Bed Number Ten 
asked by rob33 on November 19, 2006 6:01 PM
A patient's personal view of long term care.Seen through the eyes of a patient totally paralyzed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, this moving book takes you through the psychological and physical pain of an eleven month hospital stay. BED NUMBER TEN reads like a compelling novel, but is entirely factual.You will meet:The ICU staff who learned to communicate with the paralyzed woman - and those who did not bother.The physicians whose visits left her baffled about her own case.The staff and physicians who spoke to her and others who did not recognize her presence.The nurse who tucked Sue tightly under the covers, unaware that she was soaking with perspiration.The nurse who took the time to feed her drop by drop, as she slowly learned how to swallow again.The physical therapist who could read her eyes and spurred her on to move again as if the battle were his own.In these pages, which reveal the caring, the heroism, and the insensitivity sometimes found in the health care fields, you may even meet people you know.
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I love this book. The writing is wonderful makes you feel as though you are right there going through it with her. I could not put the book down. I have only been a nurse for 5yrs and I honestly hope that I have always treated my pts able to communicate or not with kindness and dignity. I can assure you after reading this I will most certainly be more aware of what I am doing and how I am interacting with my patients. I wish there were a sequal to know how she is doing now. I highly recommend this book. Any healthcare provider who would read this book and come away thinking Sue a whiner is not a healthcare worker I would want anywhere near me. Unfortunately Sue is accurate there are far too few compassionate healthcare providers these days in my opinion. One could hope that if more care providers were to read this book this very sad trend would change. Thank you Sue for a book giving the world the patients perspcetive of a hospital stay. I am forever greatful.
reviewed by miceandmen on November 24, 2006 9:19 AM
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This was one of the best books I have read in a long time. I ordered this book by mail and recieved it on Friday afternoon and started reading it instantly. It is now sunday afternoon and I just finished it. I want so badly to talk to this lady to see how she is today!! To read how uncaring so many people were is so heart breaking to me. There were the few that took the time to be more attentive but everyone should have been that way!! I am a nurse at a Houston hospital and I see nurses and other staff act like that everyday and it breaks my heart because I am a very caring nurse and go above and beyond to help my patients. Every nurse needs to read this book to see how people can be feeling when you treat them that way!! I would recommend this book to everyone I work with and know!!
reviewed by jazzman on November 29, 2006 1:32 AM
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I am an RN and all too often, patients are faced with uncaring caregivers who perceive meeting patient's needs as "too much trouble". If there is a medical person who perceives Sue as a "whiner", I would not want that person to enter my room! The book is a compelling novel, I could not put it down! It included wonderful stories of her travels and family. I wished the book was longer, I hated for it to end. I cried throughout the last portion of the book because it was so touching. The one thing I think it lacks is getting its point across to caregivers. Some caregivers are too uncaring to fully comprehend the torture Sue went through lying there day after day, unable to move or speak, being at the mercy of others. I put it on my list as one of the best books I have ever read!
reviewed by wellness on November 29, 2006 3:09 AM