The 4th & 5th; It wasn't ideal, but this is intolerable.
The 4th of March. Another day of waiting. But I am finally on the respiratory ward.
Crappy night. I managed to fall asleep at some point, got the pillows arranged in a way that was vaguely comfortable. Somebody took some blood, although I wasn't entirely sure that had happened until I found the gauze stuck to my arm. I missed breakfast again and I didn't really want to buzz someone just to ask for some bread, so I ate the Pom Bears that Mommy brought yesterday instead.
By the time Mommy arrived, I had curled up in a ball and was having a micronap (which I suppose just shows that I'm definitely poorly because I can't do that when I'm fine), so I sat up and we had some lunch. Sam, my nurse, came to tell me that I would definitely be going down to 516 today, but we had to wait for a man to go a nursing home so another man could take his bedspace and I could have his room. If I got down there in time, the suctioning would happen today. Hm.
Becky came to visit, so that was a nice distraction from everything else being so rubbish, and she had bought me a great book full of pictures of pugs in clothes and making silly faces. I can look at that when I feel like I might burst into tears.
She unfortunately did have to go home, as she and James were going up to see his parents, so after that, Mommy and I just sat and tried to kill time until it was time to move. Another doctor who I hadn't yet met came in, asking how I felt, and I said apart from the obvious, I feel fine. Turns out that my CRP has gone up to 163 from being 58 on Thursday, so that's quite a leap, and now I've been started on IV antibiotics three times a day through the cannula that's been shoved in my left elbow, meaning that now neither of my arms are able to function. Putting my pyjamas on will be interesting.
I was finally summoned to the new ward about half six, and now I am sitting on my bed, on a mattress that is constantly inflating and deflating different bits because it's designed for people who are susceptible to pressure sores, but I'm just finding it irritating. Honestly I am on the edge of tears every time somebody talks to me because I am so frustrated by everything - the spontaneous pneumothorax, how stretched the system is, my stupid veins being difficult to cannulate, my right arm being off limits because it's full of fluid (and nothing can happen with that right now), the fact that I have to take a little bucket of chest fluid and a cylinder of oxygen with me whenever I have to pee, I can't bend my left arm because of the cannula and can't do much with the right because it hurts the muscles around the drain...I just want my normal life back. It wasn't ideal, but this is intolerable.
The 5th of March.
I am much less weepy tonight. It has been a very typical hospital Sunday in that not a great deal has happened. I was woken by the suction being attached to the drain bucket (it's actually just a tube that attaches from the bucket to a system on the wall that continuously sucks, but if I need the bathroom I just pull it off the wall and put it back when I return), but I don't know who did it because I kept my eye mask on the whole time. If I hadn't, I would've been blinded by the light being switched on above my head so I'm so glad I have it.
I watched Sunday Brunch, much like any other week, I was just deprived of coffee until Mommy came with lunch. She had also baked some cupcakes, which had fallen over in her bag so they are a little bit squished but still very tasty. Now I have a box of cupcakes so I'm going to have to start giving them to the staff because there's no way I can eat them all. Plus, Gareth came to see me and brought a box of French Fancies and a bag of Maltesers! So I am overwhelmed with tasty foods. He stayed for a good few hours and we had nice distracting conversations about what's going on in his life (incredible gossip from his sleepy Spanish town where the vet murdered his wife 😱), which was much nicer than just watching dreary Sunday afternoon tv which is what we would have probably been doing.
The cannula in my left arm is doing surprising well. I thought the vein would have blown by now but it's still going, which is a relief. I've got no idea where they'll put another one in when it's time to change. Not sure how long they'll keep me on antibiotics as it's not like I have any symptoms, they're just going off inflammation markers. I shall talk to the doctors tomorrow - thank god we get back to weekdays and normal service can resume.
Coughing makes the drain site hurt. Ack.
