Hey guys!
I'm sorry I haven't kept you updated. The wifi was a bit hit and miss and I couldn't always get on. Plus I hate typing on touch screen
I apologise for any medical stuff or making anyone feel a bit squiffy with details. I wont go too over the top
I'm sure you can imagine I'm not going to say it was the best 'holiday' ever!
At the start the most frustrating thing was that the plan kept changing. And I like to have a plan and know what's what, so it really stressed me out.
Anyway, so I had to starve from Sunday night at 9pm and I knew virtually nothing about the glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and the first thing they had to do was fit an IV catheter. I cannot not express just how much this freaks me out. AND they wouldn't let me have my diazepam because it may interfere with the tests, so I had to do it completely 'clean'.
Sticking a needle in to me to suck blood out of me is horrific, but actually inserting something quite long (ish) INTO my vein is just .... Anyway the nurse had two goes. Once in the inside of my left arm and then tried the side of my wrist. I've had test/catheters from this vein before and it is quite possibly one of the most painful, sicking things I have ever gone through (luckily don't remember heart op
) At this I almost started crying, I was clinging to the bed frame shaking, and almost passed out... So she called their 'specialist' guy to come down. By this point I was lying down trying not to vomit everywhere! He came down and he was so lovely, put me at ease, took one look at my right hand and got it straight away. F*cking pink catheter (we use those for like Rottweillers and Great Danes and the likes)
Anyway, that had to stay in for 4hours :sigh: It started with bloods and then I had to drink this disgusting glucose solution (you've done this haven't you Barbette?) Just vile! And then I was drained thru the catheter every bloody 30mins for 4hrs. Ended up with 9 tubes!! And they weren't little ones either!! That finished at about 2. I assumed the 72hr fast would start right away considering I was staying in overnight. But no, I was told I could eat and drink as normal till 10pm
So why was I staying in?! I could have gone home and fasted from 10pm and come back, but anyway... Mum stayed with me for a couple of hours in the morning and went in to town for a bit, but she came back around 2 and we went to Costa. I'd ordered lunch (mac & cheese) but it arrived about an hour and a half before the first test finished so it went cold and squishy!
When I came back I started talking to the girl next to me because she'd had the glucose test too and I found out she was also doing the 72hr fast! But, only us 2 on a ward of 4!! We got on really well really quickly and supported each other throughout the whole thing. Not sure I'd have coped if there hadn't been anyone else or if I didn't like them!
Mum and Rachelle came to see me that night.
Anyway, evening came round and the nurses changed shifts. Night nurse said she didn't understand why we were fasting from 10pm as our base bloods hadn't been taken and she was sure we could have breakfast and stuff. Anyway, we stuck to the plan so she sprung on is that we needed our blood glucose checked every 4 hours. Sure you can imagine the reaction to this! It's the finger prick one, so not proper bloods, but still, being woken up in the middle of the night to have your finger stabbed isn't pleasant.
OMG the first night was horrific. WHY are hospitals so noisy at night?! The staff made absolutely no attempt to keep noise down, staff standing in the corridors outside our room (doors had to be open) chatting away or shouting down the halls to each other, slamming doors, bashing stuff round etc... And the 'emergency' lights are left on all night and also you have patients pushing their buzzers to call a nurse, which you can hear in every room. And if it's someone in your room the light flashes.
So all that noise on top of being stabbed at 2 and 6 that night/morning. But there was a woman who needed a pill giving to her at 3. So of course they storm in and put the lights on for that. And every so often a nurse came in and shone a torch in everyone's face and went out. Felt like Alan Partridge "Don't shine that light in my face, I've just lost a pint of blood!"
By the morning we were all shattered and pretty annoyed. Anyway the breakfast trolley came round and me and Erin (my neighbour) had to say no we couldn't eat. About 8am the nurse came in and said we could have breakfast and the fast would start from 9am. WHAT!? So the 3 glucose tests we'd had thru the night were completely pointless?! As was the overnight stay!!
