Don't be afraid to ask the question....

My daughter had surgery last Thursday. It involved her pituitary gland, so it had to be done by a neurosurgeon. After spending 2 1/2 days in the Neuro Critical Care unit, she was moved to a room in a regular unit. I had gone home for a break and wasn't around when she was actually moved to her new room. This particular hospital has very few private rooms so we were expecting she'd be sharing her recovery space.

When I got back to the hospital, I found her in a semi private room all right. But she was on the hallway side which meant all the staff and visitors for her roommate would have to go pass her... not very conducive to recovery and rest. (As if that is the purpose of a hospital stay anyway) On my way to her room, I noticed several empty rooms. After seeing her cramped quarters (We couldn't even get to the shared closet space to put her things away. The other patient's family had commandeered all the visitor chairs as well.), I decided that it wouldn't hurt to ask if she could be moved to one of the empty rooms and put on the window side.

After finding the charge nurse, I asked the question; emphasizing that my daughter had just come from the NCC unit and basically hadn't slept in several days. After a brief hesitation, the nurse says "I can move her." I barely had time to go back to my daughter's room when staff came in to move her. I'm thinking "Wow, that was fast." The staff is organizing all her equipment, IV stand, etc while I gather up her personal belongings. One of them says to me: "We're moving her to 309. Is that OK?" Again, I'm thinking "309, 316, 126 - it makes no difference as long as she's on the window side" . I head down the hall to 309.

Blogger's Note: You have to know this daughter is Kelly...our family medical anomaly. Her past medical experiences have been anything but "normal" or easy. I won't go into details.

Back to the story: I opened the door to room 309 and my jaw literally dropped. Remember, nothing good has ever really happened to Kelly when it has come to medical related issues.
Kelly would be getting a window in room 309. But she also got a room that was bigger than some hotel rooms. It had hardwood floor (maybe fake - but definitely not linoleum), a large couch, leather recliner, several other chairs, a coffee table, side table with lamp, media cabinet with TV and DVD player, marble (probably fake as well - who cares?) counter on the sink, private bathroom and oh, the huge window had plantation shutters on it. After Kelly gets settled in her new "digs", the charge nurse comes in to see "if everything is OK". My private reaction was "Mmm...is this room available in pink? How about a microwave, turn down service and mints on her pillow?? Really, guys, you can do better than this!"

It turns out Kelly scored a VIP room. Apparently, the only VIP room in the hospital like it.

Just goes to show, it doesn't hurt to ask. You never know what you'll get for an answer. It also proves that there is God up above who believes that just once in awhile a lowly mortal deserves a break.