Back to hospital this morning for dressing clinic, nice and early at 8:30 so we arrive just after eight and with two large cakes and a couple of hand made thank you cards our first stop is L38 to go say hi to some of the staff who took care of me.
They seem pleased to see how well I was looking and even more pleased when I handed over the card and of course the large chocolate cake and carrot cake! Next stop HDU, L39 to hand them their card and to let them know about getting a share of the cakes! They seemed also pleased to see me but took a little time to work out who I was, until I mentioned the puppet show! They hadn't recognised me because I was now looking so much better!
It was lovely seeing some of the staff who had taken such good care of me during my eleven day stay at the LGI and I think it was nice for them to see me looking so well. So we waved goodbye and set off back downstairs to the plastics dressing clinic!
We didn't have too long to wait but I suddenly began to feel a little unwell, whether it had been the excitement of giving out gifts or some anxiety about having dressings removed I don't know but I had come over all hot, felt sick and a little light headed!
I was soon called and seen by a lovely nurse who looked after me, gave me a drink of water and made me feel at ease. Once I was feeling fine again she began to take away the dressings, firstly from the top then from my tummy, giving everything a good clean. She said how good everything looked but just needed to get a doctor to look at my new tummy button. So I was given a cup of tea and asked just to wait a little while.
Sometime later and one of the surgeons on the team that worked on me arrived to take a look. He was very happy with how the new breast was looking and pleased that it all now seemed clear of the infection that had caused some concern during my stay in hospital although did appear to show some concern over my new tummy button and told me to continue with the antibiotics prescribed and that some of the flesh on top had died but that didn't necessarily mean that it was dead underneath! So they are going to keep an eye on it and hopefully with the aid of the antibiotics it will all prove to be perfectly fine!
So with dressings off and cleaned and new smaller dressings and a bag of replacement dressings I am now told that I am allowed to shower!!!!! Whoopee!
We leave the hospital and go walking towards town thinking I should eat breakfast we call in to oniels for a nice cooked breakfast. After this we took a walk towards trinity thinking
the gentle exercise would do me good. It wasn't long before I began to feel quite tired, my legs began to feel heavy and shaky! It was time to go home. I needed to lay down!
We arrived home to find a parcel had been delivered, a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Nicks Mum and Dad, they look gorgeous! Nick got me all sorted and comfy on my new garden swing and I was beginning to feel relaxed! Before long two ladies arrived with yet more gorgeous flowers and a massive crate of fresh fruit courtesy of all my colleagues at Castleton. What a lovely gift, thank you everyone.
Soon I was sug as a bug and fast asleep on my garden swing I was quite exhausted and slept there pretty much for the whole afternoon!
Nick cooked me a lovely dinner, i have been visited by my sister and Bro in- law. I am so lucky to have so many people who care about me, I am grateful and I feel so loved
Thank you everyone for all your kind support x x
So what did I learn today?
ReplyDelete1) the male equivalent on the ward, of a "sister" is a "charge nurse" and not as I wanted it be, a " brother"
2) Mandy"s tummy scar looks just right for years of fun at the seaside, with comments like, " yes there are sharks round here, and yes they will bite you, but just do what I did and punch them in the eye"
3) the quickest way to almost pass out, is to give away your favourite chocolate cake knowing there is no possibility of ever getting a taste...I just knew it wouldn't end well.