Yesterday I came home after being in hospital for ten days, eight of them being fed though a drip with no food.
Why I was there isn’t important, but it was very painful and could have been fatal. I’m ok now though am doing fine.
I now just need to put the 15.8 Ibs in weight back on which I lost and to get myself fit again.
For the first few days in there I seemed to be getting worse and even the maximum morphine, paracetamol and tramadol they’d allow me didn’t seem enough.
After about four days though I finally started to feel a little better and things improved from there.
A True Learning Experience
As a Learning Experience though it was valuable. On entering I knew nothing about hospitals having not been a patient since I was 4 years old.
Spending 240 hours though right next to the desk where the doctors an nurses hang out, as you can imagine I learned a lot. Hospital politics are interesting but I also learned a lot of technical stuff.
Most importantly I learned the true value of friends and family who despite their busy lives visited me, phoned me, texted me and bought me gifts and cards.
It’s the time when I started to improve and the pain started to fade where I lay awake each day and night with nothing to do except look at the patterns in the ceiling tiles and think.
The Simple Things in Life
It’s at times like that when you really appreciate the simple things in life. I can only normally sleep on my side but the pain wouldn’t allow so I stayed awake.
Having not eaten for days I was really jealous when the nurses went for coffee, because I was only allowed water and coffee was off limits for me.
I craved some food, any food, even nasty hospital food, anything. My first small meal after eight days on a drip made me tremble and quite emotional.
Just to be without pain for a few minutes so I could relax would have been amazing, but it didn’t happen until the last couple of days.
I didn’t really feel depressed until I ate with many of the other patients, some who were very I’ll. I couldn’t help thinking what a depressing place hospital was and how I’d do my best never to return there, whatever it took.
I guess this brings us back to Achieving the Right Balance and the need to stay healthy while still enjoying the good things that life has to offer.
Those Who Helped Me Recover
Now, I couldn’t possibly end an article like this without thanking the doctors and nurses for the amazing job they do.
One thing I learned about nurses is that it takes a special kind of person to be one. It’s a thankless task, you have to be a natural and it’s a job you really have to want to do and have a passion for.
All the training in the world wouldn’t make me into a good nurse, I just don’t have what it takes. But they do it so well and make the best of the very limited resources they are given.
I have the utmost admiration and without them I literally wouldn’t be here now writing this.
There are many things we can take away from an experience like this, far too many to summarise. But the important one is that it’s the simple things in life that really matter. Health, family and friends. The rest is secondary, just a bonus.
Being able to write this now, with no pain, slowly eating again and finally able to sleep feels like the greatest day of my life.
Thanks for reading and I hope you learned something useful. Feel free to comment…
