Hospital fun

The hospital has become a familiar place.  Let’s see in October, we went to the Skeletal Dysplasia clinic where we saw ten specialists in one day.  And that was a great thing; otherwise we would have had ten separate appointments.  Last month we also saw her pulmonologist, her neurologist, her pediatrician, her physical therapist, and a nurse who administered the synagis shot for RSV.  We will need to get the synagis shot once a month until March because the RSV virus (which can cause bad colds for healthy children) has claimed the lives of many I-Cell children. 

So with all this time at the hospital, I start to notice the little details that most people pass over without much thought.   

I can tell I've been in the hospital too often and too long when...

When I start to recognize the faces in all the ad posters. And I've fondly given them all names, occupations, extra curricular activities and political affiliations.

When my body jerks involuntarily from the shock of hearing another language other than Tagolog.

When I start comparing the long terms benefits between Danskos, Nurse Mates and Hush Puppies footwear.

When I can tell the difference between interns and residents by their body manner.

When I step into an elevator and can guess, quite accurately, which floor and department each person will go to based on their facial expressions.

When I know where all the bathrooms are and which ones have the best changing stations. 

When I know the locations of all the hand sanitizing stations on the floors.

And how can I miss them when they are proudly accompanied by these 7 ft posters?

These posters make me quite happy. They are life size! How ridiculously superfluous? The antibacterial department had a high budget this year.  Initially I thought these two were models posing as doctors. But upon closer look, I see that the man, Ryan Knueppel, is a doctor of Infectious Diseases.  That explains his propensity for sanitized hands.  But the woman, Renuka Navaneethanathan, is a “Hand Hygiene Champion” who moonlights in Rehabilitation Services.  And you can tell she is the champion by her display of the straight finger rubbing technique.