Let's Time Travel

 Let's time travel; not too far back, but back to a period I've thought a lot about lately. Not for any great reason, it's just lodged itself in my head - much like the music from ads on tv I'm not paying attention to, but who have lodged their earworm status successfully. 

So... back when I was at St George's and I had the operation, I was initially on a ward where I had to stay in the dark thanks to the dye injected into my head (so they could get bad tumour out and keep good brain in place I think). I got moved to a new room suddenly, with no reason at all. Two porters turned up and said "Okay, let's get you to your new room" which was a bit of a surprise. 

I didn't actually have to do a lot as they wheeled me there but it was yet another occurrence where there was no pre-warning, it just happened. I got used to that, most things were absolutely fine things. 

My new room was me and one other person - and once I was settled we had a good chat. Eventually we found out we don't live far from each other and as things move to the present, we're meeting for a coffee this week, so being moved was a good thing. 

We had an idea of what happened when on the ward based on noise and smell. I could only smell potatoes for a very long time - we wondered if it was a side effect of the operation as I can't imagine people on wards eating potatoes for breakfast (though it does sound good). The noise was different though, beeps and nurses coming to you for various tests and monitoring. 

Every morning at 6am a nurse would come to me. "Time for your blood pressure" "time for blood sugars" and the rest. At first I was the nice polite patient, sat myself up and lots of please and thank you's because it was the right thing to do. THEN I realised it was way easier to stick my arm in the air and they can do what they need to, with me adding a sleepy thank you at the end, which they probably didn't hear. 

It wrecked any sleep patterns I was trying to have, although being in hospital does that a bit anyway. Noise through the night, lights I couldn't work out how to switch off.... alarms going off by patients (like me!) and giving up in the end and making do as my needs were very little ones. 

I should add, everyone at St George's was brilliant - I'm not in any way complaining about any of this. Everything came back as a quite focused memory this week - and how I dealt with it. This could have been one of the first times I was aware of times of day, even if I didn't know what day it was. The not knowing which day being a side effect of the operation and tumour which is slowly sorting itself out now we're further down the line. 

St George's had an interesting food selection - different menus too, and fortunately my roommate had one. So when the nurses came to take our food orders I was able to choose diabetes-friendly food - which was usually an omelette and handful of wedges - which was, quite frankly. heavenly. 

If I was to compare their selection to St Helier, then St Helier wins hands down. They even mark low GI options on their menus and healthy choices. The selection there was way easier to navigate. Although maybe my memory is failing me again and they're all the same? But anyway. I looked forward to my food every day, except the day my eyes swelled up so much (an operation thing) that I couldn't open them so a nurse had to feed me. Fortunately the swelling went down by mid-morning. 

So yes, my general memory of this time is being wrapped in a blanket and sheet, sticking my arm out of it for the nurses and trying to get some sleep but failing.I eventually caught up when I was discharged - I got so much sleep - more than I'm used to. Then the radiotherapy and chemo kicked in and I wake up at 7.30 and that's it. I still get enough sleep which is good - and I know things will get worse as the treatment goes, so I'm taking my moments while I get them!