Skip to main content

Out on a Weekend Pass


Out on a Weekend Pass

Saturday, September 3, 2022

7:44 PM

The doctor promised and delivered on a weekend pass out of the hospital. This is me on that Pass absorbing Vitamin D, naturally, in the front yard with the grandpuppy, Rowdy.

 

The discussions with doctor and nurses, the preparation, the packing up and moving out of the hospital and finally arriving home this afternoon took a lot out of me. I’m weaker and more prone to becoming breathless with activity. It’s taking me a little longer to recover my 90%+ blood oxygen level. If I thought I was moving slowly before, this version of me is akin to trying to run underwater. I even think my voice has that slow-mo quality you hear in movies.

 

The number one reason I’m home is to catch up and rest and sleep. As everyone knows, a hospital is no place for those two important elements for recovery. The constant barrage of noise from voices, coughs, crying, yells, monitors, machines, beds moving, dishes clattering means I can’t really rest peacefully. As for sleep, they don’t let me. They’re at me at least four times a day taking my vitals: temperature, blood pressure, blood oxygen level. Then they listen to my lungs. And then different four times a day, they’re administering an IV of broad spectrum antibiotics. And then there are the random check-ins with, “how are you doing, dear.” If I was really fortunate, I might get three or four hours in the middle of the night to sleep, but with my current roomie, I was lucky to get one or two hours of good shuteye. The poor man is in desperate straights not being able to breathe well and being fed through a tube that ran from his nose to his stomach. His snoring, snorting, gurgling noises are louder than anything I’ve heard. Mix all of this together and I think it’s called cacophony and it is not conducive to sleep.

 

It’s so good to be home with Mary, in the peace and quiet. Not that I can do much. As I said, I’m quite a bit weaker from being tethered to a hospital bed for most of ten days. I will be taking advantage of this reprieve to catch up on sleep, get some rest and exercise, and Sunday, more Vitamin D, naturally.

 

I’ve promised the doctor I’ll be good so if anyone sees me rollerblading tomorrow, you have my permission to call the authorities.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Counting

  It’s feels strange to be counting the rest of my life in weeks and days and curling games on TV. While we haven’t finalized the date for MAiD we are aiming for early November. Some examples… Last week, confirmation of my cataract surgery arrived by mail with a date later in November. Nope. I won’t be here for that. A couple of days ago, a friend and former colleague dropped off some cookies and stayed for a brief visit. She said she would be out of province for about six weeks. As she was leaving, she said she would see me later. Nope. I won’t be here when you get back. The other evening I was asked why I was staying up so late. I replied that I was watching a women’s curling game and for me there were just a few games left in my life to watch so I was staying up. And all of a sudden it doesn’t feel as if there is enough time to make sure all the other things are looked after. One major item has been checked off the list: organizing and pre-paying for cremation. All I needed was ...
6 comments
Read more

After the Transplant Doctor Consultation

Last Friday started sunny and calm outside. Inside, another story. Getting out of bed is very difficult most days. It takes a lot of energy and oxygen to get myself going. This morning I found myself in a coughing loop. The more I coughed, the lower my blood oxygen level dropped. Coughing is physically exhausting. After being unable to stop coughing, I switched from the concentrator to a tank of oxygen which gives me purer O2 and helps break the coughing loop. It worked, but I had used a lot of physical energy. I only have so much and I needed to save some for my meeting with a doctor from the transplant team at Toronto General Hospital. The meeting started late because the video conferencing app Microsoft Teams didn’t work. [surprise, surprise; btw I hate MS Teams] We finally got the audio portion working, but the doctor could not see us. We could see her and we could hear each other. The first 30 minutes or so was the doctor exploring my health history. I’m getting very good at telli...
2 comments
Read more

How Are You Doing Anyways?

Fewer than three weeks away from the end of my life and I’m asking myself how am I doing.   As I am trying to live in the moment as much as is possible, I can say I’m doing alright. I can’t help myself when my mind wanders to contemplate that just after four in the afternoon in early November there will be no more me. In this brain which is always crackling with thought energy there will be nothing. An emptiness. It’s hard to wrap my head around it.   I think this is how and why some find comfort in the concept of an afterlife. They say to themselves, “surely this can’t be it“. But I think it is. We have one chance at life and if there is something after, it’s not who we were, if that makes sense. I can also see why people believe in miracles. They hope and hope that something supernatural will occur and magically they will be cured or returned to a previous state of better health.   I’m not frightened of what will be coming. In many ways, the end will be a relief. No mor...
4 comments
Read more