Percy!!

Hi All,

Again I apologise that I have again neglected you all. Its been a little crazy recently so I thought that I'd update you all and let you all know what I have been up to.

I'm feeling a lot better than I did a few weeks ago but I am on the whole much much better.

After getting home from hospital I had a few days of resting, caught up on my sleep and then felt so much better once I had had a couple of days proper rest - The hospital is not a great place to rest lol!! In fact its the worst place to rest!! I was in the bay right next to the nurses station - its the bay that they put people they need to keep an eye on (I always end up on that bay and it frustrates me everytime!) It is usually filled with the patients who are a certain age and wander - even though they cant wander too well. This admission was no exception!! I shared my little 4 bed bay with several patients during the course of the month -

Several shouters - these are not great room mates as they seem to wait till your fast asleep before randomly shouting stuff out and waking everyone up!!!

The dementia patients - Many different challenges with these whether it be them wandering over to your bed thinking its theirs or routing through your cupboards or just generally being totally confused.

Wanderers - These are the ladies usually >80 years old who are very unsteady on their feet, have a history as long as the Argos catalogue of falls and yet still insist that they need to walk about. This category further divides into those that wander lots during the day but sleep at night - these are not too bad and it is possible to cope with these roomies and then those that wander only at night or both!!The ones that wander at night can sometimes be stopped by locking them into the beds - putting the cot sides down etc etc - however there are a few crafty elderly folks that cannot be stopped even cot sides dont stop them - they manage - somehow to clamber out of the bed and unsteadily wander round - occassionally resulting in another fall which further extends their stay in the hospital and means they stay in the high observation bey for even longer - oh yes - I had one of these wanderers this admission - welll, several really but one in particular!!! grrrrr!!!

To say that whilst I was in the hospital I spent most of my time on high alert as to whether my roomies were gonna stand up wander and do themselves a mischeif is a total understatement. I think the longest I went was 4 days with about 2 hours sleep in the whole time. I felt ill and had a temperature and was taking slow release morphine among other things - Im sure I was seeing things and iI kept talking to nurses etc then when I looked round they weren't there - needless to say I never mentioned that to them for fear they'd think i had gone bonkers too - then that same night I totally crashed out and slept so heavily I forgot where I was and aparrently I became one of the dreaded shouty patients lol!!!

Anyways, During this latest admission I was just generally worn out physically, menatlly and emotionally - I came home just feeling totally exhausted and drained. During the admission my arm got a nasty cellulitis infection which I actually still have and i still have a rather pronounced phlebitis! Some of my cannula marks are still rather sore and I have phlebitis in a couple of them still - I think this is still from one of the nurses who doesn't listen!! One of my favorite nurses on the ward I was on said that when a patient says a drug stings you take a mental note of it but when several patients say the same thing you take notice and try and make it better. Well the really lovely nurse - she could give me cyclizine without it feeling like cyclizine - never ever stung at all!! She was so gentle, diluted it and gave it very very slowly over a minute or so. Other nurses just seemed to be in so much of a rush they didnt listen when you say it stings a lot and injected it sooooo quickly that it felt like they had put red hot acid into your bloodstream - it then burnt its way from cannula to your heart and you felt it all the way round!!! Very very painful!!!

Anyways - I went to eye casualty on wednesday as after my appointment at my GP surgery on the tuesday they saw my wacky pupils - my eyes have been doing some very very odd things recently with one pupil being very much larger than the other - it was checked out at eye casualty and I am all ok so no worries!! Once I had finished at eye casualty - I popped up to the ward and took some chocolates, toffee and a card. They are so lovely on there. The sister in charge bless her didnt recognise me at first in my clothes as oposed to my PJ's :-) I also saw the student nurse who was looking after me when I was there - she is lovely too and I really hope that the rest of her course goes well - she has all the great qualities that a good nurse needs - compassion, care, knowledge and she is a fab listener - also very good at holding your feet down whilst evil doctors canulate your feet but i will forgive her for that lol!!! I had a cup of coffee made by the student nurse - she makes the best coffee :-) I sat and had a little chat to some of the staff on the ward before popping up to the ICU - I didnt go in as its bad enough as a patient up there to be brutily honest - but i wanted to take a card and some chocolates up to them as they have looked after me several times before and I was so grateful to everything that they do and have done for me!

On Tuesday - I went and picked up my new car. I got him on the motability scheme and he is just amazing - i finally have my independence back again which is just fabulous. I have done so much driving round since I got him (He is called percy by the way - hense the title of this post) :-) On wednesday - i popped to see my friend in grantham and had a lovely couple of hours with her then on friday I went to manchester to the trafford centre with a mate from AUK - we had a great time it was funny - she had to push me in a chair though as they didnt have any electric ones grrrr - dont think I would have managed to walk all the way round there its massive I just wouldnt have managed without borrowing a chair from shop mobility! I got home late last night and slept really badly last night.

My carer left me in bed today as I really didnt feel that well - I think I have overdone it a bit the last couple of days!! I have enjoyed just having a rest today though its been really nice and calm!!

Tomorrow is my birthday!! Eeeek!!! Another year older! It is something that has very much snuck up on me this year - I am looking forwads to going for a nice meal with two of my good friends!! We are going to a lovely country pub that i havent been able to get too for a while as i havent had a car!! It will be a lovely day i am sure but i really do miss my family. My family and I are going to celebrate my birthday in a couple of weeks when i get back there!!! Im looking forwards to seeing Harry Potter for my birthday too!!! :-)

Anyways - that brings me up to date again - I am really sorry for my neglect there is just no real excuse i can give except that I have just been trying to recharge my batteries and get myself fit again. Its also been a very odd week getting used to my carers and used to the new routines of things etc etc.

On the tribunal front I received a letter asking me to give dates that i definatly couldnt make a tribunal. I hope to hear exactly when the tribunal will be soon and as always I will keep you posted on this little fight for justice (so to speak!!)


Take care everyone hope you are all well.

Lotsa lv Rattles Xxxx