiers are coming, the soldiers are coming." My mother was walking into the room, for a visit with me, just as she did Mrs B picked up a fork that was left on her dinner table, and threw it at me...it hit my forehead, and left me bleeding, I guess she thought my mother was a soldier. We were so afraid. Of course I called for the nurse right away..and she took all utensils away, (something that should have been done in the first place) not only because of me, but Mrs B...could have really hurt herself. All I remember is asking the nurse to please find me another room as there was no way I could stay, I was very stressed and afraid...because Alzheimers is so unpredictable, and I wasn't getting any better under those conditions. I remember years later, friends chuckling over this incident...but realized that this poor soul, was suffering just as I was, if not worse. God Love Mrs B.
 

cookey

Mama Crohnie
Oh gosh JY, that's funny...but I feel bad for you, and I can certainly relate to this story.
 
Jyarmo I think that I would have taken an iv out my arm and try to kill the dude. Just joking but I would have been seriously pissed off.

J
 
S

Sparrow

Guest
:p had a 60 year old man staying at the hospital as well, hitting on me, flirting and following me around the whole time i was there, and yeah i was happy to leave asap lol:eek:
 
J

jyarmo

Guest
So you're telling us there was no future relationship between you and that guy, huh Sparrow? ;):)
 
S

Sparrow

Guest
haha no way in hell! Although if anyone's interested he did offer up his number :p
oh yeah btw thanks for the invite to these forums, good topics and pretty interesting
 
Last edited:
J

jlbastian

Guest
I just had a four day stay this past week, and this is the first time I have had a roomate during any of my stays, usually because my parents snag me a private suite. My roomate was an elderly lady, probably around 85 who was legally blind (but could see light flashes) and she was unaware she had a roomate apparently.

I was up all night preparing for my colonoscopy, trying to be as quiet as possible, but obiously had the bathroom light on and the television going (quietly) and she kept calling in the nurses to get them turned off! I felt terrible, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. Also, she talked loudly in her sleep about radishes and anvils, snored and had a terrible hacking cough.

Thank goodness for my i-pod :)
 
D

Donna

Guest
My last stay was also the first time I had to share a room. I was also on the geriatrics floor...so I was the youngest on the floor.

The woman next to me was a sweet old woman who had been a nurse many many moons ago. She was in for adhesions and ended up have a NG tube put in. Because she was an ER nurse, she seemed to know everything, or at least that would be what you would have thought as the nurses were trying to get her to stop talking so they could get the tube down her throat! Then, she would act like she couldn't move a muscle...when someone was present, but as soon as they left the room, boom, she would do things that she just told the nurses she couldn't do. And then, when she would sleep,not only did she snore soooo loud, but she constantly called out to her kids! And at times she thought they were walking by her room and how rude that they never stopped in. It was the nurses walking by! And a few times, she wanted me to do things the nurses were supposed to do, and she thought I was rude cuz I didn't do them! She threatened me with writing a letter to the hospital about the rudeness of the nurses!! Then she would put on her glasses and apologize. I was so glad to leave!!!

Donna
 
V

Valentina

Guest
never been in hospital for Crohns (knock on wood) but have been in twice for kidney stones...
I had to collect my urine and measure filter it etc to see if I was passing any stones, and make sure I wasnt blocked up etc... and the old lady beside me decided she had a kidney stone as well, and started to collect her urine in my container!! didnt know it was going on til the nurse was concerned because I was passing more fluids than they were putting in. lol
gross.. to this day I have a urine phobia
 
D

DannyB

Guest
Last stay in hospital I met my headmaster from primary school which was a bit scary to begin with cause he gave me more than a few hard times at school but after talkin to him for a bit I realised that he isn't all that bad.

I've also met some very courageous people who knew that they were fighting the big C knowing that they were not going to make it and to these people I take my hat off, it always amazes me how strong we can be during tough times!

Danny
 
A

AisForAlexa

Guest
LoL reminds me of the lil old lady i was put in the room with.. who spoke no english.. but continued to speak to me in spanish..lol.. annddd poor me running back in forth to the bathroom... on one visit i went in there and the old lady had crapped all over the toilet.. well you know when you have to go you have to go.. soo here iam hospital gown... the lil thing the IV's are hooked up to racing down the hall to get to the bathroom..lol...
 
I only had one roommate during my stay, but don't remember her well because she left the next day. What I do remember is the guy across the hall. He did very realistic, very LOUD birdcalls instead of using the call button when he wanted something. It was funny at first, but became very tedious after seven days, especially since he even did it at night, loudly enough to wake all of us who weren't drugged to the gills.
 
S

Skinsfan1229

Guest
I usually try to get private rooms. I'll pay the extra money that my insurance doesnt cover so that I can also. If they dont have a room then you can get a private room for the price of the shared room.

Especially since having my ostomy, I usually use that to my advantage and say I'm not comfortable sharing a room with having an ostomy. This worked at MCV(Medical College of Virginia, at Virginia Commonwealth University). There, they said they only give you a private room if your pretty much contagious I guess. The nurse puut me in a room with someone and ONE tv, for two people, so I brought up I had an ostomy and wasnt comfortable, she said it would almost be iimpossible to get the doctor ont he floor to write me for a private room, but she told him what I said and boom, She wheeled me right out that room and into a room that was bigger and private, I didnt even get out of bed, she said "the doctor said he cant imagine having an ostomy and being comfortable with it still so he's givin you a private room" lol pretty great.

Plus if you have the diahrea Crohns, then who wants their room neighbor to be hearing that?

I have gotten two types of people for dozens of hospitals stays/admittances. They are either burn victims, OR having something amputated, is this my luck? lol I've been with probably 5 or 6 people getting from the knee down amputated, some start with the foot then end up going back and getting the knee down. Some burn victims, oh god thats awful to see, they usually get the jacuzzi baths each day, to try and get the dead skin to come off, but then they come back crying its so painfull o pull the skin off after bing burnt and completely wrapped up. They always give me burn victims and amputees morphine and since I'm young and small I guess, and no one in this world knows what Crohns is, some have HEARD of IBD but dont know what it means, but they always end up saying something about getting their morphine and getting a "nice buzz" or sosmething along those joking line and act like I'm not getting anything good but then the nurse speaks up usually and laughs and goes "oh no he gets dalaudid thats much stronger then morphine" then i start laughing and explain how morphine doesnt even help me.

Most people that I have been roomed up with that can talk and all are very nice, and I even have shared things like books each other had, or hand held video poker games. Its neat meeting someone with your interests, I like WW2 and military history and such and one man had a bunch of books on the Third Reich, Hitler and things like that, it waas great, I even got his number when I was released from the hospital. And he looked up my address in the phone book and mailed me "the makers diet" which I actually liked.
 

Cara Fusinato

Sarcastic Forum Comedian
When I was in the ER getting my lovely appendix out and discovering the illness that now is a constant threat, three guys came in, each injured. I guess they were on dirtbikes and each one fell and hurt himself. While in the ER, and I was in BAD shape not wanting to hear anything from anyone, oh and it was about midnight, they called each of their friends and put them on speakerphone. Then they told about how each got injured and how much pot each one had smoked that evening. Finally, I couldn't take their laughter and the repeated story, so I stood up to wander to the R.room and turned to them, said HI, and then told them I was just notified I was having surgery in 20 minutes and was afraid I would die, then I started to cry. They shut up in a hurry and wished me well and said they'd pray for me when they came to wheel me out. I sure ruined their mood! But they DID keep me awake when I was in so much pain so I think it was a fair trade!
 
Top