On April 25th I was unfortunate enough to find myself on the
receiving end of Campylobacter food poisoning.
On the 29th I was admitted to the hospital dehydrated and six pounds
lighter. Because they did not know yet
if what I had was contagious, I was put in isolation on the Oncology floor of
St. Peter's Hospital. First, let me say
that the care was wonderful and every single nurse, doctor, aide and worker
that entered my room was attentive, friendly, and knowledgeable. They even
asked what was the one thing that was important to me. I wanted to know that the call bell would be
answered promptly and it WAS every single time.
Once they knew what was causing my distress, a course of
antibiotics was prescribed and I was sent home two days later to finish
recuperating at home. I received a call from the nurses to check on my progress and finally after two
weeks I think I have turned the corner to normalcy.
Fast Forward to May 16th
and the mail delivery. In the mailbox
was a card with a return address from St. Peters. "How nice I thought" and quickly
opened the card. The cover read,
"In Deepest Sympathy." On the inside," Our thoughts and prayers
are with you at this most difficult time," and it was signed from the
Nurses on the Oncology Floor of St. Peters.
After doing a quick once over to convince myself that I did make it
through this ordeal and with good humor,
I called to speak to the nurse in charge. They answered promptly once again and I
identified myself as a former patient who was still alive and kicking but
wondering why I had been sent a sympathy card.
The response was , "OH NO not you too! I just got off the phone
with someone else. We always send cards
to patients who are discharged. My secretary was out sick and a volunteer sent
the wrong card to everyone who was
discharged." After many sincere
apologies, I was told that I was going to receive something the next day.
Saturday: I pulled
into my driveway to see a delivery person with a beautiful fruit basket. I tipped the young man and lugged the massive
basket into the house. Attached was a
card that read, "Sorry We Sent You The Wrong Card, Hope Your Feeling
Better And On The Road To Recovery" From Avril and the Entire Staff at St.
Peter's University Hospital. (Spelling error compliments of the Flower store-sorry
the teacher in me). Again, I thought,"
How nice!"
Then I looked at the name and address. I am assuming that someone else in Monroe
Township is holding a sympathy card sent for getting well AND a beautiful fruit
basket with my name and address, because this one had someone else's name and address.
NOW I called the Flower Store and spoke with someone there. I as quickly as I could recounted the entire
sympathy card incident and told him that I believed some other nice, perhaps
elderly person (the address was for one of our adult communities) was probably
wondering why he/she was in possession of a fruit basket with my name on it.
After, he stopped laughing, the person on the other end, said, "Boy this
just doesn't end for you does it?" He did a quick search and confirmed
that, yes indeed we both got the same basket and apology note. He apologized and thanked me for my good
humor and promised to call the other person whose name also started with a V like
mine.
And so here I sit, alive and well with a story to tell! Ya can't make this stuff up!
