Tears and Recreation Therapy

Implied in the title "Recreation Therapy" is that there will be an element of fun. I was unable to find anything "fun" about sitting around a table with women in their 70's or older, a very rude recreational therapist and playing a game of Outburst. I'm going to be honest, when speaking about elderly people, I do not recommend using the word "outburst"--ever. Just sayin'. Well, the recreation therapist was making the "buzzer noise" when the elderly ladies would give a wrong answer (i.e. would name a fruit instead of a vegetable). I found this to be extremely inappropriate. And furthermore...personally I did not find it to be therapeutic...and I don't think anyone else did either. (May I also just say that the recreation therapist attempted to do an evaluation with me this morning when I was half comatose with a migraine. I love her intuition.)

As for tears: I have been asking for a while to make a lateral move from one pain medication to another. The two medications are used interchangeably, but one has worked for me in the past, and the other has not. Today, I was in immense pain. I am still struggling with surgery pain and also dealing with stretching out a contracture in my left leg because I was not wearing my boot enough. Needless to say, the pain was a 9/10 and I was on the verge of tears. So, the nurses decided that because I was "very upset" that they should send in the psychiatrist. (This is what I used to have to do when I worked in the hospital..."fix" people who were crying.) The psychiatrist said, "That's all you need?", and promptly wrote the order to switch me from the med I was on to the med I requested.

So the questions I have for today are: Why would you choose a career in recreation therapy if you are not that interested in whether or not other people are having fun? I guess as long as YOU'RE having fun...that's all that matters. And: Why does it take a psych consult to get a pain medication changed, when a simple call to the attending would have had the same result? Because here in the field of medicine, we like to make everything as complicated as humanly possible. Carry on, then...fantastic job.