Hospitalisation in the Netherlands
February 13, 2006 at 9:05 AM
by Ashleigh
Ok, these are my thoughts on hospitalisation in Holland. They might make you laugh :)
- I was the youngest person there by about 40 years!! Now I see what the newspapers mean when they say the population is greying quickly in the NL.
- The Dutch give *ALL* your pain relief by suppository! I felt like Kartman in South Park - everything was either coming into or going out of my a$$!
- The wards are co-ed!!! No-one told me! I wasn't going to say a word, being the foreigner and all, but then when I got back from the surgery the nurse said I had been moved because one of the old men didn't want a young woman in his ward! Hehehe, I wonder if he thought I might molest him or something! LOL
- The only painkiller you get is paracetamol (standard Tylenol to you all in the States). This is the standard even if you have had major surgery. You just get given a bigger dose than you would have if you had a headache for example. I think the other reason that they can get by on giving you paracetamol is because over-the-counter medication is not encouraged here so many people don't self-medicate except with homeopathic or naturopathic remedies.
- When I went in the OR I got given the IV by a nurse, prepared for the monitors then I had to get on the operating table myself before they anaesthetised me. This was different to everywhere else I've had surgery. I asked and the anaesthetist said that it was so that you could align your spine and neck properly to avoid getting a sore neck later on after surgery. They were really careful about making sure that I was perfectly comfortable before anaesthetising me. Oh, and no 400 pound people in this hospital! I barely fitted on the operating table - another 20 kilos and I wouldn't have fitted! Good thing I lost all that weight huh? ;)
- The world of hospitals in the NL is an infinitely nicer place if one speaks Dutch. Although, in the middle of the night when I was asking for my drip to be moved to a 'walking stand' so I could go to the toilet and words failed me and I lapsed into English, this lovely young nurse, who looked like she was about 21, said to me very conspiratorially (when I told her I found it hard to speak Dutch when I was sick), 'that's ok, it's the middle of the night and I speak only English in the middle of the night'.
Sweet huh?
Hehehehe.
Comments
Good to hear you had a reasonably relaxing and comfortable experience.
I think what that old geezer was trying to say was:
"come sit on my lap, my dear, and we'll talk about the first thing that pops up"... ?
I guess it may had to have been a reasonably long conversation if he was long in the tooth, though?
Glad you are home, and what an experience to tell your grandchildren..:) You know it makes me quite thankful for the British NHS, but only fleetingly..lol
*hugs*
That is hilarious ~ thanks for the morning chuckle. Makes me glad they give more for pain here in the states! eek.
I'm a spoiled grrrl. I couldn't imagine sharing a hospital room with anyone, male or female.
Glad the liver survived the massive doses of Tylenol....
Oh Ash, your hospital recant had me in fits - brought back all my memories from last year! Glad to hear you had the laporoscopic surgery - I had it last May, and it was relatively painless to get over it. Woohoo, it's all over for you :)) Glad it all went well :)))
Sounds like you had an experience and a half. A story to relay to your family over and over and over........ Get well soon. Anne L
February 13, 2006 10:36 AM