Here I go again....

 This has been quite a week! Last weekend I saw an emergency GP as I was still feeling so rough, and my urine was still showing an infection so I was given stronger pain killers, more antibiotics and anti sickness drugs (which do nothing at all) on Wednesday I was feeling even worse so called 111 who sent an ambulance due to the possibility of sepsis!

The ambulance did all the sepsis checks and decided I was fine, but phoned my GP to ensure they were going to check up on me...on Dr called me that night having agreed with the paramedic he was going to call on Friday! He agreed during that call that he would call again on Friday; but on Thursday morning the Dr I had spoken too before called me and said I needed to go straight to A&E! Andy was about to go into work so he changed all his plans and got cover for what he was going to do! I was dropped off at A&E, but nobody was allowed to stay with me once I had passed the covid checks...so I got to wave goodbye through the window with a request to send updates every hour! I'm not sure what Mikey was doing, but he did raise a smile from oy companion patients!

I saw a Dr quite quickly and was told I would be admitted and they were going to do scans and blood tests. For once I was cannulated quickly and also gave up my blood with no real issues! Not like me to be so helpful...

After being returned to the waiting room for a wait, (thank heavens for my Kindle) I was called back in and attached to a slow drip to rehydrate my kidneys and provide a urine sample. Sorry for the detail, but what I provided appeared to be a collection of blood clots!

I was eventually moved to what used to be CDU, I can't remember it's new initials and I had to have a covid test before I was taken there. The results didn't come back for well over 24 hours so I'm relieved I came back negative! All wards are now mixed, last time I was in there that was not the case, but most wards in the hospital seem to be changing rapidly. I started off in one corner but was soon moved to a middle bed on the opposite side; but the sight of another patient head butting a window to escape was harrowing to sat the least and the smashed window was rapidly blocked . I feel his head will take longer to heal then it takes to put new toughened glass back in, the amount of blood he lost did not help my stomach to stop churning...

Once all was cleaned up and he was moved to a different area, we were left to sleep. I had more of less got my bed at the angle I wanted and snuggled under my blanket...But then the snoring began. In the past I have moaned, frequently, about the noise my husband produces. But compared to my ward fellows he is a complete amateur. I ended up chain watching Call the Midwife and listening to Spotify Playlists all night!   At one point I was seriously considering singing along with Hamilton etc but I was good and didn't! Once I had my morning obs done and the next lot of blood extracted I tried sleeping again but that did not happen. 

The Dr I saw the day before appeared and asked what I wanted them to do, so me being me I said go home and he agreed!  But then the waffling started... As requested I produced another urine test to be dipped - I was quite happy with it as no visible clots and not cloudy! But soon an HCA appeared with the readout and it was promptly sent to the lab. I thin got visited by a nurse who said my scan would be done on Saturday...ehe left and another nurse arrived to tell me it would be at 4.10 that afternoon. Confused? I was.

The porter arrived to deliver me for my Ultrasound which was done quickly (and painfully) but they found both kidneys...the left is still smaller than the right but they are unable to rule out early Pyelonephritis with this scan. I also have a wavy renal outline due to CKD whatever that means!! I was soon risked back to my bed and if I'm honest by this point I was close to collapsing simply due to being totally exhausted and needing sleep! I quickly got comfy again and asked for pain relief and something to stop me feeling sick. I was then attacked to paracetamol and anti sickness via IV which worked really quickly which felt fantastic. After the handover to the night staff it was decided my drip was too slow so it was speeded up; this led to my vein blowing and  the liquid pouring out of my arm! Their answer was to open it up fully until it finished and then just disconnect me!

Needless to say at this point I was not happy but then the ward sister appeared and basically moved 3/6 of us to a different ward! We are still not sure why, but it lead to some worries that someone had been in with Covid as the 3 they moved were due to be released on the Saturday... But all I was thinking was I would be moved somewhere quiet so I could get some sleep!! I know it was selfish but that was all I wanted! I was moved into a corner in AMU; what I didn't notice was that the window was open before I passed out! The following morning the nurses were doing their best to get some blood out of me - I obviously was not in such a helpful frame of mind as it really hurt. But they eventually got enough so I retired behind my curtains and got dressed again and waited for the Drs to do their rounds. \As it was the weekend I got the trainees again who really do not like passing on results! But thanks to Patient View I get to see them anyway! He decided I was fine to go home as they are unable to do anything to reduce my pain levels - although he has given me a prescription for tramadol as that is the strongest painkiller my kidneys can safely tolerate. He also kindly advised that the pain is unlikely to reduce and I will just have to get used to it. Maybe he would like to explain this to my husband and son who are going to have to put up with me dealing with this? My GP are not keen on prescribing Tramadol as they feel paracetamol is perfectly adequate...

Apparently I am also going to need another load of blood tests in 7 days, so I'm going to need to extract the forms from my GP and book in at the hospital as the practice nurses find me impossible to extract blood from...so yet another trip to WHH risking Covid infection whilst I'm being drained again.