I honestly didn't feel hungry but had 2 pieces of toast with a bit of marmalade and half a cup of coffee. When they came round to start the fast, yup with bloods, they went to Erin first. She's needle phobic and has crappy veins so I was sitting leaning over trying to talk to her and trying to help her out. But then I saw how much blood they were taking over her - 2 BIG tubes and 1 smaller one. I sat back on my bed and just burst in to tears. I think it was a build up of frustration about the plan being messed around, not being able to take the diazepam, my first night in hospital, and then getting that much blood sprung on me. I thought they'd maybe need one big tube. As soon as Erin's were done she was off her bed and sitting with her arm round me. I sobbed for ages and ages, even after they started the test. I felt so ashamed and like such a bloody idiot
They had to use my hand again and it was a bit sore, but luckily was relatively quick. Spent the rest of the day in a gloomy cloud, having fingers stabbed every 4hrs, and ranting with Erin lol. I didn't have visitors in the afternoon coz everyone was in work, so I used the opportunity to be antisocial and I watched a film while everyone was busy
My Mum, Rachelle, John, and Michelle visited that night
Michelle brought me a big cuddly reindeer! And Rachelle brought in a card that had been sent from the friend we met in Sweden. How lovely?!
That night we got two new patients thrown in from A&E - we were on a specific endochrine day ward. They do the 72hr fasts tho. But one woman was (I found out the next day) a druggy
And the other lady had loadsa stuff going on but was struggling to breath. Obv an endochrine ward was the best place for them.... And the scary woman was really f*cking noisy. As soon as she fell asleep she started twitching and moaning then she started shouting and having conversations with herself, using about 4 different voices! One was like a horror film creepy voice. She kept shouting f*ck off and doing these horrendous farts. That didn't go down well with us two lol!
4hrly glucose again through the night and another NOISY night.
I woke up pretty angry I have to say. Erin did too. Was quite funny when we realised we were both in foul moods
That morning's big blood test went much more smoothly and I didn't freak out and was very good. They had to use the same vein in my hand AGAIN! It seriously is my only, slightly, good one.
It was annoying coz the breakfast & lunch people asked us every day did we want something to eat. Luckily the guy who works the afternoon and evening remembered and he was lovely to us. We were allowed water or black tea. I was ok with the tea, even though I'm not a big fan, but Erin kept refusing. He was like Mrs Doyle from Father Ted LOL! But he was nice. On Thursday evening he came right over to me and said how unfair he thought it was that we were on a ward with people who could eat and he tries his hardest to try and hide the food from us - bless him!
Anyway, yeah Wednesday was an angry day. By the time dinner came round we were so pissed off and as soon as the smells hit we just got up, got dressed and left. We were both so wobbly and weak but didn't care, we couldn't sit there with the food again. She went to sit in a quiet cafe that wasn't serving food any more and I went for a wander round WH Smiths and waited for my friend to come meet me. In Smiths I found little bags of Lego for £1:30 so bought me and Erin a Shark each
We ended up keeping them till Thursday night to have something to look forward to and to see how bad our mental function was by then!
I sat with Michelle for a little while then we went back to my ward when we knew it was a safe zone. We just chilled and chatted about stuff and went through my notes and stuff. Like we do! The nurses were so good and weren't bothered AT ALL about sticking to visiting times. She stayed till 9pm and so did Erin's Mr! I walked Michelle to the lift and got locked out LOL. The security doors lock after 9 apparently
Another crappy night
I think I did have solid sleep the 4hrs between the glucose tests that night. The evening nurse had given me some Emla cream (topical anaesthetic) to try with Erin. But we had to ask a nurse to asses our veins in the morning and see where to put it. My nurse put it on my good vein, but Wednesday it gave up and blew (ICK!) and it's bruised and was still pretty swollen by then. I pointed this out and told her it has blown (I know when a veing blows ffs!) but she just put the cream there. When she came back to take my morning bloods she said that vein was too sore and swollen and couldn't use it *head desk* So she had to go back in to the vein in my arm they tried on the first day. That was super quick tho! But she did have to use the little butterfly cathater they use for children
She was very good and gentle and stuff, just annoyed me about the cream.
I planned my day around when food would arrive. Breakfast isn't too bad coz the only warm/smelly thing is toast so that wasn't too hard to deal with. As I heard the lunch trolleys coming round I got all my stuff together and headed to the shower room. Promised Erin I'd be out before lunch was over so we could share the burden
My friend Michelle came in about 1:30 and stayed till, erm, 8pm! We hung around in the ward for a while coz I was so tired. Kept almost falling asleep and was super weak and nauseous. We knew dinner was served at around 5:30 but that was also when our next glucose was due!!! As soon as that was done we all scarpered! It was worrying that though because my bloods had taken quite a dip and dropped to 3.1. If they were to go under 3 you had to have full bloods done and sent to the emergency lab. I overheard the nurses saying if it dropped below 2.8 they abandoned the test. And, well, we know what that means - tumour! So had a very worrying 4hrs! But we wandered round the shops and sat in Costa away from eating people and waited for Mum and Rachelle. I got a nice big cup of iced water..... so sick of water and black tea!! We sat there for a bit and headed upstairs coz I was really not feeling good. Was sweating, shaky, incredibly light headed. Was ok after a bit. They left at 8 and not long after me and Erin decided it was pyjama and build a shark time!!! It took us aaaages! Mine wasn't right, but I built him the best I could and kept the leftover pieces lol! We all chatted for a bit but they all wanted to turn the lights off so I watched a film on my Nexus. My glucose miraculously upped itself and we moved away from scary territory. Think it went up a good few points over the night. Think it got back up to 3.6 on one of them. As long as I heard 3.something I was ok
By then when she woke us up through the night we just stuck our hand out the bed and said do any finger lol!
