6:45pm ~ October 6, 2008

An empty hospital room opened up and they've moved Mariah to her own room. Her roommate and her family became increasingly loud and insensitive to the fact Mariah just had surgery and was experiencing intense pain. This roommate (the 16yr old, crazy Yahtzee girl) has been in the hospital for almost two weeks due to Chron's disease, has not had surgery, was feeling great and says she is ready and wants to go home (she may be discharged on Tuesday). They didn't seem to have a lot of compassion for a patient just out of surgery. Mariah was getting very frustrated and the "straw that broke the camel's back" was when the roommate and her mom entered into a very lively game of Yahtzee at a time Mariah was in tears from pain. The noise from the shaking of the dice in the Yahtzee cup and tossing them onto their bedside table was making Mariah so anxious and tensed up it was increasing her pain. We tried a passive-aggressive approach by me loudly saying, "oh, Mariah, sweetie, you are JUST out of surgery, in a lot of pain and in need of peace and quiet. Please close your eyes and try to get some sleep. We will sit here next to you and not talk so you can rest." That did NOT work. The roommate and her mom enthusiastically continued enjoying their game. Now, we are NOT Yahtzee-haters as long as it is not happening in a room with a post-op patient experiencing a lot of pain...especially if that patient is my daughter!

Mariah asked me to speak with her nurse to have her request the game either be moved to the family lounge or ceased. Always being the sweet person she is, Mariah wanted to make sure the nurse didn't tell the roommate she was the one making the request. Thankfully, the nurse let us know there was an empty room available Mariah could be moved to (no guarantee how long she will be the only patient in this room, but for now it's all good).

Typically, Mariah has a very high tolerance to pain; however, since she is experiencing bleeding or swelling under the skin and muscle greater than they expected, AND has a very tight pressure dressing over the area, her pain is much more intense than it normally would have been. That said, she is such an incredibly brave, strong girl and I am SO very proud of her!!