Tales from a hospital bed 2

I’m feeling a bit rubbish today. For the first hour or so I was nauseous, dazed, dizzy and tired. Anti- sickness meds were consumed immediately – I can have pretty much anti-everything drugs it appears. Though the unnatural balance achieved can’t be ideal, it is better than puking with a stent and trachi in place. This unnatural balancing also extends to my bowels – the usual (non) reaction to anaesthetic – tho it hasn’t worked for a couple of days now. Probably explains the sickness.

Well done if you’ve got through the first paragraph of medical moaning. It’s better out than in! The operation does appear to have gone well, so I need to stop the moaning huh? But I have to wait until 19th November before we know the extent of its effectiveness, so there’s sure to be some more moaning before then. Until then I’ll just vomit my pain, agony, uncomfortableness and impatience all over this blog.

So how goes the average day? Hospitals like their routine and this one is much like all others, the routine being structured by drug dispensing, medical monitoring, doctors’ inspections and staff patterns. Of all of these, the morning dispense of medications is probably the most annoying, particularly if you have finally drifted into a deep sleep and then are gently but insistently prodded (verbally) awake at 6.00am.

Generally though, all moaning aside, I am coping well. I have been able to sleep intermittently through all the noise and light and in an upright position – don’t want to drown in my own phlegm do I now? This is my first weekend and it’s different from Monday to Friday. Quieter, less staff and action. Perhaps we’re not allowed to be any more ill at the weekend, “Just keep ’em ticking over nurse” is the staff briefing for the weekend crew.

My routine, which is developing because of their’s, involves getting out of bed before 8 (tho that was a struggle this morning), opening the blind, turning on the fan – to move the warm, stale hospital air – and going for a short and exciting lap or 3 around the ward. There I am, still attached to the feeding mobile, shambling along, occasionally waving or smiling at any patient who is not immersed in their own distraction therapy.

As I walk I try to remember to do my breathing exercises, several deep breaths held for 5+ seconds. This helps to loosen to phlegm that is an ongoing pain. I did a record 5 laps this morning, with no noticeable problem. This afternoon, my lovely Dinah will be visiting, and we will escape the confines of Ward 10 for a while, touring exciting places like the lifts area outside Ward 10. I won’t be able to sleep later.

All of the out-of-ward experience is only possible when I get my 4 hours off the feeding station. This is a crucial stage for dissolving the developing stir-crazy feeling. Perhaps it should be an essential step of the surviving a long hospital stay guide?

Anyways that’s enough of my whingeing for a while. I’ll finish with a few photos, again photography is being used to support my well being. I can recommend it!

First night on the ward

The patient patient

Day 4 Post Op