Hospital

If you've ever had a family member in the hospital, you know that keeping everyone informed about the patient's progress can be as exhausting as the nights spent in the waiting room. We rely on everything from phone trees to mass emails to get updates or find out where to send flowers, but I just discovered a website called CaringBridge that makes this very difficult task easier.

Sort of like Facebook for tough times, the free service lets you easily create a website to share updates on a loved one's illness, surgery, hospital stay, and progress. When a friend of mine was recently hospitalized, her family set up a page on CaringBridge, and I've been really impressed by how extensive it is. To find out how it works, read more

Here's a heartwarming story to put you in a good mood before the weekend. The Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation and Nintendo have teamed up to put Fun Centers featuring Wii gaming consoles in about 500 hospitals across the US and Canada by the end of the year, with 750 more to come later this year.

Fun Centers will not only come with a Wii and games like Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Sports and Mario Party 8, but will also feature a Sharp AQUOS flat screen TV and a DVD player. The Centers have been created to offer children an entertaining respite during difficult hospital stays. "We hope the new Fun Centers will give kids and their loved ones an opportunity to play, laugh and connect with each other amid trying circumstances," said Don James, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Operations.

Hip hip hooray for Fun Centers!

I think it is hard to find anyone who has positive feelings about hospitals. For me, the only good thing to come out of them are babies, but I know so many women (including nurses) who opt to have their babies at home just so they don’t have to go to the hospital. Many people associate bad memories — too many ER visit for stitches as a kid, visiting a sick loved one — with hospitals or just feel that the institutions are germ factories. I just went to visit a friend and her oh-so-cute newborn and walking the halls, winding my way to the birthing center, made me realize how much I dislike hospitals.

So I was wondering, how do you feel about hospitals? Do they make you nervous? Have you ever had a bad experience there that made you never want to go back? Tell me in the comment section below.

Source

Don't be surprised to see people chatting on their cell phones the next time you visit a hospital. According to Techdirt, a recent study found benefit in allowing mobile phone usage in hospitals, including improved communication among staff and lower error rates. Another study de-bunked the universal myth that cell phones interfere with medical equipment. Some hospitals are even going as far as installing local antennas to lower the likelihood of interference so that patients, docs, and visitors can happily chat away.

Keep in mind that not all hospitals have jumped on-board with this, as they are waiting for further evidence.

Image Source

We were shocked to read Owen Wilson was hospitalized today due to dehydration which is usually a good cover for many other things in Hollywood. Apparently he was in very serious condition but has since been stabilized and switched to a more comfortable hospital. We were holding out for more sources than the NE and Star but they were the first to say Nicole was pregnant so they are not always off. TMZ has confirmed that Owen has been hospitalized so now we just have to wait and see. Hopefully he is getting the rest and fluids he needs.

UPDATE: The hospital news was shocking enough but now the latest word is that this may have been a suicide attempt. The sad story is still developing but the bottom line is we hope Owen is getting better and we're not going to try to jump to any conclusions until an official statement is released.

Dear Sugar--

I was dating this guy about 4 years ago. We got really close and he ended up confiding in me things he never told anyone. He's severely bi-polar and has a history of depression, so he was self-medicating himself with alcohol, and was a heroin addict. At the time we were going out, he was sober about a year and going to daily AA meetings. Our different lifestyles and his drastic mood swings were too much for me to handle so we broke up. Since then, when we see each other at our yoga studio (which is about once a week), we say "hi," but that's about it.

Recently, out of the blue, I received an email from him saying that he had decided to go for treatment in a hospital for his bi-polar disorder. I was happy to hear that, but he said he needed someone to take him to the hospital for the 3 hour treatments, 3 times a week, for 6 weeks (he is going to be put out for shock treatment so he can't drive). He knows my schedule is somewhat flexible, and was basically begging for me to help bring him once a week, since he has hardly any friends who know about this, and his family is out of the picture.

I really don't want to get involved (because of all the reasons we broke up in the first place), and I really can't take off work once a week, but I feel so bad, knowing he has no one to help. What should I do?

--Want-to-Help Heather

To hear DEARSUGAR's answer, read more

There is nothing funny about being ill, but then again, we never get to see what the docs write down in those top secret hospital charts. Now there's some sick humor:

• She has no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she was very hot in bed last night.
• The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.
• She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life, until she got a divorce.
• I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical therapy.
• Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.
• The pelvic exam will be done later on the floor.
• The patient was to have a bowel resection. However, he took a job as a stock broker instead.
• Patient was seen in consultation by Dr. Blank, who felt we should sit on the abdomen and I agree.
• Discharge status: Alive but without my permission.
• The patient refused autopsy.
• The patient has no previous history of suicides.
• Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.

Source and Cartoon Source

I guess this is what they mean by "in sickness and in health"...but if you ask me, they're all sick.

Source