I woke up around 6.00 this morning and felt a very cold, wet patch near my feet - my hot water bottle had leaked due to a perished rubber seal!! I got up and covered it with a towel and went back to sleep till 7.30.
Really cold again this morning and I decided to get the fire ready so I just had to put a match to it later.I had started to do some housework and the phone rang and it was Bronwyn - just as well I was up early, it was only 8.00 but she thought I might be off to the hospital and wanted to catch me. Bronwyn has been in Fiji for a week and wanted to now how Jon had got on. We had a nice chat and she told me to call her whenever as she went through all of this with her husband 12 years ago so knows what it is like.
I took Tot for a walk and she is back to square one and not wanting to walk so it is the foot up her bottom method again!
I hung out the washing and hoped it would dry and not rain before I got home to bring it in. I managed to vacuum the house and do the dusting, too.
I went up to the hospital for 10.30 and was pleased to see Jon looking much better. He said he slept from the time I left yesterday afternoon till about 9.00 so it was just as well I didn't go back. They gave him his medication and he settled down for the night and had a good night.
He said the whole atmosphere on the ward today is different and the weekend staff are so much nicer. I said it was probably less busy as there would not be the usual amounts of operations and no ward rounds from doctors. Whatever it is it makes such a difference.
He had managed to eat some breakfast and had stood up for his shower rather than sitting down. His drip had been taken out during the night and he is now drinking enough so his kidneys are working better but he still needs oxygen unless he is sitting in the chair beside the bed.
I went down to get some coffees for us, we can't miss our coffee on a Saturday!! They only had banana and walnut muffins and he can't have nuts at the moment so I bought a chocolate chip cookie instead. He managed half of his coffee which isn't bad.
We sat chatting and then I said I would go and buy some vegetables and make some soup to bring back to him.
I bought some pumpkin for soup and some cheese snack biscuits for him to keep as he says sometimes he wakes in the night and feels hungry and there is nothing available.
I made the soup when I got home and had some myself and then took some to him in a flask with a roll and real butter not spread!! I also took his iPad in as he needs something to do and the books he chose from the library are not very good and he can't get into them. I just hope he can keep it in a safe place and it doesn't get stolen, there are some very odd and suspicious looking people who walk around.
We sat chatting for a while and then he said he wanted to get up and go for a walk. This is no easy task as he needs to use a frame and hook his catheter bag onto it and he also has a bottle for the drain which I have to carry being careful not to pull it. But first we have to get him up and that takes a lot of effort but he is very determined, I am just nervous!
We finally managed and off we set to the lounge which must be all of 25 yards!! The TV was on and I got him by a chair and then had to go back to the ward to get a pillow for him to sit on. I hid the iPad while I was there and brought my handbag with me. We sat watching TV for a while and then he said he wanted to go back so off we set again.
Once back we managed to get him back into bed with no mishaps and I felt better and he felt proud to have done it. He is a completely different person today.
We Brits, as a race, have a very good sense of humour and it is showing so much at the moment. Unfortunately, not everyone shares it. 1) Yesterday Jon told the stoma nurse, when she was changing his bag, that Mark (surgeon) had said to him that if he passes wind and the bag blows up he could find himself flying round the room! Jon thought this was funny but the stoma nurse very seriously said 'Oh no that won't happen'!!!! 2) The registrar came to check on the drain and Jon said that Mark told him that he would be running marathons by this time next year and the registrar said 'Oh I don't think so'. Jon said I have never been able to run a marathon so why should I now after surgery? Nothing!!!
Once Jon got back into bed I heard, for the first time, a 'belly burp' and yes it is loud. Not sure how that is going to go down in the middle of a board meeting!! It is very funny though and we think we are going to call 'it' 'Bertie Belly Bag' unless we get a better suggestion. We are told it will get better once he starts to eat properly but I think his long beer or wine sessions are over.
I am amazed at how well he is taking it and told him that today. 'Well' he said 'I can't do anything about it so I had just better get on with it'. I know it is not going to be plane sailing and we will have bad days and changing it is not going to be easy at first but I am feeling far more optimistic now than I have for a long time.
The nurse came in to do his obs and said it was good to laugh and I thought the other three patients in the ward must have thought we were mad.
His dinner arrived and he managed to eat some of the chicken and some carrots but left the grey mash again. He enjoyed some of the bread roll I brought and managed some ice cream but was then full.
I left him with his iPad and he was looking so much better I felt happy to be leaving him so well.
Poor Tot is getting used to her dinner at 6.00 now instead of 4.00 but was very hungry when I got in.
The rain finally arrived with strong winds tonight and I lit the fire and it was cosy and warm and I didn't need to go out again I am glad to say.
I made some dinner and watched TV and feel better than I have for a week.
Not sure how I am going to get on without a hot water bottle tonight though!
WEATHER
Cloudy with some sunny spells not as wet as forecast 17 degrees
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