Ollie, My Second Roommate

My first hospital roommate was a pleasant man named Mr. Cache (pronounced Cash). Mr. Cache was a quiet guy who very much enjoyed Spanish television. He particularly enjoyed a Spanish version of the Jerry Springer Show which must have aired 4 to 5 times a day. Needless to say, it drove me a little nuts, but I was able to tolerate it. So when Mr. Cache was discharged from the hospital, I was somewhat thankful for the peace & quiet with the lack of Spanish TV playing most of the day & night.

The peace & quiet was soon shattered with the addition of my new roommate Ollie. Ollie was a bed bound man who was in the hospital after neglecting a condition for years (as I understand it) which left his entire digestive system in peril. Essentially when he was moved in with me, his stomach & intestines were being held in place by a plastic cover over his belly area. He was a fairly slovenly fellow, uncooperative with the nursing staff, and boisterous. Bottom line, I had no peace & quiet for the rest of my stay.

There are many things that I could tell you about Ollie, many of which are somewhat outlandish. One thing I will say is that once he became my roommate, I felt as if I had received a foster child to raise. Ollie could not figure out how to summons a nurse using the call button. He instead preferred to bellow "NURSE" multiple times to deaf ears outside our closed door. When that didn't work, he would start calling "DOCTOR" as if moving up in the hospital pecking order would help answer his request. Alas, still no response! So, I would oblige by using my call button to get the desired response. I also decided to undertake educating Ollie on how to use the call button. This took a number of days to work out with him, but I had the time on my hands so in a sense, it gave me something to do.

It would seem that Ollie suffered a similar lack of understanding regarding the use of the hospital supplied telephone. More lessons ensued from me and many on the hospital staff. I think he finally gets it though.

Ollie was scheduled to go to another surgery on Tuesday, the day before I was to check out of the hospital. On Monday night he signed all the required papers and agreed to the surgery. Somehow, over night he had a change of heart, citing a dream he had, the need to do some legal work, and wanting to just go home as reasons for changing his decision. The bottom line, there wasn't going to be a surgery to repair Ollie's digestive system unless he agreed to it again. His doctor tried to convince him that if he left the hospital in his current condition, he would be dead before the end of the week. The social worker tried to convince him also while offering to help him with his legal needs. His family tried to convince him by trying to reason with him which basically ended up in a fairly loud argument. I tried to convince him by appealing to him with regards to surviving for the sake of his family. Ollie was firm on his answer.

While all the family arguing was going on, I had the luck of receiving 2 visitors (TC & Ski), friends & colleagues from the men's soccer team I play on. We decided to leave the room and get out of the melee that was going on. When we returned to the room, we found that everyone had vacated the premises, Ollie's bed was gone, and more importantly, Ollie was gone too. I later found out that he had finally agreed to surgery and was on his way to get it done. Thank goodness!

Ollie returned to the room later that day, with a new set of skin covering his belly area. He seemed a little bit more mellow (probably due to the anesthesia and drugs). He still was very demanding of the hospital staff, but at least he seemed to remember how to use the call button. By the following morning (the day of my check out) he was able to use the telephone again to call family & friends. Ollie credited me with helping him to change his mind and go ahead with surgery. I'm not sure I fully believe that, but at least I was successful in teaching him how to use the call button and telephone. I'm sure his next roommate will appreciate that!

I wish Ollie the best. I think he still has a long road to recovery from his ailments. He certainly has provided me another character and memory in this cancer adventure!