Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - New Room, New Anxieties

I was relieved to find out that the ward that Marc was moved to is actually a step down unit after all and there is one nurse per three patients.  They also have an “observer” who sits in the room to monitor each patient and do minor care for them.  They are watched at all times, which is a huge relief. 

He was on D Wing on the 5^th floor, room 26.  Sunnybrook is huge and the walk from the elevator to D Wing seemed to take forever. 

I didn't arrive until around 3:00 that afternoon.  I had appointments I had to keep in the morning so I had called this floor first thing so the nurse would know to remind him that I was going to be late.  The only day I'd been late arriving and it had to be the day he was in a new room. 

Marc was very upset when I got there.  He had a hard time sleeping and seems to be having trouble making sense of the noise.  He thought there were chickens in his room but it was just one of the machines making a weird noise.  I helped him figure out what most of the noises were and that seemed to settle him. 

The rooms at Sunnybrook are really small and cramped.  You can barely fit a chair beside the bed.  I squished myself in there and held his hand while he told me about the dreams he’d been having.  He was still dreaming about the people with the lights coming out of their heads who build statues and he had also dreamed that there was a little girl who needed to be rescued.  When he reached her, she disappeared.  I asked where she had come from and he said, “From the children’s ward.  I’m sure she was real.” 

This visit seemed to be all about calming Marc’s nerves.  The nurse said that she would give him earplugs to sleep tonight if he needed them and would get the doctor to prescribe something to help him sleep. 

Once he was settled and happier, I made my way home, crying most of the way.  Mama said there’d be days like this.