As soon as the big lights went on this morning I was out of bed, dressed, packed, and sat with Emla cream on my arm and hand LOL! I was like f*ck it, if we had more left I'd have just been covered in it! Good job I did because my left arm (3rd time that vein had been used) packed up after the first tube. So she had to get a butterfly catheter and go back in to my right hand - the vein that was battered and bruised... It took aaaaaages! I was just draining super slow and was having none of it. My Sister arrived about 10mins in (whole thing prob took 40mins) so she kept me busy chatting and showing me funny pics on her phone. After Erin had hers done we were allowed to make our breakfast orders, but by then neither of us were even remotely hungry! We both sat up in bed at almost the same time and both went "ugh!!" when we woke up. The nausea was horrendous! We'd been weak anyway, struggling to get to just the toilet or shower - felt like a trek! But this morning was awful. I honestly think the only thing getting us going was knowing we were leaving! Anyway, we both just ordered toast. We both ate a full piece each and Rachelle ate one of mine and her boyfriend ate her other one LOL! We got our discharge letters and were congratulated on doing so well. They said most people don't last the 3 days and self discharge. And Erin's consultant say most people just point blank refuse to do either the Glucose Tolerence or the 72hr fast! Or people break and sneak eating food - pointless when they're taking your bloods every 4hrs!!!
We all walked to the car park together and did goodbye hugs and everything. I didn't want to put her on the spot about staying in touch so I sent her a FB message when I got home just to see if she was ok and if she would like to stay in touch. One of her visitors yesterday was one of my neighbours - they live in the close our house sits on, so they overlook our back garden, sort of. We were close when we were kids, but drifted going to different schools. But she knows him, his family, their big friend gang. Was so bizarre! Super small world!
Me and Rachelle got in the car and she gave me my parcel from the wonderful Tetris!!! REINDEER SLIPPERS!!!!!
On the way out we realised I'd forgot my meds - they're kept in a locker above your bed. So she dropped me off and did a few laps so I could run back in
Was in a bit of a hurry to get out
She took me for breakfast at the cafe by the river and we had a veggie breakfast each. I ate mine nice and slowly and was careful. Enjoyed it through the nausea lol! We did have a starter of 3 squares of Dairy Milk
The rest of the day was spent with me reading, watching a film, went out to sort the bunnies (which drained me completely), and then read some more. Trying to stay awake so I can sleep tonight.
We had a Chinese takeaway tonight - been craving Chinese for like 3 days. Odd coz even though I like it, it's not something I get very often. I like peoper Chinese food, but not from a place that does a bit of everything - if that makes sense? Anyway, I probably had just under half my veggie chow mein (I made a few Quorn pieces to go in it), 2 spring rolls, and some fake prawn crackers lol. I feel like I could have eaten a bit more, but didn't want to push it. Have had 2 small chocolate things too - very small!
Just feel exhausted now. I don't think it's the fasting alone, but also ALL the blood the drained off me, all the emotional and stress crap that's happened, sleep deprivation, etc. I also worked out that by Friday morning I'd have done a 14hr fast, an 11hr fast, and a 72hrs fast :cry: Feel really nauseous, incredibly weak, my head feels like it's going to explode (my head's been awful since Tuesday! Got paracetamol twice *sigh*), my arms and hand are really ouchy and are making me sick, etc, moan, moan, moan .... sorry everyone.
I really didn't think I'd go in to that much detail. Good to get it all out tho! Actually can't believe I managed to get through that. I don't know how I did it! I think my genetic stubborness definitely had something to with it, but also the support from everyone and getting on so well with Erin
Think I've stayed awake long enough now so going to head to bed and read for a little bit and hopefully get a proper sleep. Wondering if I'll wake up at 2am and 6am for my glucose checks lol! Be nice to have quiet and actual darkness!
Anyway, night all and I do apologise for going on and on. I should have kept you updated in shorter bursts lol.
Thanks for sticking with this if you have.xxx
