done a runner

Wednesday morning 3am: second night in hospital

I wake up with a painful but minor cramp. Do the usual things to clear it, to prevent it coming back. Then I switch off all lights, lie back, realise I'm not going back to sleep.

I read for a while. Finish the big thick book (also big on action) that Deb had brought in for me, that was only the last 100 pages or so. Lie back, fail to sleep. Read half of a book stored on the tablet (lightweight chick lit with dragons, good fun). Read some stored docs that I wrote a year or two ago, to see if they are relevant for a current problem.

This may be the first time that I have been in hospital and been fully conscious.

I am bored out of my mind, I have had enough of this hospital. Decide that I will leave as soon as possible after breakfast.

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Yesterday, after a day in hospital:

My temperature is back to normal. It may have happened just as quickly at home. Perhaps I panicked but I am glad I did, hospital care is reassuring.

I give a urine sample. Why? No-one really says. I give a blood sample. Why? The nurse suggests that there will be attempts to culture bugs, perhaps also from the urine? It will take a few days, says the blood nurse. I'm given no further information. I have my chest x-rayed. I'm told that a chest x-ray is standard for a cancer patient with a fever.

Blood pressure, temperature, heart rate are measured at regular intervals during the day. The only one I understand is temperature, it remains steadily on the cool side of normal. Evening comes. No word on the results of any of these tests. No hint that I will even get any results. Maybe when the doctor comes back, mid-morning on Wednesday?

I'm not told, I'm only guessing that the doctor will tell me anything. In fact, I'm only guessing that the doctor will visit on Wednesday. On Tuesday I am expecting "a doctor". I am actually surprised that it is the cancer doc. Will she be back? I have no idea.

Wednesday morning, about 5:30am:

The nurse comes in, takes the standard readings. No comment but I ask, she says that temperature is still steady at 36.1 (I think it is point one).

I tell the nurse, I am leaving. What time is breakfast? About 7am. I tell the nurse that I am leaving before breakfast, I will say goodbye to someone at the ward front desk as I leave. I tell her that I will even take the giant antibiotic and swallow it after my own breakfast.

But I will need a full course of antibiotics and the pharmacy does not open till eight. Someone will come by and pick up a bunch of the pills, I say.

Nobody has actually said, There seems to be an infection. Perhaps the first two pills did have a miracle effect, the serious symptoms have gone. Mostly -- as I understand it -- any temperature gets an antibiotic.

As far as I can tell, my role in all of this is to sit in a boring room while doctors try one thing after another. Looking for a cause for something which has already fixed itself. Yes, I am very grateful for the care and attention, for the two panadols and several antibiotic pills. If the crisis recurs I will return, hopefully with more evidence as to the cause.

Meanwhile I am uninformed, uncomfortable, bored and wishing I were home.

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Out of the ward. Sign a paper that says that I have collected all that I own. It may say more but I don't bother with my reading glasses. Out of the hospital, into a taxi.

I am home before 7am. What a huge relief :-) I send Deb off to work ... and relax.

I am feeling much as I have for a couple of weeks: tired, stomach slightly uncertain. But happy. I eat some familiar food. I lie on the familiar (though uncomfortable) couch, for an hour's sleep. More food.

Midday: I feel so much happier than I did in the hospital. Stomach has had familiar food and is comfortable. Deb is at work but I can always talk to the cat.

Aaaahhh... it's great to be home :-)

====    Dr Nick Lethbridge  /  Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"I think and think, for months, for years. Ninety-nine times the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right." … Einstein
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dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
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