Day 78 - Friday 15th July - Part One
Good News !!
But it didn't come straight away today ! :-(
I arrived just before 8.30am to a crying and very confused kp. She was so upset, one of the nurses was staying with her until I arrived. She didn't think she was in her room, and "the nurses wouldn't take her to her room" and she felt the nurses were "talking about her outside the room" and "conspiring" to convince kp that this was her room.
Now, of course, it was her room, but there was NO convincing Karen otherwise. It was heart-wrenching for the staff 'cos I think they are quite fond of Karen. There is one nurse who kp is particularly close with who had done a "Would I lie to you ?" speech to Karen, but even then kp wasn't convinced. The nurse involved was very concerned as I found out later.
When I arrived, the nurses caught me before I entered the room to update me as to this latest saga. When I entered the room, I could tell she was glad to see me. It was very heart-warming.
kp (crying) :- David, the nurses are trying to tell me that this is my room. There all talking about me outside, I know they are.
dp:- They are talking about you love, 'cos they are concerned about you. etc etc....
I basically gave her lots of reassurance, offered to take her around the ward again so she could get her bearings, and told her of all the other times she was confused, like when she saw spiders on the walls and it turned out to be a whiteboard. By the end of our chat, she felt much better, and the icing on the cake was the Doctor came in and explained why the anaesthetic drugs cause confusion and what she had experienced was natural etc....
Within an hour of me arriving, I would say we had the old kp back. She was chatty, smiling and NOT AT ALL suffering any signs of infection. This was my big fear from last night. Yay !!!!!!!!!!!
I said I would phone my mum and dad 'cos they were very concerned, and suggested kp speak to them which she did. They were thrilled to hear from her.
The morning went from initial sadness to happiness and just kept getting better until lunchtime.
The order of events was :-
Microbiologist
Marie had expressed concern to the nurse that we weren't sure what the state of all kp's infections were and that we would appreciate an update. kp's main nurse today arranged for the microbiologist to come round. She basically said that kp's buttock wound was infected with MRSA. MRSA = Methycillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (Methycillin being a type of Penicillin). The 2 drugs they had tried this week were not being effective against the MRSA, so she had advised the ward doctor to prescribe 2 other drugs which are taken orally. This is much better for kp, 'cos the intravenous ones have been stinging like hell. kp raised a fist at the "Modern Matron" today who was giving them to her they hurt that much. According to the Doctor, these new drugs should be effective. "Modern Matron" is the new title for the rank of people who are matrons but they don't do the old "Matron" duties. kp can't remember the title "Modern Matron" and so refers to this lady as "New Matron".
We asked if kp's blood had MRSA in. It can take 5-10 days to find this out, so we may need to wait another week for that.
Dietician
The dietician came round also. kp pretended to be asleep as she didn't want to discuss her diet. I did all the talking. She has to treat food like medicine and force it down. Otherwise the bugs win. That was the gist of her speech.
TV Cleaned
A lady came round to clean kp's tv. kp was laughing at the thought that she had all these problems going on and there was a lady here to clean her tv. We hid our laughter until she left.
Physio
The physios came and did their stuff with kp. They checked if she felt upto it, which was nice, and she did (which was great), so they got her into the wheelchair and did her exercises. kp shared the tv cleaner lady's visit with the physios and we had a giggle. If the physio hurt too much, kp just said "It's ok, at least my tv is clean". After physio, I took kp outside for a bit of fresh air, but it was a bit nippy and noisy (with the building works) so we came back in.
Lunch
Marie had brought in some fresh chicken that kp could have with the chips they bring round on a Friday Lunch. She said the chicken and chips tasted funny. I tried them both and they were delicious. I said she should force them down if she could and ignore the taste, which she did.
5 minutes later, the whole lot (including breakfast) came back up. Poor Cow ! They are going to change the time of the anti-sickness drugs so they are effective for mealtimes.
And that's it for this morning....
A much perkier kp today. The old kp is back in town ! :-)
Let's keep our fingers crossed that the infection's stay out of her way ! For the infection's sake !
But it didn't come straight away today ! :-(
I arrived just before 8.30am to a crying and very confused kp. She was so upset, one of the nurses was staying with her until I arrived. She didn't think she was in her room, and "the nurses wouldn't take her to her room" and she felt the nurses were "talking about her outside the room" and "conspiring" to convince kp that this was her room.
