Well sleeping on my back proved not to be onerous. My hip won’t really let me turn yet anyway so sfine. I do juggle my feet and bend the right leg a lot when I remember. Not when I’m typing as my macbook is propped up against my left leg. Functional description especially for @Jess Ratty there.
Woke naturally at around five thirty despite the two am blood pressure interruption, abluted, so to speak, using a new cardboard flask (obvs) and as soon as I was back in bed had another blood pressure test so I’d have been woken up anyway. It’s not just blood pressure. It’s also pulse and temperature followed by a separate nurse doing the blood oxygen test. That one is heading in right direction but not back to normal yet.
Now sipping on a mug of tea, as opposed to the teapot and cup on a tray arrangement. Must all still be in the dishwasher or down in the kitchen in prep for the seven thirty breakfast service. I forgot to order brown sauce so hopefully that won’t take too long. Full English aint the same without brown sauce. None of this red sauce nonsense :). Probs get out of bed for brekkie and have it in “my chair”. I have three chairs. It is the Presidential Suite after all. Apaz the Chief Exec of the hospital group used this suite when she was in for a treatment. Not allowed to tell you why she was in obvs. Don’t know anyway. All ended well apaz which you’d expect wouldn’t you? Innit.
Today is my second and last full day in the Park Hospital. Looking forward to it far more than the first day which turned out to be quite a revelation. Despite being a posh gaff it’s the same crap on the telly so that stayed off. Had to endure five seconds of Eastenders audio before discovering they only showed the usual BB1, 2, ITV and Channel 4. They did have all the freeview chans. Just thought I’d tease you there for a bit but suspect it didn’t work.
Have yet to choose lunch and dinner options but let’s get breakfast out of the way first. Last night was the braised beef with dauphinoise spuds and veg and a nice gravy. V good. Wouldn’t have hurt to have more gravy but norra biggie. They probs called it jus not gravy which would justify the smaller portion. One of those dashes of sauce you’d see on mArseterchef. Might watch it now Greg Wallace isn’t on it to irritate me. Laaaavley. Pot noodle and chocolate mousse please.
Still another hour til breakfast. Gonna nod off for a bit. See ya.
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Another flippin blood sample at seven. Had to point out to Ty, the American nurse from Philadelphia (an Eagles fan as was apparent from her lanyard) that for the purposes of NHS records my name was Huw Trefor Davies not Tref as the hospital has me down as. She was mildly disapproving but hey… Now she knows. I only mentioned it because the different nurse who took the blood yesterday came back to me to confirm my name as the place they store blood didn’t recognise me. Would having the name Huw Trefor Davies on the door of the suite make it look more Presidential? Dunno.
For some reason Ty didn’t use the cannula but went for a fresh hole, so to speak! Then she had an issue finding the end of the tape she used to hold down the bit of cotton wool on the “wound” and had to get a new one out of the plastic box. First world problems. Told her we are Chiefs fans in our family. If you don’t know you’ll have to look them up. Patrick Mahomes.
No point in trying to nod off again now and I have a small room light on instead of the reading light over the bed which switched itself off at seven am. Must be a setting somewhere as a nurse had to click something to set it up on the remote control/attendant caller.
I keep finding the little plastic sticky things they must have used to hold down tubes or cables during the op. Will have to wait until I shower to see if they’ve all been retrieved. They obviously don’t count them in the way they count swabs to make sure they’ve removed them all before finally stitching you up after the op. That’s three so far, all of which were stuck to hairy bits of body. Ouch.
Turned out the light switch off was down to a generator test and it works now. When you think about it, having a backup power source for a hospital, especially the operating theatre is hugely important. More so even than at a datacentre. I’d be interested in seeing the spec for their setup inc UPS innit. My reading light obviously didn’t qualify to be hooked up to the UPS. Presumably there will be one or two UPS connected sockets in each room as well as the majority of the operating theatre. I assume my bacon is cooked on gas, baby. Seeing as they seem to mostly use paper in hospitals the data centre generator hook up feels less important here. The billing system can wait.
The bacon btw isn’t turning up until eight. This is the timing for cooked food. If you are v hungry go for the cereal and croissants at seven thirty. I’ll wait. I should have mentioned the brown sauce when the nurse came in to check on me. She wasn’t really the right person.
They all have different colour uniforms depending on the job they do. I think the dark blue ones are the fully qualified people. The ones that can stick a needle in you. Skilled job that. Not totes sure. I don’t mind what colour uniform brings the tea but I’d quite like the breakfast to be cooked by a chef in whites wearing a proper chef’s hat. Why not?
