Well this isn't going to plan.
I left home on Sunday afternoon and few to Glasgow and then, given the parlous situation with trains and busses and the fact that I was supposed to be isolating as much as possible before going into hospital, I took a taxi to Ayr and stayed the night in the Ayrshire and Galloway Hotel. It was lovely to stay in a smallish non-concrete, glass and steel box hotel. The staff (yes there were staff) were exceptionally helpful and friendly and the food was excellent. I'll not hesitate to stay there again.
The hotel is unprepossessing and at the end of Ayr High Street which, like many other town centres has, unfortunately, passed its sell-by date.
I went for a walk along its length and got the impression that more that half of the properties were empty.
I came into hospital in Ayr on Monday morning with a view to getting my uretic stent changed and being home and back in harness on Tuesday evening.
I'm still in hospital. The operation went very well. It's always good to see a surgeon who's been working on you looking happy. Mr Meddings looked delighted. So was I. He's been my saviour over the last 5 years.
On Tuesday I started off feeling fine and then went downhill with my temperature going up and my blood pressure plummeting. I slept for 10 hours Tuesday night and woke this morning still feeling less than great. My temperature was higher again and my BP lower this morning but as I write this I'm feeling a bit more chipper and hoping, once again, that everything will sort itself out and I'll be home tomorrow. At least I'm in a hospital and have a bed. The worst possible scenario would be to be discharged and then have to end up in an A & E in another hospital.
The oddest thing about this hospital visit has been being on a mixed ward. I recall when they were mooted many moons ago in hospitals there was a huge uproar. Women wouldn't be able to cope with men in the same room in hospital circumstances. As it happens I'm the only man on this ward. No one batted an eyelid when I was wheeled in. There doesn't seem to be any fuss on any side.
The one thing I have discovered though is that men and women discuss completely different things on my small sample of mixed wards. Women don't talk about football. Men don't talk about their operations or procedures. Women, where they can, race for a shower in the morning. Men don't. Men and women are equally squeamish about having blood removed and needles stuck in them. Men keep asking when they can get out. Women don't. Women are very friendly on the ward and interact a lot (including with the man). Men tend to look for some common acquaintances or past connection with others in the ward and if there isn't one then then football takes over.
I'm feeling a lot better. Hopefully I'll be home tomorrow.
Do hope Mr Meddings gets to the bottom of the raised temperature and lowered BP, and that you are fully fit before your discharge.
ReplyDeleteI tried to walk up and down Ayr High Street last year when on a one-night campervan stopover. As you say, passed its sell-by date.
Jayne, my temperature and blood pressure are back to normal and I'm feeling better so I'm hoping for a discharge tomorrow.
DeleteGood to hear you are now heading in the right direction. I thought mixed wards had always existed. Portugal had them years ago when I was in. Conversation wasn't an issue as I only knew Bom dia and then switched to Spanish or English. I think those either side of me were either thick or racist as I never heard the word football.
ReplyDeleteAdrian, I think most countries are ahead of us Brits when it comes to the mixing of the sexes. I recall many many moons ago walking into a French public loo only to find it was both male and female. Being brought up in Britain was not a good education for the experience.
DeletePrayers for your health
ReplyDeleteThe ward observations are interesting. I hope you write the long version down.
Thanks, Maywyn. I don't think the long version will see the light of day but I can say that I've just heard something I've never heard in a man's ward - "Please, nurse, could you help me get my bra off."
DeleteSorry to hear you haven't bounced back as quickly as you thought you might. At least, as you said, you are well taken care of. Goodness, do you have to go through the trains and buses and taxis to get back home? It is better you are building up your energy before you are released! Hope it is sorted soon and you are safely home again. Take care, Graham!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ellen. To get back home I'll get a taxi to Glasgow Airport nearly an hour's drive away and then a plane to Stornoway where a friend will pick me up and take me home. I will be tired! It would be nearly impossible in the time available to use a bus and train and another bus to the airport.
DeleteYour set back means that you've had time to reflect on hospitals.
ReplyDeleteRed, over the years I've had plenty of such time - just never in a mixed ward.
DeleteEven in these days of antibiotics, infection is a very real risk and it must be scary.
ReplyDeleteI've been in a few mixed wards. I remember when that idea started and I just thought it made sense. It still does. The most annoying ward mate I ever had was a woman who didn't know how to use the TV remote and kept asking me to get up and do things for her. I was happy to help........at the start
Kylie, I've been very prone to sepsis unfortunately but on this occasion I seem to have got away with it and the antibiotics have done their job. I'm hoping to be in my own bed this evening.
DeleteI have spent very little time in hospital, but when very small I had my Appendix out, and they put me in a women's ward. I remember them all fussing around me, and feeling a bit overwhelmed. I was very pleased to go home. I trust you are feeling better now?
ReplyDeleteYes thanks, Cro, I'm hoping to be away in a couple of hours and in my own bed this evening.
DeleteNot another sepsis, I hope? Anyway, from your replies to comments I gather you are much better and probably can go home today or thereabouts.
ReplyDeleteThe small hotel sounds lovely, the kind you want to return to.
Here, every ward is mixed with the obvious exception of where babies are born. Rooms generally aren't mixed, though, as most people will be in various states of undress during their hospital stay and so would not feel comfortable with others looking on.
