So, as you’ll know from T’s post, I’m currently in hospital. This is something I wanted to avoid for a number of reasons (probably good and bad!), but it was apparent with a temperature above 40 degrees that something drastic was needed. I was going downhill and fast.
As ever, T took care of all the preparation – arranging doctor’s visit, getting everything negotiated and reassuring me that I’ll not be in forever. I’m not lying when I say I couldn’t have made it myself. Just kneeling for 5 minutes to trim my beard (so I can drink from a bottle without spillage) totally took it out of me and I had to crawl back to bed.
Time came round to go to ward C4, and got here eventually via a wheelchair (accepting more help!) and being admitted to a smaller bay (4 beds) with a lovely view. Got checked over pretty quickly, and while my temperature was lower, it was still too high, and I was still in discomfort, despite having more oromorph than I have had before (although it’s still quite a low dose from all the reactions I’ve had from staff!).
This ward is by far the best I’ve been in for any length of time. Bournemouth is not nice, and Southampton literally has trauma attached to it (I actually refused to be taken there, even though it wasn’t on the cards!). So that was a bonus.
Pretty quickly I had a chat with a consultant who gave two options – blockage or infection. Neither is good (it’s not going to be at this point in my situation), but a CT scan was booked (and done very quickly!) to see what was going on.
There’s no blockage, but some signs of inflammation from infection, so a more specific Antibiotic combo was prescribed to try to get things under control.
The joy of the ward was short lived. A guy in the next bay is a genuine contender for the loudest, least considerate person I’ve met – not only in hospital, but overall. He spent the entire evening phoning people to tell the story of his accident in ever-growing and excruciating detail at maximum volume. This was in the evening when people are trying to wind down and sleep. I’ve taken to taking my pills at 8 so that I can get a good few hours in, but this was a forlorn hope. He was on the phone until 10pm and told to stop. And then just started again. I was feeling pretty crabby and short temperered and just said “turn the phone off” loud enough to be heard, but nothing doing. Despite the guy’s bike accident, he’d kill me in a picosecond and I wasn’t feeling like that today was the day to check out like that. Plus I’m scared of anyone who still has a nokia phone and has the ring tone at max volume – I’m talking “Mr Whippy” levels of distortion.
Eventually the phone calls stopped at 10:47 after a stern talking to by the nurse in charge. And some semblance of calm was restored. You never get a good night’s sleep in a ward – obs every 2 hours mean you’re woken up even if you have been sleeping and negotiation was needed for lorazepam to be available as long as I could tell the nurse when I took it (01:59 for the record). Drowsed through the night but needed to have a failed canula changed to my left arm, and then it got bent so needed to be reset around 3am, but it’s been OK since then.
Most importantly my temperature remained stable all night (in a good range), and no shivers or other nasty stuff. The IV antibiotics seemed to be doing their work, and despite having some oromorph again this morning, I can tell that the underlying feelings are better.
Noise Generator resumed at 07:13.
Managed to shower (which was difficult as the oropmorph makes me wobbly as hell), which was an achievement, but zero energy in the tank so I needed to sit down for a bit a couple of times. (again…. accepting help, even if it’s from an old gits shower chair).
Had a brief period of calm where the other three in this bay bonded as the noise generator was busy in the shower. One guy made a phone call and I asked him to keep it down which fortunately he got the joke (he wasn’t loud at all!).
Then NG reappeared with what I’m guessing is family. And 2 kids with ipads playing competing whatever trash at full volume. I can’t imagine the mental stress of living like this all the time – it would drive everyone crazy with no-one realising why (given the level of self-awareness on display so far). They were here for what seemed like hours. Could have been 30 seconds. (It wasn’t!).
T has been here all day, and Paul visited which I would absolutely have vetoed yesterday but really felt better for – we had a really good chat about the right things without going into the wrong things or any areas which are too much at the moment. This is what I need at the moment – I know what’s happening and that there’s no stopping it. I don’t need to be reminded of the grim reality that has been forced on me, and when I’ve got zero energy or resources it feels much much worse.
The guy from bay 12 managed to negotiate an early release meaning he could escape. I said I was going to nobble his test results so he’d stay and not be replaced by someone potentially much worse.
I’ve started making some preparation for the new lighting wall plans, and also for selling my tech stuff off directly to my MTT audience as I think it’s the best way to go as they will know me and that I can be trusted, but also that packing and delivery are not an option and why. Don’t know if it’ll work but I’ll have to see.
We had several hours of respite from the noisy resident as him and his family went out for the afternoon. The silence was an absolute joy. He came back feeling terrible, with sunburn, and it hurts when he wees. And instead of calling the nurses…. he calls several friends. Didn’t mention it to the nurses until they ask. But apparently he ‘likes’ sunburn. And not being able to breathe properly. And having high blood pressure. And shaking.
Each to their own.
I’ve eaten decent meals today (and I know that bland food is not good – sounds picky but dinner wasn’t finished, but I’d rather eat some and feel OK than eat the lot and feel worse).
I’m off IV drip now (as I’m rehydrated OK) so concentrating on drinking water and staying good. Taking the pills when they say, and having the injections when needed. I have an evening IV of the good antibiotics to go (which only takes about 15 minutes), and hopefully I’ll be discharged tomorrow morning (with a supply of these ones as they seem to be working as I’ve had only paracetamol since this morning, no oromorph), and then can concentrate on getting energy levels back up to the ‘new normal’.
Don’t get me wrong, I know the graph is ultimately only going in one direction, but today I feel like there’s some fight in me, and that was definitely not the case 36 hours ago. Hopefully I’ll have a stable night temperature wise (it’s a bit hot up here) and it’ll give me a base to build on.
The staff have been mega – friendly, super-on-it and professional throughout. I know it’s impossible for them to contain people like the patient next door – it would just mean ejecting them as they seem unable to realise how much their behaviour damages those around them, and obviously you can’t just refuse treatment. But I’m still staggered that despite being here for over 24 hours they haven’t run out of things to say. I mean…. they have on an objective level, but it’s just non-stop verbiage that everyone else has to listen to. The guy opposite me does a great line in eye rolls and looks of relief when silence does turn up, but you can see how frustrated and annoyed he is – and he arrived after last night’s phone calls!
There’s no way I could have written this 24 hours ago. Take that as you want!
