Once I was up in the ward the surgical nurses came to insert the naso-gastric tube. The right nostril was a no-go, but left my soft palette very sore. I was very brave as we tried the left nostril and with a little bit of gagging I managed to get it down to my stomach. Then all the contents from my stomach (mainly bile at this time) came up the tube and out through my nose and into a bag. It's pretty revolting, but with the demented lady in the corner having a little accident, I didn't feel too much in the spotlight. Sadly I have the worst bed in the ward - next to the loo, which I don't really need to use at present.
There was a young woman in the bed next to me with an abscessed tooth, and she and her boyfriend were lying on the bed watching a very crude, violent and loud video on a tablet. The language is appalling, but it was the loud and raucous sex scene which completed the movie which got those two giggling and pashing - and this continued long after the movie had ended. My worst fears of what had gone on were confirmed after the aides came to strip the sheets.
They are cleaning up the mess from the demented lady and as she wont keep her DEPEND pants on, moving her to a secure room, so she doesn't spread it about.
The gap in the room is filled late into the evening with someone in excruciating pain. My drip keeps getting Knocked out of kilter and going BING BING BINg... For a while, they turn it off - which given I am very dehydrated is probably not a good idea About 1 am they change it for another one. The morphine is very attacking with dark and ugly things.
A couple of nights later the bed next to mine has a young Tongan lady in it. She asks up front, Can she have a room on her own as she wants her husband to stay with her for the night. The staff courteously deny this request. However the next morning the husband reappears and she tells the nurse that her husband is going to help her shower. As I've already said, my room is next to the bathroom, and both of them came out freshly washed and giggling away. What is this? Hospital or Hotel???
The new nurse on in the morning is sick of my drip misbehaving - but I get the blame for moving my arm - even though it is laid out on a pillow. She comes back with plaster and scissors and wants to tape my arm to the bed rail. Fortunately I can point to the Allergy band on my wrist and declare myself allergic to the plaster. A third drip is tried. Good. Now all we need is to be able to get the obs machine to work and tell me what my blood pressure is. Low due to dehydration.
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