I am so happy to be home again. Been back for about three hours. Have showered and ‘washed the hospital off me’ and am in my pj’s feeling totally exhausted. But it’s a good kind of exhausted, you know? But I almost didn’t make it home today …
When the doctor came in this morning I was sitting up in my chair watching a DVD on the laptop and looking quite chipper until he said he thought I should stay in for another day. So then I pleaded and pleaded with him to let me go today and reminded him about how last time they sent me home after just two days, etc etc. So he finally agreed to take out the drainage tube (OUCH) and said that if an hour later I didn’t have a fever I could go home. And so here I am. Probably over-doing it a bit, but I promise to go back to my comfy chair as soon as I’ve finished this post.
Nog came to get me around 3 o’clock and I was all packed and ready to go. I had also picked up my release papers and was given some drugs & gauze & stuff to see me through the first few days. And I saw on one of the papers that my next check up appointment will be with Surgery on January 13th. The last two times I was told to make an appointment with Oncology first and when I asked the nurse about this she said they must have decided to do it the other way around this time. Which is great! Because it means that – as long as the biopsy results come back negative – I shouldn’t have to go back on chemo until after my birthday. 🙂
Anyhow, I took these pics of my room and my first solid meal yesterday, which was actually quite tasty (poached hake, chicken & veg rice and sautéed courgettes). I was extremely lucky this time because after that woman left on Friday afternoon I ended up having the room to myself the whole rest of the time I was there. Heaven! I was sure someone was going to check in yesterday afternoon but I was thankfully spared.
Okay, I’d better get back to my comfy chair and finish watching Love Actually (London at Christmas time!). The cats are curled up on the sofa beside me, I’ve got the radiator turned on, and I’m all bundled up warm and cosy.
Damn but it’s great to be back.
casa azahar 
Welcome home!
Hey, that hospital food doesn’t look at all bad…
hugs
Puddock
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Whew! I know how you feel…and I’m just at work on a Monday morning!! I can’t imagine what it would be like after a (yet another) hospital stay…
snibble the cats for me, okay?
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Yay!
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Wow, that meal is a lot more ‘edible’ that what *I* got! ::nonexistentenvysmiley::
Nice room, with a view no less! Research says patients who have a lot of natural light, and a view recover faster and get less infections. Sounds logical to me! So glad you’re at home now, and I expect you to keep your promise of taking it easy! Nothing worse than having to return in defeat.
{{snibbles&hugs}}
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I’m so glad the doctor listened to your pleadings. Around here it is a truism that people heal much better in their own environment surrounded by the things that make them happy and being exposed only to the germs they are familiar with and to which they (presumably) have an immunity.
Sit back, and don’t forget to ring your bell when you want a drink, okay?
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And that “hospital” food looks way too good to have actually come out of a hospital kitchen. Are you sure Nog didn’t bring it in from some local restaurant?
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I’m so glad you’re home! I’m inclined to think that it is much easier to recover at home, too. Especially since this way you don’t have to worry about some stranger moving into your bedroom wanting to watch loud TV.
Get lots of snibbling. And lots of rest. And hopefully someone can bring you some yummy food. Too bad the hospital can’t deliver to you! (And too bad I can’t deliver, either. I’d love to come by with some tapas from some of those restaurants you write about.)
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Yay! Glad you’re home in your own haven. Much better place to recuperate. xo
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Yay! Back for some serious cat snibbling I suppose.
Rest and recreation! Doctor’s orders 😉
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One of the really good things about the hospitals in Ottawa is that all of them have a pretty good view.
The General Hospital (“Ottawa Hospital – General Campus” because all of them are called “Ottawa Hospital, even thought they have their own names and every one calls them by their real name) is the “big” hospital in town and has some of the longest emergency wait times and staff that I find in general rude and off-hand actually has the best views…. which is kind of sad.
The best hospital, the Riverside had just been remodeled at the expense of donors when the Ontario government closed it down intending to sell it. There was was and cry (because WE paid for the major revamp, not the Province!) and so instead they turned it into a day surgery and “women’s hospital, though I don’t know why since I don’t know that they actually use it for that. Anything “woman-related” I have had done at other hospitals, not there.
It had great views, as well… not to mention a great staff and faster Emergency Department. Of course, we lost over 200 beds, as a result.
Frankly, I ALWAYS ask to be taken to the Queesnway Carleton Hospital, now, because the staff is great and the care is really good.
My second choice is always the Montfort which is the only Francophone hospital in town. Again, great care and nice staff. The Ontario government tried to close it down as well but as it was the only hospital which catered to an almost exclusively Francophone community, the community fought back and it was saved. While the hospital caters to the Francophone community, its staff is pretty much bilingual and all services are offered bilingually.
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Sorry… I completely forgot to say that i was glad you were home!
I understand cat-cuddling is a sure method of post-suegical recovery!
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surgical…. Yeesh….
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Well done – now make sure you have a life of leisure for a few days and recuperate properly. Snibbling is about as strenuous as it should get 🙂
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Just back from a two-hour cuddle in bed with Azar – talk about therapeutic! Boy I missed that little guy. And Sunny too.
Anyhow, although I didn’t do anything terribly strenuous when I got home, I think just being upright (sitting and walking around) for so long after I got home was a bit of a mistake. So I’m going back to bed now and hope I feel better in the morning.