Coincidentally another nurse has just been in for yet another check and she has noted the fact that I want brown sauce with my breakfast and will add it to the manifest. Swat I call service. This check was to see if I’d had the blood sugar “done”. The previous related blood cross matching. At least I think that’s how Ty described it.
I’ve also decided to properly get dressed this morning. Might even have a shave. Figured I wouldn’t shave yesterday as it was the medical equivalent of a match day and you may know that I never shave on a match day. All a new adventure in the life of Tref. Funny to think that getting dressed is something you have to think about. My chavvy tracksuit bots beckon.
Actually the tracky bots are proper Cotton Traders ones that might grace a gym or rugby field and not the stripey satiny jobs on show in Tesco and the high street so I doubt anyone will raise an eyebrow. Showing my colours now. Navy blue.
Also just noticed that the dangly tubes sticking out of the cannula are now neatly clipped onto the bit of plastic attached to the needle. Must have been done by one of the nurses. Quite possibly the one who topped up the antibiotics in my arm as she used the cannula. Should have spotted it before but at least now I know.
Annoyingly, I can’t remember her name. She is also doing her family tree and we had a nice chat on the subject.
A blow by blow account of hospital life with only the deets of the operation missing as not only would they be too gory, some of us being v squeamish, but also I was not conscious at the time. Doubt they’d have let me take my dirty laptop in anyway. Excuse me but was that a scalpel or a forceps? Tap tap tap. Wouldn’t have had anywhere to prop up the laptop anyway.
Switched the Radio 4 news on and landed right in the middle of Thought for the Day. Aargh. Turned the volume down temporarily. I don’t even like listening to the news but it is a bit of background noise. Not long until breakfast now.
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Rapid progress here. Xray done – see pic. Physios have signed me off to go home. However Rob is picking me up tomorrow, THG has gone to Uncle Bill’s funeral in Liverpool and there are still drugs to be dispensed and tests to be made. Also seeing Mr M tonight when he’s finished cutting. I’m not going anywhere. Not often I get to stay in a Presidential Suite. There are two apaz. The other is called the Royal Suite. Probs. I made that one up. The receptionist made the Presidential Suite up though other members of staff have confirmed it to be the case.
Back in the suite a cup of tea has arrived and then I will commence the cleansing. SSS. My first post op job, so to speak.
The three esses have been seen to, I’m dressed (blessed are the dressed) and sat comfortably in my usual armchair. Feel much better for the shower and clean clothes. Next up infusion of antibiotics and then they will remove the cannula. It’s starting to get in the way now. No more plastic stickers found on my body.
Overhearing a conversation in the corridor re someone else’s hip – “it’s not dislocated but moved slightly”. Mine seems to have all gone to plan and I’m told my recovery is better than the average. yay, hooray, bravo etc. Still a long way to go but the perceived wisdom is fully recovered in 6 weeks time. It will take longer to get to full strength I’m sure but all heading in the right direction. Phew. No fat lady singing sounds yet. One step at a time, literally.
Having the suite door open is good for a change. Lots of sounds of people. Things being wheeled around. Not just beds and chairs. Lots of trolleys. A member of staff just walked past sliding her shoes along. Before I could see who it was I thought it must be a punter but no. Come on love, walk properly.
Been having good chats with the staff. It’s “me duck” around here just like in Lincoln and dinner, not lunch. I am able to simultaneously translate, multilinguist that I am. Chicken Ceasar Salad ordered with bananas and honeycomb ice cream for pud. Yup. The honeycomb comes recommended.
Bit sore this pm. Ramping up the pain killers that I’ll be taking home. They’ve been giving me one does at a time to see what is needed. Looks like all of them. Spent the morning in the chair and the afternoon on the bed.
Suspect they will also be giving me the laxative at some stage – don’t want to put you off. At least my forearms appear to have stopped itching. The antiviral shower gel they gave me to use for 5 days before the op was quite abrasive stuff and gave me a dose of eczema on the arms. Never had it before. Gone now. Sgood innit.
Spent much of the afternoon doing family tree stuff. There really are only two sources of information for the times I am looking at. One is through church related publications and the other is based on stuff written about the gentry. We are defo the former and I have a clue about a marriage that could hook me up with estate owners. I’m trying to firm up on this but not yet got the right amount of evidence. These estate owners were also v religious which is a help and is likely to be how the “happy couple” met.
Stay tuned. Might be a while yet.
In other news the Caesar salad was a bit heavy on the olives but I guess that comes with the territory. Banana was on the small side and not totally ripe but hey… I’m not complaining. Tonights delicacy is “Chunky Cottage Pie, the chunkiness being down to the use of braised steak instead of mince. Posh ere…