Showing posts with label Hospital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hospital. Show all posts

Wednesday, 28 October 2015

Day 82 - Going Home from Hospital.

06:00
Guy next to me snores. I slept well with earplugs.
The quality of nursing staff is very distinct from shift to shift. On a scale from one (bad) to ten (good). There are a few 8s both individual nurses, and shifts. But most are 2s. It is a pity.
One nurse is trying for a psychology upgrade to her nursing qualifications. She needed a patient that had done many hospital stays to see how the patients attitude toward health care has changed over the years. She had a long questionnaire. She asked lots of questions. She seemed ignorant of most of the world.
I told her I had been in 38 countries. She said she was surprised there were that many countries. I asked if she used the internet. She said her friend had seen it but she hasn't seen it. This lady will be the head nurse of her section soon.
I asked one good nurse if I should use the pee bottle to disrupt the nurses less that having one of them escort me to the bathroom every hour or so. She said it depended on Doctors orders, and what the patient wants. I told her that if she believes that then she lives in a dream world, not the world I see and experience. So in her own way, she is also ignorant of the world she lives in. She may be ( and was) very competent, but the average quality of nursing care is poor. And that means that half the nurses are below "poor".
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07:50
I just finished with physio. We walked about 100 meters, and climbed some stairs.
She says I can go home.
I need to see the doc first.
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09:00
Doc says " go home". :-)
I am ssoooo ready.
I have been asking the nursing staff "How many countries are there?"
The answers so far. 10, many, too many, and 800.
The local preference for anything more than 2 being "many". Seems to have moved into the nursing way of thinking. It makes me wonder what 185mg of a medicine means to people like this. What do they think of inside their heads.
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19:30
I am in my house. Maddie drove me home,we had lunch, took a nap, then she went shopping.



It is good to be home, but my legs are tired. My good leg sat unused for 4 days, then today got a workout. The hamstring battles with the crutches, and the quads battle with the up-down. 
 I need to plan better, so a trip to the bathroom will include a pee (whether I need to or not), emptying the pee bottle, brushing teeth, and doing anything to prevent a trip to the bathroom. It is a pain to get up, get the crutches, move to the bathroom, balance for 5 minutes while I dribble on my foot, then back on the crutches to the bed. Like an exhausting 10 minutes for something I used to not even think about. Like today I wanted to see how much airtime was still left on the internet sim card. Get standing, get crutches, walk 2 meters, then it takes both hands to remove the dongle because the router must be held down. But I have no free hands, so I have to set down the crutches and then...... and then I called Maddie and asked her to get the sim out of the router.

Something so simple will now need to be on a list of things to do that day.

I wanted to take the cell phone into the bedroom. Sorry dude both hands are used to keep from falling. I need like a fisherman's vest that has a zillion pockets. That way I always have my cell phone, keys, and water bottle.

I also need a way of getting out of bed easier. Like huge posts growing out of the carpet next to the bed, or maybe chains hanging from the ceiling.

I must remember that crutches are for walking, NOT getting up or down. Using a crutch to get off a bed, or lower yourself to it, is a "Bozo No-No".

I am hoping for an early night.
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Tuesday, 27 October 2015

Day 81 - learning crutches

05:26
Just had coffee and a rusk. Not a very good rusk.
Doctor said I should leave on Tuesday or Wednesday. Maybe I can convince him for Monday.
I see this morning in the pile of pills was a lyrica. I tried lyrica before , but it gave me the jerks. I wonder why he prescribed it. It might have something to do with phantom pain I have. Last night it felt like my missing foot was jammed under the bar on the bed. I tried many times to remove it. Duh!
I have read much about amputations, and nowhere does it mention a particular problem I am having. When the leg was normal, the quadriceps muscle was used to lift and straighten the leg. The hamstring was used to bend the leg and bring it backward. But now both of those muscles have been cut. If I try to use either of those muscles, there is sharp pain.
Now to move the stump forwards requires the hip flexors, and to move the stump backward requires the glutamus maximus. The butt muscle.
Learning to use the new muscles isn't that hard, but learning not to use the old muscles is very difficult.  Every step for the last 60 years has required those muscles.
So now when I want to move the leg forward, I instinctive use the quadriceps, which causes stabbing pain. Trying to relax the quads is more important than using the hip flexors, and relaxing the hamstring is more important than using the butt muscles.
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08:15
Am waiting for Doctor to make his rounds.
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09:30
The new wound care lady came by. She cleaned and looked at the wound.

