Day 1 was Saturday. I spent the night in the High Dependency Unit with another patient in the bed across from me. He sounded really sick, like something was wrong with his breathing or his throat. I wondered if he'd had his tonsils out and was bleeding as a result.
So there were 2 patients and 1 nurse.
I was given an apricot yoghurt (the first of many) for breakfast. I had also taken in 2 Oats So Simple porridge pots with me. The nurse made one up for me but I couldn't manage the lumps in it. So yoghurt it was. And water, plenty of water! I'm not normally a plain water drinker but the last thing I wanted to do was end up with a headache because I wasn't drinking enough. I also knew that the more I drank, the quicker the IV would come down.
I managed to use the commode a couple of times; all that water and IV made me pee. I felt like I was constantly peeing LOL!
I was helped up from my bed and transferred to a chair, given a basin of water and my toiletries so I could have a wash. I changed out of my theatre gown and into my pyjamas.
I don't really remember much about that day other than that I managed to sit in the chair until about 11am before needing to go back to bed. I thought I did really well.
Doctors came to see me again and my morphine was stopped after lunch time.
My biggest concern of that day was the patient in the other bed. Once I was washed and 'dressed' they pulled the curtains back and I got to meet my room mate. He was an elderly man, who did indeed have something wrong with his throat (but not tonsils). But he didn't know where he was. He wanted to go home. He wanted to phone his sister. He kept trying to get up even though he couldn't walk, he kept pulling his wires, etc off. He was very confused. He really needed someone watching him every minute. Poor man :-(
But of course there was only 1 nurse and she had 2 patients to look after. So I ended up watching him whilst the nurse was busy doing something and shouting on her when he kept trying to get up.
On the one hand, I wasn't getting the care I should have (for example, my pain killers at 2pm weren't given to me until 3pm) and really I shouldn't have been watching out for him but on the other hand, I felt so sorry for this man. I hope, he is ok.
I spent the afternoon in bed, but I texted my husband and told him not to take the kids with him to see me in the afternoon, I wasn't fit for them.
When my husband came to visit, I told him that my vision was blurry and my eyes felt gunky. He did wipe some gunk from my right eye but put my blurry vision down the anaesthetic. I wasn't convinced but nothing else I could do.
My day 1 photo was taken
I had apricot yoghurt and ice cream and loads of water at lunch. I also got some scotch broth but that is 1 of 2 soups that I just can not abide so I didn't even try it. I think I tried a cup of tea but couldn't have it hot because I couldn't tell the temperature and didn't want to burn myself. But cold tea isn't very nice.
This was the day that I began to drown in tissues with all the drooling.
I was told by the doctor to start using corsodyl mouthwash 4 times a day. Since I couldn't clean my teeth, then just to let the mouthwash sit either side of my mouth to keep my wounds clean.
Later in the afternoon, I was transferred back to the ward.
I got some very salty vegetable soup for supper. There was also some jelly (which I couldn't manage, I had established that anything I consumed needed to be runny and smooth and water was the best thing to drink).
My husband came to visit again, this time with the kids who had brought me flowers and cards :-)
Struggling to think what else happened, the rest of the day passed in a blur of taking painkillers (paracetamol, ibuprofen and codeine all in liquid form), going to the loo and just resting with as much ice packs as I could get.
I got a second injection of drugs to thin my blood. This was my third injection, although I don't remember when I had the second. The nurse who gave me the injection this time told me it would be less sore if I got the injection either in my leg or my stomach. I didn't fancy a needle going into my stomach so leg it was. It still hurt!
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