Hospital admission (still ongoing :-( and tribunal update (mmm - will my ex employer ever grow up???)

Hi All,

Well I was hoping to have been writing this from home by now but no such luck I'm afraid. Well, I came in to have my routine operation - the operation itself went fine. The general anaesthetic messed my chest about a little bit so I ended up on the ICU. I was on the ICU from the Wednesday through to the Friday evening where i still wasn't too great to be honest. The nurse on the ward wasn't happy with how i was from the moment she had handover and called the doctors to take a quick peek in on me.

This triggered my early warnings score to be high which increased the observations the nurses did, the more they checked them the worse my score got etc etc and then by midnight I was back under the radar of ICU again. I had a visit from a blogging buddy of mine KSD towards the beginning of the evening when things were very much not at their best and she stayed the night holding my hand and keeping me calm through the evening - even though misses wasn't well herself - Yes misses you know you weren't right (looks at KSD in a judgeful way but also very, very grateful of the company- and very sad you ended up captured post visiting me) :-(

On the Saturday one of the support workers was washing me when I got so breathless and wheezy it stopped in her tracks and she went to check my observations, they were a little low and high in all the wrong areas, so i was told to rest and given a neb! It helped a bit - then the docs were there again (the docs that visit you in PJ's - its never a good start when you see these guys as it never really boads well!!) Thankfully after yet more I'm OK really I'm oak's - they did think I was OK lol!!!

By Tuesday I was starting to wonder if i could keep people fooled much longer that i was OK, i was starting to struggle and really couldn't get why i was struggling so much, everything was pretty much the same except that i was again on oral theophylinne but it hadn't been oral that long and i didn't think It would have made much difference - yes some people had been really heavy handed with their antiperspirant sprays on this bay that am and there were also Lillis which never helps but still didn't feel there was a reason to feel quite so groggy!!!! After struggling most of the afternoon by the small hours of the morning the on call doc and ICU docs had restarted theophylinne infusion as levels were sub therapeutic run a dose of magnesium through and increased the oxygen to full 15 litres used on the wards.... I was then just waiting for a bed on the unit.

I went up to the unit for about 5 am the nurses on the ward had been great bless them and looked after me so well = the student nurse was lovely too sitting with my and holding my hand when i had ABG's (arterial blood gases) done - these are the single most horrendous blood tests ever and they hurt me so much now as i just dont have any access to vein or arteries due to them being so overused in the past. Its a nightmare!! I was on the unit they took blood and found that with the theophylinne in and now working i was able to utilise four times more oxygen - blimey - wonderdrug or what - i always said it had always worked for me and that i had always found it really helped - there was all the proof we needed!!! So after keeping a very close eye on me all of wed i was finally allowed back to my old bed space on the ward i had been on before lol- almost like I had never been away....

I settled back in well and was fine again till the theophylinne went back to an oral dose so we have been playing with dosage ever since and over the last weekend was my most recent blip where infusions and magnesium etc etc were restarted etc etc

It was all a bit soul destroying, when i was told I had a cellulitis infection from a cannula and wasn't to be given anymore venous access as i haven't been able to keep anything down for the entire admission really and have actually been sick on most days (worst being Tuesday evening and all day yesterday. I struggled all day and last night mentioned to a lovely nurse that I didn't think it was worth staying in if i wasn't doing anything that i couldn't do at home - I could still see the docs point and to be honest today i understood it a bit more (Ive got a bit more antibiotic in my system too lol!!


I tried sooo hard just to walk out of the hospital yesterday but didn't get very far at all as without the oxygen i was struggling with my breathing and with out any anti - emetic in me i was throwing up loads (not that there was even anything left to throw up!!) Gggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

The nurse was lovely as she let me come back to the ward - hardest bit?? - Accepting that they were actually right lol!! Think part of it was the temperature to be honest as its not something I would ever, ever do - it was just quite simply that i felt i was getting more and more infection into my system and that it was making me really poorly and no one was listening!! I did though realise that even if they do burn and sting like a bug**r an intra muscular cylizine injection was required!!

Anyways saw the docs today on ward round, they looked at my last cannula site and said ouch is it sore?? (Hell yes!!!!) Its bright red and the tracking starts from there the cannula was entered in a vein on my wrist/palm of hand (yes that hurt too - i can categorically say - never ever let them do one there!!!!!!) The doc mentioned nausea (still there - only managed tiny bit of soluble pred that morning not even the hydrocortisone!! and had thrown 3 lots of antibiotics up and not managed any of the anti fungals for the systemic candida!! My usual consultant who is a real susperstar came in to see me today aswell - he knows me better than anyone and also knows what my body can and cannot take sooooo it was great to see him taking charge over my protocol for the other docs to follow!!!

I also menetioned tribunal things - i missed a deadline for the end of june as i was too poorly to contact my solicitor when i was on the ICU, I contacted them last week prior to my laptop coming into the hospital for me :-) ( no more robyou line for me - its DVD's all the way lol!!)

Last week i promised the solicitor that i would email him the specs of my case before the 17th. Again ive been upto the ICU and almost ended up there again since i spoke to him last so i am hoping that the email i have sent him today will help and that if he needs any further information tomorrrow then i will give it to him via phone or email. My employers (ex that is) feel that this further demonstrates that they are caring employers as this is what it was like for them and think that the fact i am prolonging the case by being unwell - in their veiws this shows them im being unreasonable lol - they actually stated in writing that they felt that by delaying it all made them look better as they feel they shouldnt have to accomodate my illnesses anymore hahahahahahaha!!!

Anyways guys I will be getting the laptop out tomorrow at some point to speak so my solicitor so I will write another tribunal update soon as i can and hopefully keep you all posted on how i am gettng on physiotherapy and OT wise!!!

Take care all lotsa Lv
Xxxxxxx