Now, of course, it was her room, but there was NO convincing Karen otherwise. It was heart-wrenching for the staff 'cos I think they are quite fond of Karen. There is one nurse who kp is particularly close with who had done a "Would I lie to you ?" speech to Karen, but even then kp wasn't convinced. The nurse involved was very concerned as I found out later.
When I arrived, the nurses caught me before I entered the room to update me as to this latest saga. When I entered the room, I could tell she was glad to see me. It was very heart-warming.
kp (crying) :- David, the nurses are trying to tell me that this is my room. There all talking about me outside, I know they are.
dp:- They are talking about you love, 'cos they are concerned about you. etc etc....
I basically gave her lots of reassurance, offered to take her around the ward again so she could get her bearings, and told her of all the other times she was confused, like when she saw spiders on the walls and it turned out to be a whiteboard. By the end of our chat, she felt much better, and the icing on the cake was the Doctor came in and explained why the anaesthetic drugs cause confusion and what she had experienced was natural etc....
Within an hour of me arriving, I would say we had the old kp back. She was chatty, smiling and NOT AT ALL suffering any signs of infection. This was my big fear from last night. Yay !!!!!!!!!!!
I said I would phone my mum and dad 'cos they were very concerned, and suggested kp speak to them which she did. They were thrilled to hear from her.
The morning went from initial sadness to happiness and just kept getting better until lunchtime.
The order of events was :-
Microbiologist
Marie had expressed concern to the nurse that we weren't sure what the state of all kp's infections were and that we would appreciate an update. kp's main nurse today arranged for the microbiologist to come round. She basically said that kp's buttock wound was infected with MRSA. MRSA = Methycillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (Methycillin being a type of Penicillin). The 2 drugs they had tried this week were not being effective against the MRSA, so she had advised the ward doctor to prescribe 2 other drugs which are taken orally. This is much better for kp, 'cos the intravenous ones have been stinging like hell. kp raised a fist at the "Modern Matron" today who was giving them to her they hurt that much. According to the Doctor, these new drugs should be effective. "Modern Matron" is the new title for the rank of people who are matrons but they don't do the old "Matron" duties. kp can't remember the title "Modern Matron" and so refers to this lady as "New Matron".
We asked if kp's blood had MRSA in. It can take 5-10 days to find this out, so we may need to wait another week for that.
Dietician
The dietician came round also. kp pretended to be asleep as she didn't want to discuss her diet. I did all the talking. She has to treat food like medicine and force it down. Otherwise the bugs win. That was the gist of her speech.
TV Cleaned
A lady came round to clean kp's tv. kp was laughing at the thought that she had all these problems going on and there was a lady here to clean her tv. We hid our laughter until she left.
Physio
The physios came and did their stuff with kp. They checked if she felt upto it, which was nice, and she did (which was great), so they got her into the wheelchair and did her exercises. kp shared the tv cleaner lady's visit with the physios and we had a giggle. If the physio hurt too much, kp just said "It's ok, at least my tv is clean". After physio, I took kp outside for a bit of fresh air, but it was a bit nippy and noisy (with the building works) so we came back in.
Lunch
Marie had brought in some fresh chicken that kp could have with the chips they bring round on a Friday Lunch. She said the chicken and chips tasted funny. I tried them both and they were delicious. I said she should force them down if she could and ignore the taste, which she did.
5 minutes later, the whole lot (including breakfast) came back up. Poor Cow ! They are going to change the time of the anti-sickness drugs so they are effective for mealtimes.
And that's it for this morning....
A much perkier kp today. The old kp is back in town ! :-)
Let's keep our fingers crossed that the infection's stay out of her way ! For the infection's sake !
posted by David Pollard at Friday, July 15, 2005
2 Comments:
Chuffed to bits that you are getting back to your chipper self, what a relief. Hope the MRSA gets kicked into touch quickly too.
Hasd a good laugh at the vision of David with his willy stuck in the bed, the things he does to amuse you ( and us!!)
Hope you keep well enough for another visit ( not sure if that's a promise or a threat-don't answer!!)
See you soon
Sue
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