Back home again

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Originally uploaded by jaanus83.

Woot! Finally, I'm back in the comforts of 'the fortress'. It's damn fine to be home! :)

So I went in to the Royal Adelaide Hospital to start iv's again on Wednesday last week and didn't really do a whole lot until the operation on Friday. I then went to the Memorial Hospital from the RAH and got admitted there. It was all done fairly quickly as I was meant to be admitted at 11, x-ray at 11.30 and op at 1. But since I took my sweet arse time getting ready, we didn't get there until about 11:20am, so eveything got postponed. I ended up being in theatre at 2.

So I got dressed up in the swanky clothes they provided, laid down on the table, and as per usual, due to my crappy veins, it took a couple of goes to get the drip in. Finally done, I felt the sitng of the anesthetic enter my veins, and I was off in la-la land.

Four and a half hours later, I hear the familiar sounds of the recovery room; nurses talking, machines beeping, footsteps all around me, and the lights. Such bright lights! I remember the first thing I checked when I woke up was if I had a catheder or not. You seee, the surgeon told me that this procedure can sometimes take a while, like 8 or 9 hours, and if that was the case with me, they would have to insert one to help my bladder. Definitely something I didn't want. But luckily it only took 4 and a half hours, so as I woke up, I remeber checking down there, and thinking, 'Thank God!'. It then wasn't long before I felt another familiar feeling - sick. So I leant forward and out spewed the magnificent dark red blood that had been filling up my stomach for the past few hours. Yum. I was also sweating prefusely and was extremely hot. They had to put an ice pack on my neck but that didn't really help. So put that together with throwing up, being connected to 5 billion machines, all sorts of tubes in your arms and on your chest, your nose completely packed with gauze and bolts in your head, and these compressor things on your legs to stop DVT, and I wasn't a happy chappy.

There's not much to remember from the recovery room. I was pretty out of it. I hate waking up from an anesthetic. All you want to do is to be able to function properly and be alert, but your body just doesn't want to. So annoying. I was then wheeled into the Critical Care Unit where I was to spend the whole night.

My mum and sister were there to greet me, and it wasn't long before Alice came down from work and spent the evening with me. Even though I was really out of it and pretty much just sleeping, it's so nice just to have someone there when you wake up for a minute. So comforting. I love it. But then she had to leave, and I had the whole night ahead of me. I couldn't wait.

Still connected up to all the machines, along with the compressor things on your legs, and only being able to lie on your back and move your head from side to side, doesn't leave a whole lot of room for getting comfortable to sleep. So your night consists of about half an hour naps. The night goes sooo slow. And all the time you are still feeling sick and miserable, just waiting for the next day to come.

Strangely, I remember waking up from one of my naps thinking that it could only have been 2 or 3am, but I saw the sun light coming through the curtain. Ahhh, I couldn't believe it. Such relief! It wasn't long then before I hear the familiar voice of Alice talking to the nurses and walking up to my bed. Such a good girl - 8am and there to be with me while I wake up! :)

The next hour is spent with me talking, trying to sit up, drink a bit of water, bascically doing everything I can to just feel a bit more 'with it'. I then get out of bed and walk down to the shower, trying not to fall over. Lotsa fun. The surgeon then came in, took the packing out of my nose, which wasn't as bad as last time thankfully, and said that I could go back to the RAH when I was ready.

Mum came, picked me up, dropped me back in my old room at the RAH, and I spent the next 5 hours watching footy on my bed and half falling asleep. So nice to be back.

On Tuesday they took out the pins in my head. They put two pins in your forehead to help keep the sinuses clear of infection after the op. They flush saline through them about 4 times a day. It works pretty well. Only it hurts. You know the feeling of an ice cream headache? Well, this is ten times worse and you have to take quite a few pain killers just to take the edge off. But they say it has to be done and it really keeps it cleaner, so who am I to disagree.

I think that's about it... so like I said, I got back home yesterday, and am feeling great for that. I'm still getting headaches, but they aren't as bad as they were a few days ago. I'm feeling healthy, and I can breathe perfectly through my nose, but I'm still quite lethargic and flat. But that's from the anesthetic. It'll take me a while before I get back to my normal self. It could be a week or two, or a couple of months, but it will happen eventually. I just gotta make sure that I keep up with physio and exercise in the mean time so that I can make that recovery time as quick as possible. And now that my sinuses are clear of infection and stuff, that shouldn (theoretically anyway) make my lungs a bit better. AND the weather is getting really nice, which is making me want to get out more and do stuff.

Oh, one last thing. Last night we went to see Ben Folds and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Simply stunning. I mean, if you're not a fan of Ben Folds, then obviously it wouldn't have been the best night out. But the arrangements of the orchestra was just beautiful, and along with some of his songs, well, we just loved it. We managed to snag tickets 3 rows from the front, and being seated and all, it was so nice to not have to stand up for 3 hours, being pushed by sweaty fat men, and to even be able to have a snack! But yeah, he was awesome, and had lots of funny tales to tell, as always, but being in Adelaide, which is now his second home, it had an extra intimacy feel to it. He even told us of his addresses, one being William St, where we are! Pretty cool...

