Shady Nook Care Center

I am/was a resident of this facility

I was transported to Shady Nook on Christmas Eve from Dearborn County Hospital, where I had surgery for colo-rectal cancer. The cancer was stage 3, not 1 or 2 as expected, and I had had more problems as a result.All the rooms are singles, and I was located at the end of the hall, where only the staff passed going to and from the nurse's station. I shared a restroom with a resident who used a bed pan, but since I have an ostomy and had a catheter I didn't use it much either.Being one of the younger residents, I wasn't on the same clock as many of the residents. The nurses would forget this and kept trying to send me to bed between 9 and 10, but they did get used to it. I wouldn't go to bed until after Leno's monologue, and the hall was usually very quiet.Since I was there for rehab, I didn't require much attention from the staff. They brought me my pills, meals, and snacks, and also changed my colostomy bag. After a couple of weeks I pretty much took over emptying the catheter bag, boy was I happy when that came out. The kitchen staff was very nice about changing my meals to suit me. I just wish that I had spoken up sooner, but I hate being a bother and I think that I was still not quite with it when I was asked about such things upon check-in. I was brought in on a gurney on Christmas Eve, I wasn't prepared to argue about anything.I started off in a wheel chair, physical therapy moved me to a walker, then a cane, and then I was approved to move about on my own. In my room I always walked on my own.The staff was very good to me. I believe that they liked having a resident who had his own teeth and could hear them. There were times that they didn't respond to the call button, but I could tell that they were having an emergency of some kind in another room, and what I needed was minor. If it hadn't been me I believe that someone would have checked, but like I said, I was there for rehab and wasn't likely to be an emergency.While I wish I hadn't been there (I wish I hadn't had cancer) It was overall a very pleasant experience. The only negative was I hadn't expected to go there and hadn't emptied my pockets, and laundry just threw my jacket and jeans in to wash, destroying my cel phone. I also didn't get back a USB memory stick that I was in my pants pocket. I just hope it was destroyed because I had transcripts and my resume on it.