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Wednesday 11 September 2013

4 weeks post Surgery - Back to Hospital

I've now stopped writing my diary daily, I think mainly due to the fact that the days merge together as I'm not able to really do anything.
Ten days after surgery while recovering at home I received a visit from the district nurse following a call by my daughter (herself a nurse) who was concerned about my wound. The nurse was puzzled by the huge 'slug like' blister next to my wound and said all she could really do was re-dress it. She said that all things considered I was doing pretty well and passed me a couple of numbers to call if I was worried.
My diary then jumps 2 weeks.
The last couple of days I have not felt good, the pain has not eased and my back is especially sore. The thing bothering me most is shortness of breath, even climbing the stairs leaves me out of breath. I'm feeling quite faint and very tired.
The district nurse returned to look at my wound, she took a swab and said it looked infected. She was more concerned that I was short of breath and made an appointment for me to see a doctor that day.
Although I know I need to go I'm upset as I have made an appointment to go to the doctor later in the week with my husband to hear the results of my biopsy.
I don't want to receive this news on my own and get quite tearful as I've been alone when receiving all the bad news so far. Not that my husband wouldn't or couldn't be there but that the doctors have just 'come out with it'.
The district nurse says she would ensure the doctor would not disclose my biopsy results but that I would have to go today.
At the doctors I was examined and to my shock told I would have to go immediately back to hospital as there was a chance I had a blood clot. As my daughter had taken me she said she would drive me to hospital and stay till my husband arrived, I didn't want another ambulance trip. By now I was really upset.
Once back at A&E I was admitted and obs carried out. My blood pressure was very low and I had blood taken. The canular they used was green - please note, if anyone comes near you with a green canular question WHY! When he put it in the back of my hand the pain was excrutiating and I couldn't bend my wrist. I later learnt from a sympathetic nurse that green canulars are the largest and used when a large amount of drugs needs pumping in quickly. Why he thought I needed one I don't know?! Thankfully the nurse called another doctor to remove and replace it with a smaller one. Unfortunately he missed the vein and the drugs began tissuing (pumping into tissue rather than vein). As you can imagine by now my hand was black and blue!
Once sorted with canular I was sent to xray where the radiographer questioned me having another ct scan explaining that having only one kidney left it has to work harder to filter the dye around. I was brimming with confidence by this time...
My husband arrived later that evening and sat with me for a further 5 hours till I was admitted - I'd been on a trolley for 8 and a half hours. I hadn't anticipated my next stop, the wards were overflowing and I was sent to the High Dependancy Unit as the ct scanner wasn't available. I now have to spend a night on my own in a high dependancy bed surrounded by huge equipment and shuttered windows that staff peep though regularly. Weird.

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