Cries in the night

I'm using a nursery monitor until I have some sort of other usable call light. That means that each night I have had to talk loudly to request what I want, and hope that an aide or nurse on the receiving end heard me. Many times, no one came. I wondered if the portable unit of the nursery monitor was too far away for anyone to hear me.

This morning I woke at 2 AM and my right leg was aching in its leg splint. I knew the splints needed to come off. So I requested they be removed in the nursery monitor. I waited a while and nobody came. I repeated it again into the nursery monitor, and again, nobody came. My leg was relentless and hurting, and I didn't know quite what to do. It's one thing to have a call light and be able to put it on. It's another thing not to have one at all.

The fear rose in my throat. I didn't think I could settle down and get back to sleep. I kept yelling nurse and saying my brace was hurting. It seemed like I yelled for over an hour. It may have been a shorter period of time but it did not seem like it.

Then, two aides entered my room seeming to be out of breath. They told me they heard me yelling on the monitor at the nurses station – and ran all the way. They thought I fell out of bed. I told them there is virtually no way that could happen.

I asked them to remove the leg splints, and they did. Then I got a drink of water. I was so glad to see somebody that I forgot to have them push my earplugs in further.

They looked a bit worried and said they would be back to check on me at 4:30 a.m. I told them maybe they might need to check on me every hour if they are unable to hear and answer the nursery monitor.

This morning – the first in a week – they came in around 4:30 a.m. to check on me. They put new pads on my bed and straightened things up and covered me backup.

I cannot adequately explain how frightening it is to wake in the middle of the night and have no way to communicate. I'm in the very last room on the end of the hall.

Hearing me anytime OTHER THAN the middle of the night, would be quite difficult.