March 5th
Yesterday, part 2
Line came out at around 10. It took a while and I had forgotten that there were stitches involved as well as the line that went in quite a long way. Once again, there are advantages to being numb! I had been a bit concerned as I had been told that some poor nurse would have to sit with me for up to an hour pressing on it. However, this proved unnecessary – all I had to do was lie flat for an hour. Then I was settled.
Not a bad night’s sleep; woke thirsty several times but I have now more or less mastered drinking lying down and went back to sleep without resorting to the radio.
Saturday 5th March
Woke about 6 and did usual dozing, listening to radio. When my sugars were tested at about 6.45 they were 3.2, so I was given a cup,of tea with sugar and a packet of biscuits. This is getting very confusing!! Not allowed, must have.
I had a new catheter bag. Ruth, the senior sister ( see updates passim as Private Eye would say) will not be pleased as the nursing assistant had opened a new expensive one with a reservoir instead of the normal one.
Breakfast ( this time bread rolls and marmalade were offered to lady in next bed, but I stuck to my bran flakes and tea (no sugar). Blood sugars 8.8, so getting back to normal.
Dr’s rounds and my companions had long discussions with the dr; my turn was very short as the main concern now is the blood sugars and “I would have drawn up,a plan for you, but the diabetes team is due to see you, so I’ll leave it to them”.
I am feeling a bit of an outsider as my two current ward companions are both in with seizures. They are both ex nurses and both ex services. They have both been to Australia ( one is Australian). They both have extensive knowledge of their medication and have both had previous seizures. I could join in when they started talking childbirth ( we’ve all had children; the Aussie was also a midwife for a while). All the curtains were open, so that is nice. Started snowing which caused some excitement as we could see the flakes out of the window. Conversation turned to “hospitals I have been in” and their pros and cons, including food and car parking, so I could put my tuppence’ worth in with that. To be fair, it must be awful waking up and not knowing where you are.
Bed bath ( we agreed that trying a shower was not a good idea after yesterday!) and change – I have my fuscia nightie on! Mady obviously thinks this is a big step forward. Not sure how this is going to work tomorrow – I have one long t shirt that I can use, but that’s the only one long enough to be decent in when sitting in my chair. Bob and Owy have sent me a lovely one as a present, but unfortunately as I have to have baggy things, it’s a little small but Sian is going to try and change it.
In a fit of optimism and on the advice of the jolly physios, I ordered some leggings from M&S that arrived yesterday, but I’m nowhere near that yet what with pads and catheter. Never mind, they are here in my suitcase for when the time is right.
Not a lot happening as it’s the weekend. Kat my brilliant Greek nursing assistant is having the day off tomorrow and she is cooking her boyfriend dinner – moussaka from scratch. As they were washing me We discussed the recipe and how aubergines needed to be salted with the agency assistant (Sade pronounced Shadie) as she didn’t know how to do it.
Pre lunch sugars 9.8 , so still good.
Lunch was nice – lamb and mint casserole with dumpling with mash and Brussels sprouts and jelly for dessert. Then some more chat, I was moved back into bed and after listening to Any Questions and the follow up, I had a long sleep. There is sod all on live tv or radio apart from sport on Saturday, so I 'be been trying some catch up. I have tried to watch Blue Bloods but when I press the play button, it reverts to a menu. Also, if I have tv on I can’t do anything else ( although I can for the radio). I have tried Spotify, but it tells me that I am not connected to the Internet ( it lies), so poor Sian will have to sort me out again when she comes in.
After lunch I went back to bed and had a nice long sleep. Woke up about 3 and had meds.
Sian and Julio arrived at about 4 and said they we taking me down to Pret for a pre supper cup of tea. Not sure if this allowed so asked Mady if it was ok – she did sugars and they were 24 again. Did the hand washing thing and they were down to 22. She is clearly worried about me. As she was doing this, we talked about dogs. She has one that she brought over from Romania. It’s one of those ones with lots of rolls of skin and she had cosmetic surgery for her because some of the rolls of skin covered her eyes and she couldn't see but unfortunately it didn’t work and cost a fortune. So she took her back to Romania and had it done again there, which meant they were apart for 2 months. She’s back here now and Mady is much happier. (the conversation included the fact that dogs get very confused by FaceTime and Skype!).
We discussed whether I would go down again to Pret while Sian and Juli ate as the blood sugars were very high and I might get very tired, but we decided that it would be OK and I would be brought straight back up if I was too tired or anything.
Had supper – leek and potato soup, 5 bean salad and cheese and biscuits. Didn’t manage the soup – it was a silly idea and I’ll stick to juice from now on.
Down to Pret again and I said the stupidest thing for a long tIme. I was sitting in my wheelchair with a blanket over my lap and my shawl over my shoulders when I said “I feel like a granny” Duh!!!!
Back up and a gym workout – from wheelchair to rotor stand to weighing chair, to rotor stand to bed, then the Thunderbirds manoeuvre (bed flat, then head down and feet up to form ramp, then I slide/pull myself to the top of the bed and then bed returned to normal).
Sian did a bit of iPad – ing for me then they have just left.
New young lady in bed diagonally opposite, and that’s where we are now.
More tomorrow.
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