As for public toilets, we usually don't get mixed ones here. Instead, the usual two seem not to be enough anymore - there now has to be a diverse one as well in some places. On trains, it is still just the one for all, and nobody ever seems to have a problem with that; the problem rather being that it is out of order, or dirty.
No, Meike, I avoided full blown sepsis and just had a wee infection. I'm expecting to leave here at 1430 and be home by 1930. I think we are using a definition of ward. What I used to call a ward is, in Ayr Hospital, called a Station and has a lot of single rooms and 6-person 'wards'. I am in a mixed gender 6 person room/ward. I have to say that there do not appear to be any problems at all.
DeleteHang on in there. Sometimes you just have to tough it out.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Tasker, indeed. As I'm in every 4/5 months for a stent replacement i'm pretty used to it.
DeleteThe ordeal in the hospital seems to be followed by an ordeal to get home. I guess if there is a disadvantage to living remotely this is it. I hope all went according to plan and you did in fact sleep in your own bed. As for the mixed gender wards, I don't think that would bother me much at all, but the mere thought of being in such close proximity to so many other sick people is a little off-putting. Stay well now! All the best - David
ReplyDeleteDavid, I much prefer it when I have my own car here and then go and stay with my friend in Bishopbriggs for a few days before making the rest of the journey home.
DeleteSo glad it's over and you're feeling better again... this post was rather a roller-coaster ride, and I'm sure living through it in person was even more so. Sending you the best of all wishes, as always. As for mixed wards, no thanks. I mean, if everyone was in for a head cold, that's one thing, but I have had personal experience (due to improperly placed mirrors) of improper things happening with mixed wards... there are some parts of people that strangers are just not meant to see while eating their breakfast. Ahem.
ReplyDeleteHi Marcheline. As it happens I was the only male in the 6-person room but I can't imagine a situation where ill people could give a tinker's damn about the parts of their cohabiters.
DeleteI hope that by the time you read this you'll be safely back home.
ReplyDeleteTake care Graham.
JayCee. I'm home and have, almost survived my first day home. I have found it hard to accept just how tired a period of illness like that can make one.
DeleteWhew! what an ordeal. I'm so happy you made it through with your usual positive attitude intact. Hope you continue to recover well, and by-the-way, what caused the spike in temp and drop of BP?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jill. Unfortunately no-one was sure about the drop of blood pressure in particular. It happened once before when I got sepsis and everyone was very worried and I was in for 10 days. It was nowhere near that bed this time, I'm happy to say.
DeleteSo, how's the football? HA!
ReplyDeleteI do hope you are better by the time you see this very delightful comment from me! With the heat index it is over 100 degrees today. To torture us even more, we are able to look at a weather app which shows all the areas around us with rain cooled air. Did we get any rain today? We did not! Tell our mutual friends on your island that I said hello! Take care!
Hello, Kay. Well I don't think you'd be happy with our weather either. 55℉ and windy and dull. I will give the message to our mutual friends. I haven't seen them today but I will tomorrow.
DeleteI hope, Graham, that by the time you read this you will be back home again and bouncing around your beautiful garden once more. Hugz :) xx
ReplyDeleteMargaret, I am home (thank you) but not quite bouncing around yet. I had to have a sleep after my journey to town this morning. The weather is not being kind to the garden nor to working in it I'k sad to say.
DeleteI hope you're ok after the operation and able to go back home. I have to say I'm not a fan of hospitals mostly because they are usually short staffed with the nurses and doctors overworked and underpaid here, I'm guessing it's pretty much the same everywhere. I would chat about football or rugby with you though.
ReplyDeleteHi Amy. Thanks for your wishes. As it happens on this occasion the station was short-staffed and one of the wards was empty when I was there. I'm now home and trying to get back to normal but as I get older it takes longer each time.
DeleteI hope by the time you get to read this, Graham, you are back at home, with your own bed close at hand when needed. Take good care...one moment at a time...don't put too much pressure upon yourself. My best thoughts and wishes go your way. Quick! Put your hands up and catch them! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Lee. I am back home - well my body is. I think that my brain is lagging somewhat in its return to my body.
DeleteSo sorry to hear you have been poorly. Hope you keep improving and are home by now.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Diane. I'm on the way back to normality.
DeleteYikes, Graham. That sounds awful, but I am glad you're on the mend and back home. I haven't actually been admitted to a hospital since my second child was born. (Those stays were always unisex wards, lol.) Honestly, what first struck me is that I wouldn't like to be sick and in a ward setting, period. When I am really ill, I tend to not want to be around people at all, let alone having a conversation.
ReplyDeleteDebby, when I've been so ill that I've been out of the game I agree very little matters. I suppose my preference is a single room but if i'm in a 6-person room so much depends on the people you're sharing with. I have shared with some really unpleasant people but they've been few and far between.
DeleteHello Graham. I have just caught up with your latest hospital episode. That was last week. I am keeping my fingers crossed that you are now back home and fighting fit.
ReplyDeleteHello YP. Your comment was not in spam but it was marked as spam. I think there are still many glitches in Blogger and because it doesn't make enough money Google don't care enough. I'm back home but now have Covid (almost certainly acquired at the airport probably in the over crowded security area).
DeleteOh! I think I have been sent to "Spam" again.
ReplyDeleteIndeed you were. Thanks for pointing it out. It begs the question why this comment didn't follow the first one.
Delete