Now it's time for the real recovery to start. The trouble with hospitals is that whilst their purpose is to make people better, the environment really isn't conducive to this. They say that sleep and rest is one of the best things for recovery and yet they are one of the most difficult places to get any sleep at all. During my first night, I was under 2 hourly observations. This meant that every 2 hours a nurse would come round to take my blood pressure, temperature and blood sugar levels. Being stabbed in the finger every 2 hours is bound to wake you up no matter how strong the painkillers! Thankfully this only lasted one night and gradually reduced to 4 hourly. This still meant that every morning at 2am and 6am I was woken up for a sugar test.
A hospital ward is also never dark and never, ever quiet! I am fully aware that this is for the benefit of the patients as monitoring in the dark is not going to be possible and the noises tell the nurses exactly what's going on and where they need to be most urgently. The liver ward can be a particularly noisy place to be... There are a lot of patients who are suffering from withdrawal or hepatic encephalopathy, both of which can cause severe confusion and make people do some very strange things. Last time I was on the ward, someone smashed a window and climbed out using the fire escape. Nothing quite so extreme took place this time but there were some very noisy patients. The lovely little lady opposite me was profoundly deaf and struggled to communicate but at night she made the strangest noises! I described it to visitors as 'a dying llama'. It was a very strange exhaled bleating noise and whilst it was an entertaining noise, when it's been going on all night for 4 nights, it becomes quite exhausting. At the other end of the ward, there was a gentleman who spent most of the night (and day) shouting. I have no idea what he was shouting about but he definitely wasn't too pleased to be where he was. When you're struggling to sleep because of the noise and goings on, it can be easy to forget that these people are in hospital for a reason and they are not well. Luckily, the nurses are fantastic and even though they are pushed to their limits, they remain calm and caring towards every single patient. I'm sure they go home and have a bit of a moan about some of the things they have to put up with, but I suspect it would be far worse if they kept it all in! I also need to remember that, as a patient, I'm there for a short amount of time and experience far less than what the nurses do day in, day out. I cannot thank them enough for the level of care they provide in such difficult conditions.
Getting back home was such a relief. My puppy greeted me with all the enthusiasm she could muster which was completely overwhelming and almost led to a bit of hysteria as she wouldn't calm down and managed to smack me in the face. I got myself a culpa and snuggled up on the sofa with all the home comforts around me that I could need - tea, biccies, blankets, TV and my snuggly (now calm) puppy dog. Last night, I got a proper full night of sleep and was able to get out of bed when I wanted without having someone turn the fluorescent lights on to take a blood test. All I need to remember now is that I'm not yet ready to run around doing housework, take the dog for long walks or get back to doing 8 hour days at work and that a proper rest is what is needed to make sure that I am completely fit and ready when I do go back.
Fingers crossed that there are no more of these hospital admissions between now and 'the call'!
Keep Smiling :)
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