17 stitches in one long string, overhand with no knots between.

Now to wait for the doc to come and chat.
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10:30
Doctor just left.  He says that all is fine, but he wants two more physio sessions before I go home. So today, and another tomorrow.
 Two crutches lessons. 
Then the psycologist came by. She says I seem ok and can go anytime. 
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11:50
Physio lady just left. We walked maybe 20 yards.
Crutches are more wobbly than walker.
Keeping quadriceps and hamstrings relaxed is key.
Maddie is busy spending my money. She bought a shower chair, and a bed urine bottle. All necessities.
 The doc said I could leave tomorrow if physio lady was happy. she wants another session doing stairs. so tomarrow is one more physio session, then checkout by 10:00.
I am tired. A long day.
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Sunday, 25 October 2015

Day 80 - second day after op.

Sitting in bed.
Physiotherapy  people were just here. I wanted to learn the crutches. He said that was for tomorrow. But I used the walker and  walked to the bathroom . Then I went inside and asked him to show me how to pee while in a walker. It turns out there are boy and girl walkers. Boy walkers allow you to straddle the toilet, and not pee allover the walker.
I can go to the toilet by my self.
My cell phone was dead this morning, so it is on charge with the power bank charger. I want to sleep.
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I will have to fix a zillion spelling errors from this morning.
I am so protective of the leg that isn't there. Like I am afraid of  stubbing my toe.
They just took out my IV and oxygen. More freedom, less tubes.
I get very short  bouts of nausea. Very strong but very short. I need a puke bowl very close.
Doctor said he would remove the stump drain tomorrow morning and then no pipes or wires.
I still sleep about 20 min per hour
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15:00
The physio guy just came by again. I used the walker to walk down the hall to the nurse station and back.
He showed me how to use the crutches. But I will not use them until tomorrow. I may sneak away on crutches tonight. Stealth crutches.
We still have not unwrapped the leg stump. Tomorrow We will see the doctors handiwork. It has stopped draining.
Sleep.
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17:00
Maddie was just here. we chatted and i showed off by peeing In the big boy toilet. :-)

I find it pathetic listening to old men complain about health issues. you should try to surround yourself with young healthy people. Unhealrhy people are a bore,  and their whole life revolves around their health. Nobody wants ro listen to an old man talk about his liver, sarcoma, cancer, or any other complaints. If the old man can no longer stimulate you mentally, then it is time to get someone that will.
A few years ago an old man may have had interests similar to yours, and maybe you had interests in common with him. Now days his intetests are about his prostate, and that does not interest you at all. It is time to move on to something new. 
Everything always changes. Especially people.
 At one time of my life, i loved drag racing. My group of friend included fellow drag racetes. Another few years were spent with parachutes, and their accociated friends. 
As your interests change, so do your friends. With each new group of friends, there occasionally are a few that remain friends, even when the interests change. There is some basic, fundamental, thing you have in common with these "keepers". You may not even know what it is. But it ensures a friendship that goes beyond airplanes, motorcycles, guns, or computers.
One of the things you learn as you age, is that when your interests change, many of your friends change. But the friends that stay, are the good ones, and worth thousands of the ones that moved on.
When you see some old man complaining about something. Just remember they may have done some thngs you can not dream of, and maybe they have seen things you will never see. Their hard work and struggles in life may not result in a huge financial empire, but simply a short walk to the bathroom.
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Saturday, 24 October 2015

Day 79 - Day after Amputation

Hello from the hospital.
They removed my leg yesterday morning about 10:30. It was shipped off for autopsy.
I wonder how much weight I lost. It is a quick way to loose weight, but not a painless way to lose weight.
Maddie was just here for the morning visiting hour.
She is doing a good job with the blog.
The physio team was just here. That is not fun. I just walked three  steps forward and three steps backward, using a walker. Then lots of small stump movements to get things loose.
Almost exactly 26 hours ago was the op.
I'm very sleepy.
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16:30
Maddie just left. She will spend the night at friends house.
I just got a pain shot, so its a race to see whether the blog is stupid or not.
The doctor said that when they started the operation, they first wanted to be positive that a below the knee would not be possible. He drew on the leg where he would need to cut. They cut along the line, and saw lots  of differentiated cells. Sure sign of cancer. That cut was about 2 inches above where the PET scan showed the cancer. So it has been spreading.
The area where they did the amputation got a good inspection and they saw no sign at all of any cancer.
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