Can we talk?

I suspect that this series of blog articles will show up my ignorance and naivete as much as anything.  I just haven't had a lot of experience being in a hospital. A lot of what many of us "know" about hospitals is stereotype or script from TV and movies.  Not  a lot of people want to go through the whole inpatient process just to find out what it is like.

My latest hospitalization left me with the impression that these communication problems increase exactly when better communication is so needed.  This communications problem begins on the way to the Emergency Department (or ER) and continues even through a carefully planned discharge.

In my case, the drop in communication took a quick, drastic dive when the physician in charge decided (in consultation with my wife) that an intact airway for breathing was more important than a vocal cord system.  In a matter of milliseconds I went from a communicating, relatively equal partner in running this body of mine to a second-class silent partner now only peripherally involved with keeping my body alive while everyone else decides whether the task is worth the effort.

By the simple, quick procedure of allowing the doctor to punch a 1/2" hole in the front of my neck I lost the means to communicate with doctor, nurse, caregiver, children.  Judging from the reaction of those around me I also lost 50% of my IQ as whatever words I did manage to smuggle out were heavily discounted by outside visitors.  Now the expert on my body was my doctor, not the one who has lived in and (mis-) treated it for 68 years.  The expert on our family relationships took a sharp jump to my wife and my children leaving me in unfamiliar territory.  Even if someone insisted on hearing my side or my suggestions, the time delay reduced the value.  The topic I'm responding to is no longer current.  I open my mouth to contribute to a discussion but find it meaningless.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Of course the effect lasts long past the decision point.  All of our family, friends, and business associates feel the difference. I fill up pads and pads of paper to continue to contribute in discussions finally stopping after I realize that many cannot understand my scribbling any better than my whispered mumbling.