I also don’t think the nurse bandaged my wound very well, but she told me not to touch it for 48 hours so I’m in a bit of quandry as to what to do. I think I’ll ask Dr A to pop over and have a look at it tomorrow (I forgot to take a photo of the first and second scars before I went in – damn! This third one is even bigger!)
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“There is nothing half so pleasant as coming home again”- Margaret Elizabeth Sangster.
🙂
Although my favourite used to be:
“Home is where you can say anything you please, because no one pays any attention to you anyway.”- Joe Moore
Welcome home and heal well.
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Great news that you’re home.
Happy healing :hug:
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I’m really glad you’re at home. Please, don’t overdo things, get all the rest you need.
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Happy to read that you’re home!!! cheers.
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Glad you’re home and comfy, Az! And that hospital food looks totally gourmet compared to what we get here!
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glad to read ur home and comfy..please take it easy and rest, rest, rest!
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Excellent news that you’re home. Plenty of rest now, don’t try to do too much, too soon (take the cats as your model, lots of lazing around and the occasional snibble).
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Am sitting up in bed drinking REAL coffee and feeling quite fine. 🙂
Yes, the food at the hospital really isn’t bad at all. The liquid diet is usually just juices, infusions and ‘broth’, but with the ‘dieta inicio’ (not sure what that is in English) you get a brothy soup, a vegetable purée and fruit purée for dessert. And I have to say that those veg purées (asparagus, pumpkin, spinach…) are very tasty.
With the normal food trays like above you get a huge amount of food. I ate the fish but could only finish half of the rice and veg, and I saved the bread roll and dessert (a flan, not shown) for Nog. As I said before, if Nog was there at meal time the tray lady would bring him a meal (they usually ended up with a few extras), but it was always ‘potluck’. Once he got a ‘bland diet’ tray that looked delicious (soup, mushroom tortilla, roasted potatoes) but didn’t taste of much at all. And of course he never had any problem finishing everything up. 😉 The only really awful thing there is the totally tasteless unsalted ‘broth’ *shudder*.
I’ve asked Dr A if he can come over and have a look at my wound this morning, either before or after his class with Nog. They normally have it at his place, but maybe today they’ll just do the class here instead. I also want him to listen to my chest as it kind of ‘crackles’ when I’m lying down flat. I couldn’t hear it at the hospital with all the background noise there, but I heard it when I woke up during the night last night.
Anyhow, I have learned my lesson after being up and about for far too long yesterday (boy, did I feel rough for awhile) and so I’ll be doing the ‘cat thang’ from now on.
And please excuse me for not replying to you all individually, but know that I’m really enjoying reading your comments. *hugs*
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::Thumbsup::
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Welcome home!
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Glad you’re back home and glad to hear the good news from the surgery (sorry I didn’t comment on your earlier post).
Indeed, that hospital food looks too good to be true.
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Get some rest, lady. That’s an order. Also, we would call the dieto inicio a “full liquid” diet here in the states. The crackles in your lungs are from the anesthesia, and the only way to get rid of them is to cough every couple of hours. So grab a pillow, hold it against your incision, and cough, cough, cough. Or you’ll end up with pneumonia on top of everything else. Yes, I know it hurts. Do it anyway. Did they give you an incentive spirometer to work with to clear your lungs? If not, maybe Dr. A can order you one. And take deep breaths. The old nurse’s regimen “Turn, cough, and deep breathe every two hours” will do you well. Glad you’re home, though.
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I have to cough, Silverstar??? Yikes! Dr A just told me to drink lots of water and breathe deeply from time to time. I googled “incentive spirometer”. Hmmm, I reckon that some yoga breathing (and light coughing) every couple of hours will work just as well.
You’ll all be happy to know that I am resting very well and balancing being up and about with reading in bed. Today’s challenge is to pace myself so that I’ve got enough energy at 10 o’clock to watch House. 🙂
*waves to Johnny, Beatrice & David*
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Oh, and the other thing I have to do every day is inject my belly with Clexane, for my circulation. Thing is, the last two times I only (ONLY!) had to do this for ten days. This time the doctor info sheet for my GP (Dr A) says I have to do it for thirty days!!! Dr A duly wrote out a prescription for 30 of the fuckers but I keep thinking it must be a typo.
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Nope, sorry Az, thirty days is right. You don’t want to throw a clot, and since they were mucking with the liver you might if you don’t take your meds. Yeah, it’s not fun, but necessary.
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*waves back*
Back to your original subject, I know there has been nothing like getting home, when I have been in hospital – a couple of 10 day stays – and it makes no difference whether it is an NHS or a private hospital either. The frustrations might be different but they are still there – there really is nothing like being at home.
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Those injections sound nasty – but essential.
:hug:
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Oh all right then … 30 days it is. It doesn’t actually hurt or anything, but it kind of grosses me out. AND it leaves tons of little bruises all over my belly that never seem to go away.
I’m doing them around 5pm because that’s the time they did them at the hospital, and I was told they should be done around the same time every day. But I forgot yesterday’s (it’s a weird time of day for me to remember) so I’m going to start setting my alarm before bed. Or maybe I should just start doing them in the morning? Except then I’d have to miss another day…
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After my gall bladder op they gave me this “toy” (which looked vaguely like the “incentive spirometer”) to prevent pneumonia. It looked like a kids toy with some vertical chambers with blue plastic balls in it. You had to breath in deeply to fill your lungs and breathing in caused the balls to float up.
I just Googled and found a video of the one that I used, in action…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDgvhZjz0g8
I look nothing like the fellow using it, BTW.
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