...in case I haven’t bored you already, let’s move
on...
I was up doing my bed exercises by 5:30 after a
bit of a restless sleep in the early hours.
I was absolutely delighted to find that Sergio was
going to be my nurse again today. Okay, I lied. The man moves way to slow and
thinks almost as quickly. It is time for him to retire. My only hopes I have
for today are that Denise’s request to the Occupational Therapist to devise a
shower chair for to come through and my OT-PT comes in and steps up my rehab
program.
Breakfast didn’t suck totally sure there was the oatmeal
slop but at least they included a hard cooked egg with my whole wheat toast.
They sent me coffee instead of tea and I make a point of never drinking
cafeteria type coffee. The lack of hot water for tea also meant I had to
further improvise with my tooth brushing by using some of my drinking water and
pouring it into a milk container for a rinse cup and as usual using the empty
fruit cup for a spit jar.
Speaking of milk containers, I cannot figure out
how these old guys could possibly pull the foil tops off these and the juice
containers. I darn need power tools to get into them myself. I have also
learned that it is best to hold them as far away from your body because they
will always squirt back at you.
Sergio is so effing slow and so far behind that he
didn’t bring me my morning meds until 9:30 when they should have been delivered
between 7:30 and 8 and I still had to stab myself with my blood thinners. This
is a habit I never want to get used to.
Pam and Dennis dropped by to visit with a few
goodies like mandarin oranges and peanuts and brought my mail from the past few
days. It was n*** to visit with my new UK stamps before putting them back in
the envelope and sending them back home. Pam was also kind enough to print out
my cover letter for my EI claim so all I need is for the doc to fill his part
and I’m on my way to getting some money out of the deal.
The lunch fairy came in and today’s options were
tuna sandwiches or chicken al a king. This was a no-brainer. I had indulged in
the tuna last week and it was passable and chicken al a king although when made
correctly and fresh can be delicious but cafeteria style usually comes out
looking and tasting like vomit.
Art was sitting up this afternoon and he
re-discovered his birthday cards particularly the one that plays "Celebrate".
FML :-(
Just after 1 PM they brought in a new ward mate to
occupy the bed opposite me. I don’t have any stories about this one yet but I
sure I will. But I can see from here he has a magic black button; time to plot
a stealth attack. *insert evil maniacal laugh and hand rubbing*
Not long after my roommate arrived, I received
another surprise visit from another classmate, Louise, who also happens to be part
of one of the many branches in the tangled Donnelly family tree. Her sister,
Brenda, is the mother of my nephew, Matt
and grandmother of my great-niece, Emily. Lou was kind enough to bring up some
tasty sausage rolls. Damn it, Lou Lou, don’t you remember it was sausages that
got me into the mess in the first place. Hee hee! She brought some throat spray
to help eliminate the bitter taste at the back of my throat left by sleeping
pills. We had lovely chat and then I had her take back the rest of the sausage
rolls for fear I would eat them all and that would not be a good thing, Before
leaving Louise snapped a couple of pictures and subsequently posted them on
Facebook. Louise also found out that I haven’t been exaggerating about things
here especially about the heat in this room and Sergio. Louise also got to see
Charlie’s good side. Ewww!
This brings to mind the answer to the question
that everyone asks “What can I bring you?” I pretty much have most of what. I
like to read but at this point in my reading rate is much slower than usual and
the books I have stashed here now will probably do me for a few weeks yet. As
far as food goes I have a somewhat
restricted diet so maybe a couple of mandarin oranges might be okay but don’t
be surprised if I send them back with you if I’m overstocked. This was the case
with Louise who had brought a few with her but I already had a supply from Pam.
I now have a secret to confess. I watch Survivor
and The Amazing Race and today I was able to find all the episodes on line and
managed to waste the bulk of my morning and afternoon catching up on the
episodes that I missed. There! I said it! Now deal with it!
Just before dinner a guest I’d been expecting
popped in. Lee was probably one of the funniest and energetic Night Owls and
was particularly at her best during our Mill Bay road trips. Thank god,
YouTube, smart phones and digital cameras didn’t exist in those days! Lee is a
trained chef and she brought me some of her roasted garlic and mushroom soup
made with three heads of garlic. Those vampires from the lab don’t stand a
chance now. We hadn’t had much a chance to catch up over the past few and had
only reconnected recently. We had some good laughs about the old times and the
new times. The coolest thing I found out in our visit was that her dad was my
dentist for years. I now know from where she got her outgoing personality. Lee
also got to meet Sandi. Actually, I’m actually drastically changing my mind
about Sandi. She is trying so hard to deal with her dad’s illness and she is so
helpful with the rest of us patients in the ward.
Denise, my night nurse, arrived and after checking
my vitals gave me a good back scrubbing and changed my pillow supports and
other bed linens something that should have been done yesterday. All this made
me feel refreshed and ready to do battle.
After downing my evening drug cocktail, I tried to
lay down for my evening slumber. After a few minutes, I began to feel a pain
that felt a lot like a muscle pull radiating from the bottom of my right front
ribcage into the middle of my back. I hit the call button and discussed it with
Denise or actually whimpered it to Denise. Her first suspicion is some sort of
urinary tract or kidney infection. When she said “I thought your pee smelled
funny” it reinforced my “I never want to be a nurse” mantra. She brought me a
dilaudid for the pain and propped up my right side so I ended sleeping in a
contorted half sitting position on my left side.
She left with a specimen bottle which I obliging
filled for her an hour later and then drifted off to sleep.
To be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment