Its traumatic being hoisted out of
the bed on to the Ambulance Crew’s stretcher/trolley, interesting, I suppose
it’s down to ‘Ambulance chasing lawyers/culture but the paramedics wouldn’t
touch the hoist as “We’re not trained to use it”, thankfully Andy has the
necessary skills and experience even though he’s never been trained to use it
either… The paramedics have been here before and they’re amazed at the ramp, it
makes life so much easier for them.
Whilst all this was happening Andy
got a call from Mary the Staff Nurse on Ward 26, they’d had a call saying I am
on my way in & to make room for me… Mary is lovely, she has an amazing
smile and I can tell her affection is genuine towards me, I know Andy thinks
she’s a babe and I’m certain he has a crush on her hehe, I don’t blame him… The
reality is though Ward 26 is full and I have to dig my heels in, as in “Under
no circumstances move any patient to make room for me, this is a ‘nice to do’
not 'need to do' Andy told Mary we would not be pleased if this happened. Mary
knew the head of the Medical Evaluation Unit and the reality is this apparently
is where I should be so she was personally taking my file down to MEU and the
Ambulance crew were briefed to take me there not to Ward 26.
Andy followed in his car, this is a
non-emergency so I know he may need to shoot off and I know despite my slight
panicking that I’m in safe hands and I’ll see him shortly anyway.
In the MEU I’m warmly greeted and the
team are expecting me, it’s incredibly busy in here. Once settled in to a bay
it’s the usual observations, I have blood taken so that it can be matched for
the transfusion, I’m ‘O positive’. I saw a doctor later on and he informed me
I’d need two units of blood, the first would be transfused over two hours, the
second over ninety minutes, hehe I’ll probably sleep through it, it’s what I do
best these days.
Tests & observations kept coming.
Around lunch time Jill Galvani, Director of Nursing appeared to say hi, how
kind it was for her to come and see me. You’ll recall many blogs ago Andy was
on the warpath ‘demanding’ a meeting with Arrowe park’s CEO, he’s not told you
yet but.. He had his way and met with him also with Jill, there were also
another four senior level people from other agencies involved in patient
discharge and palliative care. Part of the outcome of this meeting has been a
professional bond and level of respect between Jill and Andy and she has kindly
extended that to regularly checking on how I am including this as Andy calls
them hehe ‘Royal Visit’… You can always see the mix of query and ‘what is Ms
Galvani doing on our ward trepidation’, then you can see the ‘Why is she
visiting Julie?’ Andy always smiles with his people watching hobby lol, the
reality is there is nothing sinister to the visit other than Jill wanting to say
hi and to see me; we share a love of Joe Malone’s Pear & Freesia perfume.
Jill informed me I was to be moved to Ward 26 later as three beds and been
vacated (for the right reasons) due to discharges and she wanted me to be with
‘friends’ as in the team who cared for me for a month not that long ago, I’m
grateful, whilst I’d have no qualms about going on any ward it’s nice to be
going where I know people.
So my first transfusion started, they
decided the easiest way to transfuse me was via a line already in my upper arm.
The cannulas they slide into your wrists when they give you fluid or take blood
etc can only stay in your veins for a few days, for poorly patients like me to
save constantly ‘stabbing you’ hehe I’m kidding, well no I’m not, you do feel
each needle insertion and, it’s a long story but I’ve few good veins to take
blood from these days, often veins will ‘collapse’ making them no good for
extracting blood, The line in my upper arm is different it’s called a ‘Picc
line’ stands for Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter. These have to be
inserted by specialists for a long line is feed through your veins until it
gets to a larger vein in your or in this case, my chest. Once these are in they
can be kept in for long periods of time, the nurses have to what they call
flush the line once a week it has a neat little cap on it.
So, meanwhile back to the
transfusion, being given the wrong type of blood can result in serious injury
or even death so it’s a serious matter and two nurses cross check all the data
on the paperwork and on the pack of blood, they have to record the batch
numbers, the type and all sorts of other stuff, they must verbally confirm each
point with each other its funny I’m not sure why it amuses me but some say yes,
some say check or others hehe ‘I concur’ . You don’t really feel anything and
I’m relatively sleepy anyway, the blood is meant to build up my haemoglobin
levels which should give me more energy and stop the lethargy, watch out Mr
Shute hehe.. By the time the first transfusion was over it was decided it was
time to move me up to ward 26, I’m
almost mobbed with hugs and Kisses, I’m in just as the shift handover occurs,
Mary, her face just exudes joy, hehe no wonder Mr Shute keeps bringing the team
iced lollies. I’m teasing him, I’ve never minded him looking and I know he’s
not going to start wandering now, lol he should be so sodding lucky with all
these gorgeous nurses about – you’re approaching pension age Mr Shute! Hehe..
On a more serious note, yes I truly hope my frog prince finds happiness again
one day..
It had already been decided earlier
in the day that I’d be an overnight patient, just as well for it seems reserves
of O positive blood are low in the blood bank so I cannot get my second top up
until tomorrow morning anyway. I’m fretting for I don’t want Andy to leave me;
common sense says he must even though the ward team were happy for him to stay
with me for the night. I needed a clean nightie and in the end Andy made the
decision, the lovely Lauren was with me in my bay and we both knew I was in
safe hands, it was gone ten before he left the ward.
Mr Shute wants in with his little
bit, suppose I’d better let him hehe.
It’s him here again… Sadly whilst the
intention was for Julie to just let me have a waffle then for her to pick up
the blog again she’s take a serious turn for the worst and it is back to me writing
future blogs and finishing this one, it’s ironic for the next piece whilst I
wanted to put it in, it’s probably best Julie doesn’t see it.
It had been a hard day, the days are
so draining especially most mornings for it just goes carers, half hour break,
Nurses then straight back into carers, one minute its 07.00 the next it’s one
o’clock! Today was different for it was straight to Arrowe Park Hospital,
there’s a lot of just standing around and its incredibly tiring daft as it
seems, As they settled Julie in I shot up to ward 26 and saw the senior Staff
Nurse Mary, yes as Mrs Shute says ‘She is cute’ but I’m a happily married man &
Mary’s probably snapped up already anyway. Mary is pleased to see me and I
apologise for the earlier confusion and Mary was apologising for having no room
on the ward, it’s truly no big deal but I’m old fashioned and prefer to do
things like this in person.
So all went to plan except for the
blood bank being low on blood plus well its better Julie is transfused during
the day. Julie is so fretful these days, very clingy, she knows she’s poorly
she’s understandably scared; none of us mention the ‘dying’ word but we are
acutely aware of the reality of things; things can totally turn on their head
in twenty four hours now.
The transfusion went to plan on MEU
and yes Jill Galvani came to visit which was lovely, the team in MEU were
excellent coping well in difficult circumstances and under pressure, it seems
we are a very unhealthy or a poorly nation. I know Julie is in safe hands
especially on Ward 26 she’s had a restful day before she was moved up to Ward
26, on entering the ward, there is a mini stampede as the shift change had just
happened, Staff Nurse Mary was heading towards us, what an amazing and genuine
smile, she bent down and hugged Julie like a long lost friend, there were more
hugs then the oh so bubbly Lauren was by Julie’s trolley side as she was
wheeled onto the bay Lauren was on. I’m not sure what it is that Julie has but
she has the ability to attract friends of all ages and status, she always has
since the day I met her, the genuine love shown by this ward team demonstrates
it to this day as does her newly found friend ship with Eve.
It had been a long day, Julie is
still fretting and stressing and it’s getting late, I hadn’t realised just how
late, the team had offered to let me stay with Julie, initially I thought I’d
stay then I remembered Julie would need her overnight bag and a clean nightie I
had to go home, it’s better that I leave Julie to the nursing team plus it’s
not fair to the other five patients in the bay and I need my sleep, what I wasn’t
prepared for was how walking into our empty home would ‘hit me’. I walked up
the ramp and through the door a door I’ve walked through thousands of time, it’s
a big house but it always has a ‘warm’ feeling about it. I walked into the
dining room that now doubles as Julie’s bedroom, bathroom & lounge.. The
emptiness of the bed hit me like a sledgehammer, I just broke down and sobbed,
in that moment I knew this would be the reality one day, one day I will stare
or sit by this empty bed knowing Julie will never be back in it. I made my way
up the stairs to what was ‘our bedroom’ that’s become ‘my bedroom’ and cried
myself to sleep, it’s subtle changes like this that have crept in over time, I
need my sleep, I need to get back to focussing about Julie and not feeling
sorry for me.
Friday morning and I’m on the ward
early, they’ve not long served breakfast and
Julie needed hoisting on to the commode, she’s afraid of the team hurting her,
this is a different type of harness and yesterday in MEU without realising as Julie
wasn’t quite in the harness properly one of the nurses decided to give it a
quick tug, she meant no harm but the material of the harness whilst soft has
firm edges for obvious reasons, pulling material in one direction against soft
human skin can only have one outcome for a patient with a low threshold for
pain, Julie screamed out, I had to intervene both to prevent further tugging
but also to reassure and help Julie. I sometimes step in, I make no apology for this, if things aren't right like this staff need to be aware, Julie often says to me "you need to sit in the harness and be hoisted Mr Shute", to staff I'd ask you consider the impact of tugging or shoving etc... I try to stay out of the way most of the
time but often Julie wants me there just for reassurance, do I enjoy sitting
there with her once she’s on the commode? No not really but she’s my wife and
she wants me there, it’s what I feel I have to do. On 26 I did forewarn the
team just as a courtesy, I knew their level of care for Julie would mean
minimum fuss and no pain. Mid-morning the latest unit of blood arrived and I
took the opportunity to escape for half an hour, it’s going to be a warm day
which means the ward staff will be baking, I dashed to Sainsbury’s and grabbed
a variety of iced lollies (or as locals call them ‘lolly ices’) and ice creams
on sticks and quickly dashed back with three carrier bags full, they’re mainly
on offer so you can get a lot of lollies for your money. As I walked on the ward
it was instant recognition of heat relief, they’re so grateful, I’m eternally
grateful… Julie decided she wanted a pink magnum, what the lady wants, the lady gets...
Julie’s transfusion is almost
finished and an ambulance has been called to take her home, again we have a
stream of nurses wanting to hug & kiss Julie goodbye, it was only a short
wait. The crew that turned up had been to our house for Julie before but this was
prior to the ramp, they were pleasantly surprised how easy it was to get Julie’s
stretcher in. Once in again I had to operate the hoist to get Julie back in to
bed. It’s been a tiring two days, whether the transfusion helps or not time
will tell….
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