Its the 12th March.
Awake around 0330hrs.
Restless again.
Night time in the hospital is pretty rough. For the first few nights they'd fitted a catheter so pissing wasnt really an issue.
Five hours or so laid out in the desert meant that I was pretty dehydrated. They stuck a drip in for that.
Pain was pretty bad. They stuck a drip in for that too.
Not sure what the flow rate was on these drips, but one thing was for sure, I was pissing for England. After a few days they took the catheter out for fear of infection. I got a bottle hooked on the side of the bed and I was filling it twice a night. This meant calling a nurse to empty it - and hoping they would remember to bring another (sometimes they didnt).
The morning routine was relentless too. Much the same for everyday - here's Fridays;
0515hrs Nurse checks in to monitor pain levels
0518hrs Tea arrives
0540hrs Begin physio (15mins each leg)
0555hrs Medication arrives
0600hrs Blood pressure, temperature and sats
0830hrs Breakfast
0845hrs Doctor
0848hrs Bed bath and sheets change
Tuesday 15th March
1400hrs
A turning point.
Its two weeks exactly since my accident and its the first day I've managed a proper crap on the bedpan. Felt like a weeks worth. I'm going to celebrate with a coke and then a beer.
The UK medical consultants phoned again today. They're keen to get me back to the UK but I'm not going anywhere until the risk of thrombosis has subsided. They've stopped the meds in the drip now too and so I'm on a fairly standard Ibuprofen and paracetamol mix every 4 hours. They've got some little green and white ones I can take in the night if the pain gets too much. These are in addition to the tablets to increase my red blood cells (as I lost a sh*t load to internal bleeding) and the blood thinning tablets to stop me from keeling over due to thrombosis.
The sleeping tablets arent worth a toss. I leave it as late as possible to take them, but I'm awake again by 0300hrs and too restless to sleep. The pain killers usually wear off about an hour before I get the next ones.
I'm going to try and get by without the sleeping tablets tonight. Apparently I've been on them for 9 days. I thought it was five.
Mias called in again today too. I havent mentioned him before. He's my shrink.
The hospital sent him to see me when I had a bit of an episode a few days into my stay.
He's worried about PTSD. Particularly as this is my second vehicle related near miss in the last couple of years. By rights, I shouldn't have walked away from either of them. Excuse the pun.
On a lighter note - I've managed to get the kitchen to switch the pilchards to springbok pie and chips. The menu is a seven day rolling one and there's a couple of days that I really cant stomach. The hot tuna flan is the other.
Saturday 19th March
Woohoo.
Got my hands on a laptop (thanks Rachel) and a borrowed dongle,- so I've just about enough time to get online and let some friends know about the accident.
2030hrs.......been doing some sums and I've calculated that I have now been laying in this bed for 433hours non stop.
All Good Things Come To an End...
Monday 21st March 0330hrs...
I am joined in my room by another patient. Up to now I have been fortunate enough to have a two man room to myself.
No idea what's wrong with him or where he's from. He doesnt appear injured, although they took some blood for a malaria test this morning.
I reckon he's European. He's not English or Afrikaans that's for sure.
Actually I wasn't entirely alone in my room before. I spotted a mouse run accross the floor yesterday. He kept poking his head out from underneath the other bed. Just so long as he doesnt get too comfy in my kit bag, or try and crawl under my sheets - I dont mind. The nurses have been chasing him from one room to another over the last few days. He's been spotted in the kitchen too. Some contractors left a door open and he's crept in from the garden.
Italian.
I said hello to him twice this moning but he wasn't having any of it. Not so much as a nod or a Ciao.
F*ck him.
I chuckled as his card wouldnt work in the portable machine. His insurers arent going to cough up either. Apparently - they say he isnt sick enough. The doctor cant find anything in his blood, and has noticed a mild urinary infection.
He looked one of those fragile types. There must have been seven Italians bombarding him and gesticulating this morning...IN MY ROOM.
My eye-tye isnt too good but by the sound of things - they think he should drag his sorry arse out of hospital ASAP. He wanted to stay but by mid day his stuff had been packed up and he'd left with his tail between his legs and a bill for N$8000.
"Ciao".
Solo again now. Thank goodness. I hadnt relished the thought of my bedpan issues with him laying 4ft away.
Scan scheduled for tomorrow and then hopeully a chair pretty soon afterwards. Still holding back on my expectations. I'm not healing too good. Got some cuts and grazes still and a few mozzie bites I got the other night have now gone septic. The spider bites (have I told you about those?) are still rotten too.
Small World
A chap came to have a few words whilst I was outside today. I'd asked the nurses to wheel my bed out in to the sunshine for a while.
I've seen him up and down the corridors and he looked familiar. An introduction confirmed this. It was Hu Berry. Former head honcho of the MET up at Etosha. I'd heard and read a lot about him over the last ten years or so and it was great to put a face to the name. We spent hours together over the next few days and it was great to have someone else to talk too. He knew some friends of mine up at Etosha and when I mentioned my work with EHRA - he knows Jo and Rachel too.
Nice chap.
He's in at the hospital with some troubles of his own. I'm certainly not going to elaborate, but I hope he makes a full recovery soon.
Tues 22nd March
The Big Day.
Scan looms, although the day didnt start well. I went without the sleeping tablets again last night and suffered for it. Held off on the painkillers too, so I was awake by around 0300hrs.
Mr Mouse is back. heard him rustling around in a carrier bag I have down on the floor. There's a Dairy Milk wrapper in there and he's after the chocolate. He's probably set up home amonst my socks and boxers. I'm butt naked (mostly) under the hospital gown and / or the bedclothes, so right now - at least someone is making use of them.
And so the regime rolls on...
...by 0530hrs this morning I've already had tea, meds and stats done.
1131hrs
Scan done. A surprisingly tricky transfer from my hospital bed to the scanner flatbed. I still needed help moving my legs as I could move them sideways on my own.
The doc is down at Walvis bay today so she wont be casting her eyes over the results until tomorrow. Hopes of a discharge by Friday are fading.
I've been slack with my physio over the past few days as I seem to be in increased pain.
1900hrs
Crap.
Ruan has been in and has had a cursory look a the scans. The smile went. Seems to be less healing than hoped. This will effect my ability to stand in the short term and possibly give some problems in the long term.
I'm just praying they dont decide to open me up.
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