Not a great one this time. When I spoke to the anaesthetist the day before, we talked through the process and what drugs I did and didn’t like (NO KETAMINE). Among other things, she basically said there are two options to anaesthetise me – one that involves putting monitoring patches on my head and one…
Category: In the ward
Oh the people you’ll meet…
I was in a head and neck ward. So I was there with people who had… well… swollen faces. Familiar swollen faces. With feeding tubes in their noses and patches on their throats announcing that they had, not too long ago, had tracheostomies. Oh how I felt for them. It suddenly felt not so long…
From the biopsy through the night…
I should have written about it at the time because now things get hazy. It was around 4pm I think, when I made it up to the ward. I wonder how long between when they finish the surgery and you wake up? Is that a long process? My phone was dying, I’m not sure what…
I FOUND MY BLOOD TAKING SOULMATE (now, if only I knew his name…)
On the first morning of my stay, I overheard the nurses talking about me when doing the handover. ‘She didn’t complain about pain last night but she did this morning’ Well I just said ‘could I have a paracetamol please’ but ok… And the reason I didn’t ‘complain’ last night because I was naughty and…
The longest night
By day the ward is a living, jovial, caring, nurturing, happy space. By night it turns into an unforgiving beast. By day the nurses are your compatriots, your friends. They sort things out for you, they bring pain relief, they bring smiles, laughs. By night they feel like overlords, snatching you unceremoniously from precious sleep…
Being back in hospital…
When I was at home over the last few days before coming in, with this ever swelling face, I was stressed about how I ‘should’ be, or the things I ‘should’ be doing. I’ve got an event to get to but I’m not feeling well enough. Am I going to be well enough to go…
And you may find yourself… back in hospital. And you may ask yourself, well… How did I get here?
So… I spent yesterday in A&E which was fun. Didn’t think that was still part of my life but maybe it always will be… We’ll see. I’ve talked before about how they’ve severed my trigeminal nerve, which tells my right eye to stop crying. Well occasionally it gets a bit weepy too. Fun. But it…
The final bits…
With the trachy out, it was time to start breathing through my mouth. My nose was entirely blocked so there was no chance of it helping me out. My mouth got so dry. Night time was the worst. I already wasn’t sleeping much, but now my mouth and throat were dry and burning. And I…
Little adventures
On day 13 of my hospital stay, Kat the Physio said I was allowed to go for a little adventure, so I actually got to leave the ward and we went up to Level 16 and looked out at the view. UCLH has a tall tower, and is situated pretty in the middle of London,…
