[personal/writing/whatever] Christmas + Meme
Officially finished my shopping at about 0130 this morning. Yay 24 hour Wal-Mart....(because shopping during the day is downright insane now).
Potluck at work tomorrow!!! It's going to be WAAAY better than eating hospital turkey on Thanksgiving. I'm telling you, working as an RN on my floor has taught me alot, including be VERY thankful you don't ( Read more... )
Ill Yuki Hates the Hospital (and Rashy Kids):
Seiichi doesn’t want to be in the hospital the second time. He didn’t want to be there the first time, but he’s supposed to be better now and instead he’s sick and he pukes up his pain medicine before it can do anything and the doctor says, “We should admit him” when his mom takes him to the ER.
He hates the ER and the hospital and he wants to bury his hands inside his sweatshirt sleeves when he sees the nurse coming back with an IV kit her hand. She blows the first IV and has to try a second time. Seiichi pukes again, but misses the emesis basin and hits his lap instead. The nurse says, Sorry, we don’t keep pajamas in the ER, just exam gowns. Then she tells him they need a urine sample and the lab needs to get blood cultures, which means two pokes, and oh, by the way, does he want a sticker?
Seiichi is too miserable to say no.
They stick him in a double room with a little kid with about six or seven different family members having some kind of party. The nurse pulls the privacy curtain, but it doesn’t block out the sounds of cartoons and the kid’s shrieks and the adults jabbering about how Taro-chan’s rash is really improving! Or at least, they jabber for awhile. Then they start telling each to be quiet, the kid in the other bed must be really sick.
The IV pump beeps and blares. The medication makes Seiichi feel woozy and the nurse tells him not to get up by himself. Every time he wants to use the restroom, he has to walk past blotchy, itchy Taro-chan and his noisy family. The nurse puts collection hats in the toilet. The soap stinks like hospital and the slippers they give him are cheap and dammit, he wants his own slippers and pajamas and he wants to flush his pee like a normal person!
They bring food, but he’s not hungry. His mom tries to force feed him and he ends up with chicken broth on the sheets and disgusting vanilla supplement backed up his nose before she’s satisfied that at least they’ve tried. The nurse tells him they’re out of ginger ale when he asks. Taro-chan’s family brings him McDonalds and the room stinks like deep fryer oil and soy sauce and Seiichi grabs for his puke basin. The nurse says no more medication for three hours, unless you want the suppository. Seiichi thinks hell no and Taro-chan chows down on his cheeseburger.
When night-time comes, Seiichi attempts to sleep. The bed is uncomfortable. The sheets are scratchy. The covers are tucked in at the bottom and Seiichi hates that but he doesn’t feel up to yanking them free and his mom has already left, so he can’t ask her to fix them. He forgot to ask for hospital pajamas and his dumb ER gown bunches up and his legs feel too bare even under all the covers. Taro-chan snuffles in his sleep and Seiichi can still smell the cream the nurse slathered on the little kid’s rash. He’s finally, finally, finally drifting off into a hazy, half-awake sleep when the nurse’s aide comes and wakes him up to get vital signs. She uses the arm with the IV in it for his blood pressure and the pump starts to beep and then she turns on the light because she can’t find the thermometer. By this point, Seiichi is so frustrated and miserable and fed up that all he can think is I. Want. To. Go. Home and DO NOT CRY.
And then the night nurse comes into the room. She fixes the IV pump and after that she says, “You look really uncomfortable.”
She brings pajamas and another blanket and a cup of soda, because even if they’re out of ginger ale, they still have Sprite. She untucks the sheets from the end of the bed and asks if he needs any medicine. When Seiichi says no, she turns off all the lights on his side of the room and leaves. Taro-chan has stopped snuffling. The IV pump is silent. He can’t smell any disgusting salve or McDonalds fries anymore, just hand-soap still clinging to his own fingers, and that’s not so bad.
He’s still not allowed to flush his pee though.
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I was relieved when the night nurse came :(. When you're feeling uncomfortable, a change of the person in charge can be a relief!
And forcing him to eat. Poor him. AND HAVING TO GO TO THE TOILET uuuuughhhh :SSS. I tried to avoid it as much as possible and I felt really bad every time I had to x_x. I ended up not even wanting to eat at all just so I wouldn't have to go to the toilet afterwards :(.
Your writing is beautiful as always and I love you and thank you so much for this .__.; *hugs you* I'm sorry for not having been able to reply right away, I was too braindead for reading on the computer! I feel so bad for him. And also, every time I read stuff like this, I think that for all that I believe Konomi's a merchandising genius of sorts, he (and countless other writers, mangaka and scriptwriters) really plays with things that he... shouldn't. :(. Making something like this a device for sympathy is kind of cruel.
I think you're very brave for doing that for a living, you know? I could never be a nurse. You're admirable.
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I've gotten pretty accustomed to the whole toileting issue, but I know most people hate it. I swear, the hospital is probably one of the most embarrassing, vulnerable places ever - even if the nurses are all "oh, don't mind, I do this all the time."
This piece has tonnnns of run-on sentences, so I'm glad you still enjoyed it. : ) And no worries about a late reply - you were on vacation with the fam!
I think Konomi's biggest mistake with Yuki was not doing a little background research. It leaves things too open-ended. That and his poor character ends up with so many issues.
Aww, thanks. To be completely honest, there are some days when I really wish I would have done something else, but there are some really wonderful things about being a nurse too. Particularly the hilarious stuff that happens and when you get a thank-you from somebody.
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