privacy and modesty

one of the things you have to surrender when entering hospital is some of your privacy + modesty (p+m). you are constantly being examined and scanned and a lot of that happens when you are in a flimsy gown, that only has two ties on the back, gapes and is generally incredibly unflattering!
i always remember a friend of mine telling me about her experience after a c-section (though i believe in childbirth you have to really give up your p+m), she had got so used to the drs and nurses wanting to see the scar, that when a friend was asking about it, she didn't hesitate to whip back the sheet and her gown to show her. it was only the look on her friends face that made my friend realise that a friend didn't need or indeed want to see that!!
having said that, i have to admit that the staff here have been lovely and most helpful in helping me maintain a degree of p+m, even when i was in the backless gown, struggling to breath and being transferred from trolley to machine and back again.
there is a moment in your treatment when you realise that this is it, your p+m are gone. for me this was at 5.30am, when there were 3 (male) paramedics in our living room, i was in my dressing gown, struggling to breath and they wanted to do an ecg. one of them attached the pads on ankles and wrists and then looked at me with the remaining pads, asked me if i had had one before. i nodded. so you know where these go. i nodded. he looked at me as if to say 'you ok with that?' i nodded. he very gently undid my dressing gown, fortunately i had kept my bra on overnight as it helped with my breathing, i think he was quite relieved. but for this particular bout of ill-health, that was the moment when i realised my p+m were being left behind.
perhaps the most fortunate thing about losing your p+m in these circumstances is that you are usually desperate for someone to help you and too ill to care!