I’m home again after over 3 months of hospitalization (extra credit for being “aggressively” resuscitated after a full code) and rehab nursing facilities. A routine procedure to control arrhythmia ran amok. The first rehab ignored my difficulty breathing and had I not insisted on returning to the hospital, according to the surgeon who then removed two quarts of clots from my thorax, I would have died again, permanently. I was in the final rehab for two months. The food was either over or undercooked, with ever-smaller portions. Here’s what the ubiquitous dinner roll devolved into. No, I am not Hagrid. White flour’s a nono for me, so I threw them outside for the birds. On the plus side, I lost over 35#.
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Welcome back!
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What a harrowing experience! Wishing you continued good health and good food.
Welcome back. Wishing you all the best with your recovery.
Welcome back/home!! Harrowing indeed. TG you are an excellent advocate for yourself! I once had to call 911 to get my mother out of a rehab place and back to the hospital and my only regret is not doing it sooner.
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Welcome back, @greygarious! What you have endured these past months is a lot. Thrilled to hear that you are home again.
It’s so very good to have you back here with us, too.
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So happy for you that you’re home, @greygarious - and happy for us that you’re here, too!
As for that dinner roll, which is rather minuscule, well … I’m glad the birds had a tasty snack. 
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Oh my, so glad you’re ok!
So happy for you (and us) and proud of your self advocacy, Your letter is a close-to-home warning for us all. Today as never before ONE HAS TO BE ONE’S ADVOCATE for medical care, both on receiving and refusing medical care and procedures.
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Well that’s a horrible experience! I’m glad that you survived it, and are back posting with us!
Boy the roll looks awful, and the rest of the food sounds equally terrible! Here’s to better eating at home!
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Oh, it was! These three bites of cantaloupe were purportedly a half cup.
But to their credit, they always accompanied the yogurt container with packets of pepper, and non-dairy creamer…blech!
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Oh, that’s sad to look at (and try to eat)! I hope they were at least ripe!
Thanks for the news, great to know you are doing fine.
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While I have niggles over many services at our medical center, the menu and quality of patient food is not one. In fact, it is surprisingly decent. Patients without dietary restrictions can call the kitchen and order from a comprehensive menu. Fresh green stuffs, “burgers”, Asian stir fries, dim sum, American favorites (pastas, chilis, et al), salads, sweets…
I’m a bit of a food snob and I’ve been totally impressed with what come to my room within 15 minutes of my orders. Not Paris bistro caliber but absolutely identifiable and nourishing.
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The food was awful, but at least the portions were small sounds like the kindest thing that could be said. Ouch.
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Heavens to Betsy,the hospital meals have apparently gotten abysmal since my 10 day stay in 2012. You poor dear. Door dash would have certainly had more options than that. Ugh. Finding delicious, if not palatable food in hospitals appears to be like finding a needle in a haystack. Simple, delicious food is not rocket science fresh ingredients are not impossible to obtain. Hospitals for the most part have just gotten plain lazy, IMHO. (And they are NOT they only ones.)
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My husband, who spends way too much time in the hospital as a physician, always recommends his patients order a grilled cheese sandwich. It’s one thing every hospital seems to handle ok.
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Welcome to the Hungry Onion! Yes, it’s really shocking to me what they are serving these days. I think it’s the bean counters cutting every conceivable cost they can. Open a can, heat it and serve it.
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Not at Bear Hill/Hell Rehabilitation Nursing Home. Early in my 2-month stay, I had yet to figure out what to order from a menu that offered two choices of lunch and dinner for the week starting 14 days later. I learned the hard way that a two-cheese sandwich was two slices of fake American cheese between two cold slices of cheap white bread.
I figured that the ham and cheese wouldn’t have rye bread, but it didn’t occur to me that the plastic cheese would again appear, rather than Swiss.
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I wish that was true. I was unfortunate to spend some time in the hospital this past Sept\Oct. Seems like they prepared the food off-site, then trucked it to the hospital to sit in war,ing trays until meal time. It was truly the worst food I can recall. One evening even the nurse asked what was supposed to be on my plate. (If I recall, it was allegedly turkey, but it could have just as easily been pork or really any protein)
Even that was awful . . . soggy bread with fake cheese. I quickly learned to order only things that didn’t require cooking\heat. Fortunately they had a lot of choices for each meal and the rolls we’re ok and a decent size.
More fortunately I had two sisters and their husbands and no dietary restrictions. Sandwiches from the local deli and milk shakes from two local dairies were brought in regularly and saw me through.
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