I think that's enough for now. Cheers for all the words of love and support that you've been sending to Alice and I. It means alot.

Rating - 6.5

Going in tomorrow

Not a long one this time. Just letting you all know that I'll be going back to the RAH tomorrow to get settled in before the op on Friday. I reckon I'll be in till Friday next week. I have no idea how the recovery will go, but I'm hoping it will go alright considering how good I'm feeling at the moment. Lungs are still fairly clear and I have heaps of energy. I think the weather has something to do with it as well...

But as for other stuff, nothing has really been going on. Working. Oh, and since yesterday was such nice weather, I decided to try and get a tan by riding my scooter all day. Lotsa fun. Didn't get any colour, but it was still fun. I went to Ikea for the first time. I know everyone pays it out, even me, but man, they have so much crap there that you could easily get suckered into buying. Luckily I only had my scooter so I couldn't actually buy anything as it wouldn't fit in my bag.

But yes, that's it. All going well I'll be back on here in a week or so. Woot!

Rating: 8

What I'm listening to: Zero 7 - The Garden

Going good so far...

So things have been keeping very good since my last post. I haven't gotten any sicker, which is great since last time I started to get worse after only a week. I'm really hoping that the meds worked properly this time and that I'll stay good for a while.

Anyhoo, like I said last time, I have to go back next week to get the op on my sinuses, and I got the phone call today to say that I'll be going in to the Royal Adelaide Hospital on Wednesday. So I'll be in there till Friday, where I'll then go to the Memorial for the op, then back to the RAH on Saturday and spend the next week there. What fun. But since I'm feeling so tops, I'm hoping that the recover shouldn't take too long.

The only little piece of info is that Becky (a dear friend of mine who has been living overseas the last 2 years) surprised us with being back in Adelaide on Wednesday night. Twas quite a shock. A good one though. So another one of my friends is back in town. It's just like the old days. So much fun.

And the weather is getting soo nice. I love it! Although, it's not so great for the farmers or the water supply. If we don't get a nice downpour soon, there will be some full on water restrictions here, which won't be so much fun. Especially if we're going to have a stinking hot summer. Let's all put our collective thoughts, prayers, vibes, voodoo magic together to get some wet happening!

That's about it. I may write more before I go in, but if nothing happens, then I probably won't. Woot.

Rating: 8

What I'm listening to: KT Tunstall - Eye to the Telescope

Back home!

gee
Originally uploaded by jaanus83.

Hey all youse guys!!

How ya doing? Well, as for me, I'm doing bloody super! I got out of hospital on Wednesday and so far things have stayed just as great health wise. I had lung function on Tuesday and it went up to 50% from 37% the week before, which is pretty impressive. If you remember, last admission they went up a whole total of 5% in a month, so I'll take 13% in two weeks easily. :)

This hospital admission wasn't as bad as the last one... last time I wasn't getting any better, and because I was feeling so shite, I didn't want to get out and just spent all day watching tv in bed. The weather probably had something to do with it as well... those few days a week ago where the weather was perfect and sunny I went into the botanical gardens and laid down on the grass and enjoyed outsideness again. It'd been a while. It was awesome though - Alice and I played cards and listened to music, and Peter, Ben and myself listened to music, talked about how great we are, played some cards, as well as watch some cute ducklings make their way around the trees.

So basically now my lungs are clear, and I'm only coughing up a little during physio. In between physio sessions, it's pretty much a dry cough, and I can't remember the last time it was this good. The only thing left for me to do is get my fitness up. At least I can walk to the shops now without dying on the corner.

I have to go back however in 2 weeks for my sinus operation. They have to clear out all my sinuses, and it's going to be a fairly big job, so that will prob set me back a little bit. I'll have the operation at the Memorial Hospital, then go back to the Royal Adelaide for a week afterwards to have some more iv's to get me over the anesthetic.

It looks like I'm gonna be skint as well for the next month. So far, the op is going to cost me at least $600, so I'm not too happy about that. I always thought having private health insurance would actually cover you for everything, but I guess I was wrong. This is the first year that I've had to actually pay for my own insurance, so maybe that's why I was a bit surprised. The folks probably paid all this stuff in the past. Anyhoo, enough whinging. It's all good. Hopefully this should be the end of medical stuff for a while and I'll be able to run around creating havoc through summer. :)

So that's the scoop. I'll go back to work next week, which won't be too bad since I need the money and something to do during the day. We still have two extra tickets to the Ben Folds concert we need to sell, so if anyone's interested, gimme a call and we can organise something. It should be a great night!

Just want to say a huge thanks to all who sent good messages and vibes my way while I was in hospital. I must admit, I was feeling down right shit and wasn't too sure whether I would get really good again. But I did so there's not too much to worry about just yet. Alice definitely deserves a medal for all she put up with. I couldn't ask for anything more. She's a trooper!

Ben leaves back for Montreal on Monday, so I think tonight we're heading out to the Elephant Walk for some loverly deserts. He comes back in January though so there won't be enough time to miss him too much.

Enough. I've finished. :)

Rating : 8

What I'm listening to: Sparta - Wiretap Scars

P.S. there are some new piccies up if you're interested in seeing what I get upto in hostable.