In Hospital, Day 2

31st December, my birthday. The lovely Mr S had brought in a bag full of cards and presents for me last night so that I could open them this morning. After a very restless and uncomfortable night, I had just opened three cards when the sickness overcame me. Breakfast was a no no, getting out of bed to walk on my crutches likewise. In fact, I just slept from 7am until about 2pm, missing lunch as well and scuppering my chances of going home this evening. I won’t be taking that drug again! The Sister did say, later, that it was a Marmite drug, loved by some and not tolerated at all by others.

After afternoon visiting, the physio took me for a walk up the corridor teaching me how to use the crutches more efficiently and stopping half way along to teach me barre exercises to add to all the others to be done three times a day when at home. Tomorrow, she will teach me how to walk up and down stairs and if I can do that properly, I’ll be allowed home after lunch. The physiotherapist team are brilliant! One or other of them comes along several times each day to encourage each of us (there are four in the ward, two knee replacements, one broken hip and me) to walk a bit more, to practise our exercises and they are so encouraging and positive about the smallest progress.

I am on Paracetamol four times a day and this evening I was given Ibrobrufen as a suppository so that the drug went into my bloodstream but not my stomach. I still needed some Oramorph in the night. Speaking of the night, another benefit of being in a small hospital like the wonderful St Michael’s is that the nights are quiet, a great contrast to other times when I have been in a major hospital.

I am amazed that there is so little pain. The wound is not sore – it’s all covered with dressing and there is only a general deep ache in the hip area, not exactly pain though certainly not comfortable and it does interfere with sleep.