I arrived at 8am and decided to have a healthy breakfast for a chance. Instead of the full English I’ve been having, I opted for a pot of rice, pot of yoghurt and a banana. I got up to the ward at 8:33am to find Heather sleeping and some signs up on the wall about giving her assistance with eating. At present, her arms muscles are still quite weak so it’s necessary to help her with her eating.
At 9:17am, she had her morning wash and physio session. When that was done, her nurse Claire asked that, as she is eating now, I might like to note down some of her likes and dislikes with regard to food. So I started work on the list. She also said that Heather may be more comfortable in her own nighties, so I’ll take a couple in tomorrow for her to change into.
At 10:53am, two speech therapists dropped by to assess Heather’s speaking abilities. Margaret and Nicky arrived just as this was going on. However, she was awake a lot during the night and was too tired to really be of any use. They said they would come back later on. We also had a visit from Chris, one of the stroke nurses.
At 11:30am, Nicky got hold of the Daily Mail and started doing the crossword with Heather. I’m pleased to say that Heather seemed to enjoy providing answers to some of the questions. Admittedly, they were softly spoken, but it’s another mind taxing task that we can use on her to test her mental abilities.
Nicky then read a section of my blog to her. However, when she got to one of the sentimental parts, Heather started crying. Seeing her cry always sets me off as well, so blog reading came to a halt. Nicky and Margaret gave us a couple of minutes to be alone together.
Just after midday, Dr Pollock the neurologist dropped by. He gave Heather an initial assessment when she arrived in Clarke Ward three days ago and after conducting a few tests, was very encouraged by her progress. He said that it could be take she has had a minor stroke which could have caused a small amount of damage, but the MRI scan planned for Monday would identify this. He also suggested (as we have) that being kept on Propofol for 10 days may also be the reason for her slow recovery. Propofol is the sedative that was used in intensive care and it apparently takes a long time to leave fat cells, so the more fat you have, the longer it’ll take to leave your system. He also said that he’d like to move Heather to the stroke unit in the hospital for rehabilitation.
After his visit, Nicky and I left Margaret with Heather while we went for a short walk. She wanted to know how I was doing and I explained how hard it was for me to see Heather this way, despite all her continuing improvements. I then had a bit of a cry on her shoulder (I really must get it out; I bottle my emotions up too much). She suggested that I should do something silly and fun to take the weight off my shoulders for a while. I have to say that if this experience has done nothing else, it’s brought me closer to Heather’s family and Nicky (being of similar ago group to me) has been wonderful. I have only a brother. If I had a sister, I’d want her to be just like Nicky. She held me hand when we were both unsettled in ITU and gives me hugs whenever we meet. These may be small things, but they mean a lot to me.
At 12:20pm, the dietician came and discussed Heather’s food options with me. Shortly afterwards, lunch arrived. Today, she had poached fish in cheese sauce, mash and ice cream and she ate the lot!! It’s so good to see her eating solid food again, even though it’s a soft option and easy to swallow, but she needs easy to swallow food with her throat still healing from the tracheostomy.
After she had fallen asleep after lunch, I had lunch myself and took sometime to walk around the grounds of the hospital to get some much needed fresh air. I had a headache and breathing hospital air for that long isn’t good for anybody.
My mum arrived at 2:15pm, hopeful at seeing Heather awake for the first time in three weeks. Sadly, however, the morning’s activities had exhausted her and she slept during most of her visit, waking only occasionally.
Just after three, Claire came and found us to let us know that Heather was going to be moved to the stroke unit in the Kingston Ward. I hurriedly gathered up Heather’s belongings in preparation for the move. Mum left at 3:45pm and I helped her find her way to the corridor where she could find her way back to Martin in the car. By the time I got back to Heather, the porters had already arrived. After unplugging her bed and various equipment, we made our way through the corridors into the 1937 building and onto the Kingston Ward on the first floor.
Chris the stroke nurse who we met earlier was there along with nurse Wendy. She made sure Heather was settled into the ward, but had problems getting her saline drip to work. It was decided that Heather could either have another cannula fitted (which is a painful experience that Heather has ad enough of in the past three weeks) or she could get liquids simply by drinking. She chose the drinking option.
Heather was then moved into her new home in Ward F, along with two old ladies. The room is quite spacious, so there is much more room around the bed area.
Chris told us that they would prefer Heather to drink from a proper cup rather than a beaker, as apparently using a beaker bypasses the swallowing reflex and could make her choke (something I had made her do when I tried to get some lemon tea into her a few days ago). Not wanting to do that to her again, I agreed with the idea.
Just after 6pm, supper arrived. It consisted of country vegetable soup and a bowl of natural yoghurt. Heather ate both once again, although wasn’t keen on the green beans in the soup, which I filtered out for her. I then helped her drink a full glass of water to help wash it all down and increase her fluid intake, but which time it was nearly 6:30pm. I said my goodnights to Heather, got the ward’s direct phone number from Wendy and went to Sainsbury’s to get some cash before going back to Dad’s for dinner.
Despite Heather being more sleepy today thanks to a restless night, it was still a fairly positive day. Heather’s major achievement today was just as I left when she put both heads behind her head. Her arms were too weak a few days ago to have done that. I just hope that having her eating and drinking and being in a ward suited more towards her needs will allow her to get stronger each day and speed up the time before she can come home.
No comments:
Post a Comment