Left Jaw Pain: 3/10
Right Jaw Pain: 8/10
Hip Pain: 1/10
Inconvenience factor: 10/10
The normal rituals of the ward continued today. The anonymous strange noise man and the other jaw surgery girl were released into the wild and were soon replaced by a man who in a drunken rage had punched a window and suffered lacerations and a Chinese student who needed his eye flushed every hour on the hour or he would go blind (what condition is that?). Mr Wilson continued to draw, cough and click and wave politely to me whenever I would shuffle past!
Finally, someone was bringing me liquid meals, but only at morning tea, afternoon tea and supper. I was now officially drinking food for those in risk of malnutrition! Albeit 20mls at a time from a syringe! Ha ha!
More bits had been removed from me in the past 24 hours which was very pleasing - no more oxygen was needed, the Pain Buster ball was cut free, the four stickers on my
front were ripped off, the cannula in my left hand was banished (as the
night before it had come out of the vein and resulted in my anti-nausea
injection being subcutaneous rather than intraveneous - OUCH) and the actual subcutaneous injection point on my right shoulder was also removed. Feeling good!!!
The morning was passed in the company of early
morning visitors, The Rock and then the Scallywag Control Freak. I'm not
sure how focused I was, the oxycodene haze did not wear off until
around noon, but I was very grateful for their company!
At one point one of the surgeons stuck his head in and said maybe I could go home today, tomorrow...or well, maybe Tuesday! He'd look into it! Today! That was great! Sure I didn't have anyone lined up to take me home today but I could certainly find someone! My own bed! I felt good! Surely I was ready!
Shortly after Scallywag left, it was my turn for a shower. And boy did it feel good. I slowly rolled my head back, letting my hair get wet and enjoying the warm water. It was as if the soap suds and water were melting away my reality, a very welcome reprieve right at that moment. As I reached down to scrub my ankle it hit me. A hot, cold shooting pain came over the entire right side of my face. It was so strong I gasped, then my eyesight started prickling. I slammed the water off, grabbed a towel and lunged for the toilet a metre or so away. I barely made it. Thank goodness for the old people bars. I clung on, grimly fighting the whiteness, trying to find a focus. Eventually, I was able to pull it together, dry, dress and wobble out of the bathroom. Waiting in the corridor for me was my Auntie! With the look of me right at that moment, I think I might have put the fear of god into her (sorry Ingrid). I got back to my bed and the nurse was there immediately, taking my blood pressure and making sure I was okay. I was, but not surprisingly, my blood pressure was a bit low!
It was a HUGE wake up call for me. A big fat Memo to Self that I really had to take things easy. Give myself time to get better. Just because I felt good, didn't mean I was good!
Please don't send me home today, I'm pretty sure I'm not ready! Thankfully they agreed. Tomorrow we'd try again!
I spent the remainder of the day reflecting and resting (and yes, planning).
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