SKI-er or Sk-ater. We know how to enjoy ourselves

balmaiden

All the very, very best to you and your husband, Margaretclare. Just caught up with the latest news. I came on to tell about our latest SKIing trip but that can wait for another day.

margaretclare

It is just possible - fingers and everything else crossed - that he may be home later today.

I have a feeling they are trying to 'clear the decks' on that ward. The room he's in, a 3-bed room, had just one other man in it who went home yesterday afternoon. He saw the orthopaedic registrar yesterday morning who was pleased to see him sitting out of bed, told him the infection level is coming down slowly but steadily and as soon as he is mobile enough he can come home. They want him back to clinic weekly and then to do the joint reconstruction when appropriate. The physios arrived and got him off the zimmer on to his crutches, they are going to walk him twice today and then hopefully come home.

He thought he'd have a quiet night because he was the only one in that room at the end of the corridor, but the dementia patient across the corridor was shouting all night, and the nurses didn't do his IV antibiotics until midnight. We just want him home now. At least he'll be able to sleep undisturbed and if the District Nurses are doing his IV antibiotics they certainly won't arrive at midnight!!

Our new chairs haven't yet arrived, I've got Mollymaids coming in next Tuesday to do a big clean-through, but even if we have to move him from room to room, so what, we can cope.

Thanks to all for the good wishes.

seven-day-weekend

Goos News Margaret, hope all continues to go well.

EdInvestor

Good luck with the homecoming and remember to "put on your own oxygen mask first" and ask for help if you need it - there's no point in the (albeit temporary) carer getting so exhausted that she can't help the patient!

margaretclare

EdInvestor wrote: »

Good luck with the homecoming and remember to "put on your own oxygen mask first" and ask for help if you need it - there's no point in the (albeit temporary) carer getting so exhausted that she can't help the patient!

Thanks for this. I think I 'hit the buffers' on Saturday. I just could not face going back to that hospital again. I lazed around at home and watched old films on TV. His son and younger GD came down from Derby on Sunday just to see him for the 2 hrs in the afternoon, I went in the evening.

On Saturday morning my neighbour brought round some equipment that they'd taken delivery of while I was out. A zimmer frame and a frame to fit over the loo with a plastic seat inside. We didn't ask for, and do not want or need, either item! Try to find out where they came from, who ordered them, and where to send them back to, is pretty difficult. I eventually found where they came from - Essex Equipment Services - and it appears it was the physios who ordered them, without asking for our by-your-leave or with our permission. He doesn't need a zimmer anyway - he's now on crutches. A wheelchair may be helpful for when he has to go back for his weekly orthopaedic clinic appointments, for getting him from the front door to the transport, but we can borrow one of the wheelchairs they keep at church to be borrowed by anyone who needs one temporarily.

And finally, no doubt because of the massive doses of antibiotic he's had, they've sent him out of hospital with a beautiful case of thrush, all around his nether regions. They've been washing him daily and no one has noticed it!!!

donny-gal

Hi M-C

Glad to hear DH is home. I think TLC does not exists in medical nursing training anymore, certainly in my experiences.

Look after him now he is home, I am sure you will.

We have celebrated our 35th WA today, we went down the coast to the Mar Menor and had a Menu del Dia at the side of it, and then a nice stroll in the sun. Two weeks today we will be back in the UK.

DG

margaretclare

Thanks.

We have coped all right today. He can get in and out of bed with minimal help supporting his bad leg, and he can move about indoors. As I thought, his office-type chair, in which he sits at the computer, is the one he prefers - it has a high back and is comfortable. OT/rehab/physio people in hospital did not like the idea of that - it has wheels, you see. Although, when he was brought home last evening, in the rain, by a St John's ambulance, he had to walk from the kerb to the front door. I pushed his chair along the hall and the 2 helpful pleasant guys got him into it and then pushed him in to where we have our computers.

We've now got a wheelchair on loan from church - he has to go to orthopaedic clinic weekly and it will be useful for that. District Nurse has been and given his IV vancomycin.

He did get some peaceful sleep last night and also in the middle of the day. We had bacon and beans about 2 pm, which was all that he wanted. We've also been given a huge basket of fruit from church, and a large pot of live yogurt, with instructions from our minister, who used to be a nurse, to have a spoonful daily to combat the thrush!

I had to rush out this morning to get some Canesten cream from the GP to treat his thrush. Poor darling, no wonder it hurt him to go to the loo or to sit on.

seven-day-weekend

Glad things are going OK Margaret and hope you are still managing OK; it can be very tiring caring for someone with limited mobility. Hope your husband is back to his bright-eyed and bushy-tailed self soon!

Not sure if this counts as SKI-ing as it isn't actually costing anything extra, but we're looking forward to it anyway: We have a home exchange holiday next June for three weeks in Pembrokeshire (one of our favourite holiday destinations) - this will be incorporated into our usual summer trip to the UK - we'll probably be in the UK for a couple of months.

Here's a link to the place we are going:
http://www.homeforexchange.com/property_detailed_view.php?propId=26302

And here's a link to the place THEY are going (i.e. our house!):

x http://www.homeforexchange.com/ID=13365

balmaiden

Glad to hear the update Margaret.As SDW says do look after yourself.

SDW I love, love, love, your house. Have you ever done a house exchange before? It is something we are interested in. We let our house ( cottage near the sea in Cornwall ) for holiday lets, two summers ago, to finance our trip to Oz. So this idea really appeals to us.

seven-day-weekend

Yes Balmaiden we have done two, both in Spain, both for long weekends - one to Cordoba (absolutely breathtaking, if you get a chance to go please do, the whole city centre is a World Heritage site and the Mezquita is the most wonderful building I have ever been in), and one in a little village called Quentar which was nice in itself but had the advantage of being only ten minutes' drive from Granada.

We are also doing a house exchange to the centre of Granada overlooking the Alhambra (December 5-8) - we've never done it as tourists believe it or not despite it being our 'county town' - we are usually doing either hospital or admin stuff! Looking forward to it!