Around lunchtime, I was transferred to my “regular” patient room, and it was the room and bed location that I had when I first came into the Royal Vic Hospital… which is quite coincidental, or maybe just a matter random choice, not sure. As I was rolled into the new location, I noticed my new “neighbour” was an elderly man, who was just sitting on the side end of his bed.
He was finishing his lunch meal, and as I was settling into my new spot I noticed that he began falling asleep while sitting beside his food and large jug of ice cold water. His head was “nodding off” and he kept trying to stay awake and tried to put his head on his hand to rest.
Eventually, he fell his head forward onto the large pitcher of ice cold water, and knocked it over… it spilled all over him and onto the floor. Of course this quickly awakened him, and then he looked over at me and just began to laugh!… I said to him, “Are you okay?”… he nodded, and soon an orderly came into to see what happened, and quickly got a mop and towels to clean up the spill and mess.
Little did I realize at the time, that this man and his wife would become an incredible annoyance in the days ahead? The nattering and arguing nonsense was a bit much, I’d say! Enough to drive you a bit crazy when you’re trying to get some peace and rest, as you have to deal with your own discomfort. But as you know, you can’t really “choose your neighbours”, no matter where you live or stay… just have to sometimes tolerate some of the nonsense that happens.
Well, the day continued with all the regular checks from nursing staff on week-end duty. I was hooked up to two IV tubes, one on each arm. One was Heparin (blood thinner) and the other was an antibiotic medicine for an infection I had from the surgery.
They had to alternate with two antibiotic medicines that day, so when I had one IV bag finish, the other bag was immediately hooked up… oh such fun eh? After our supper that day, the night staff of nurses came through to see their patients for their shift and all that needed to be done. Well, for me it was a need for some new blood transfusion… two units (litres?) had to be put into me, but the problem was the IV needle was too small to process the blood?… I don’t know for sure, but the nurse had to call a “blood tech” to come and insert a larger IV needle into my arm, so now I had 3 IV needles plugged into me! Wow, aren’t I the lucky one, eh?
My neighbour also needed a couple of units of blood that night, and also another treatment of lung decongestion… he was in pretty bad shape, and needed to get healthier before being scheduled for an operation.
The nurse that was taking care of the two of us, she was in my opinion just amazing, because she was working so hard at watching all the important details, and still trying to comfort us as best she could. I think that nurses don’t get enough credit for all the incredible things they do… many of them are truly awesome at what they do and “the stuff” they put up with at times.
So, there I was just laying and being all hooked up, you can’t really move much… have to use those “portable” urinals, and such. Thinking if this will ever end?… as it takes its toll on your spirit.
Being restricted to much movement, you find yourself “day-dreaming” and hoping for better days. Every little detail in your surroundings suddenly become something of importance… like the clock on the wall that has the wrong time, the windows that don’t open because they put thick plastic all over the windows for the upcoming cold winter, and you can’t even look outside without it looking blurry. Makes you feel really confined and isolated at times, but the real consolation was the 24/7 nursing care!
The night went on, but it was really a long night of discomfort and very little rest… something that is difficult, but you just need to push through it all, and hope the new day will work out better. Sometimes it felt like the morning just didn’t come soon enough, especially if your sleep was so deprived. It’s not like you can do much, that’s just the way it is… when you’re hooked up to IV units, there’s very restrictive movement permitted, because you can’t just disconnect things and start walking… you have to stay put for the most part.
Well, the next day would be better I thought… and I will update more of that story in the next posting… thanks for reading! 
