Define the great Line

Hello My fellow Readers

I am going to catch you up on the happenings of my first week at Charlotte Mokexe Hospital.

Wednesday last week, mom and I drove through to CM hospital for my admittance. The bakkie was absolutely over laden We looked like a Durban Taxi. I had two big bags which were about to spring open, a shopping bag full of medications, my kangaroo bag, Laptop bag plus my handbag and Ipad. We were most definitely over the Limit in terms of weight. Good thing I was not going by bus :-D But hey, I needed to be prepared, you NEVER know what you might just need

After mom was chased away, I got settled into my room. My new home for the following 2 weeks. My brain was screaming at me, convincing me this must be a mistake, I am not going to survive this. A zombie apocalypse came to mind. But then I came back down to earth and Defined the Line between imagination and reality .

Later that day, all the usual things happened, taking of bloods, Lung functions. I however did not have any needles put in for a drip until Thursday morning. I spent the rest of my day learning the ward, finding out where the medicine rooms were, whilst trying not to get lost.

On Thursday, Sister Furlonger (very Nice sister, despite alot of assumptions that have been made) decided it was time to put in my butterfly needle into my Portacath. That is when the first blow of bad news decided to grace us with its presence. After almost 3 years of usage, my Port has finally blocked. So in the interim until I am able to have surgery to have the old one taken out and a new one put in, I am having to be stabbed in the arm every couple days when a new drip is inserted. :-(
Later that day, I learnt how to mix my medications correctly. I now have a degree in Mixology. Dr Baird and Sister Furlonger said to me yesterday, that they are very impressed at how I am looking after myself and doing my meds. Yay me! Time for a Nody Badge.

During the course of the last few days, 3rd year Physiotherapists have been using me for their exams. It has been alot of fun, yet exhausting at the same time. I am using today to have a nice relax and catch my breath.
On Monday I had Elisma, and the poor dear was an absolute wreck. She was beyond nervous. I even contemplated giving her some of my oxygen :-) Luckily for me though, her first choice patient was there, so she used him. I am just waiting for their results to be released, and she said that she would let me know how she did. lets all hope she passed.

Even though Elisma's patient was there and she didn't use me, I did not get away that easily. Marilee's first choice patient decided to leave, so she rushed to my room to break the news. She was using me for exam. By the time the examiners arrived, I think I was more nervous than she was. Her exam went off very well, however for me, the exercise she did with me nearly killed me (figuratively speaking), I did a step exercise, and climbed 71 stairs in 4 minutes, if I remember correctly. It could be longer. But anyways. That was that day done and dusted.

Yesterday, was a very interesting day. My next Physio had arrived at about 10am, and her exam was only at 2pm. But Carrie decided that she just wanted to chill and have a relaxing morning with me. I didn't mind at all. Unfortunately for Carrie though,that was not the case. Earlier in the day, Dr Baird had come in the results of my Sputums, and we Finally had 3 sensitivities. The first sensitivty I couldn't use the med, as I had a vial reaction to it in july. It was Piptaz,I think. So It was decided, I would have my stat dose of Keftaz.

A stat does, as I have learnt, Is a quick high IV run through of the first batch of the Medication. So What happened was, 2grams Of Keftaz was put into a 100ml Saline bag and run over an hour. Now normally Keftaz is run over 8 hours in a 200ml bag continually. So you never disconnect the drip, you change the IV bag.

So getting back to the actual story. About 10 minutes in to the first Stat dose, my arm started itching, but I didn't think anything of it. About 15 minutes in, I turned to carry and asked her if my face was red as I was starting to feel rather warm. Carry said yes, they are a little flustered, but she couldn't really say. The next minute, my arms started itching profusely , I told Carrie and she said 'must I go call the Sister'. I said No, lets just leave it for a little bit and see what happens.

In an instant, my ears felt like they were on fire, and fingers were bloodshot. Carrie looked at me, and I looked at her. We had a silent mutual thought. Carrie dashed out of the room hysterically looking for Sister Furlonger. They both arrived back and Sister F lifted up my shirt and looked at my back. I don't know what she saw, but she asked what it was it? Like a mosquito itch, or a general over itch. So I told her all over. By this point, I could not stop scratching, but the more I scratched, the more I itched! The drip was stopped instantly and I flushed it out with Hep Saline. Sister F returned with 4 Renatidine pills, 2 Antihistamines and 30mg of Prednisone. I was literally jumping out of my skin, I was boiling hot and Itchy all over. Even down to my toes! If Carrie and I were in the animal Kindom, we would have looked like we were two Baboons doing a dancing ritual, hands everywhere, trying to scratch my itchy spots. Haha.

Eventually all the meds kicked in and I got drowsy. I felt terrible as the exam was in an hours time, and I now wanted to sleep. Luckily I was able to catch a few Zzzzzz for half an hour, and woke up in time for prep for the exam. It went of without a hitch, and I was even able to jog on the spot for 5minutes.

I am hoping I will be able to go home in the next couple of days to finish my treatment there. But time will tell.

So now before I get carried away, I shall end off in saying that, No matter what is thrown in my direction, there is a plan for me, and I will get through this. Especially with all of your support.

I hope to see you all soon.

This is me, Leaving a few photos...and Fabulous and Fighting harder than ever \

xoxo * <3 *

My Bedroom