Forum Discussion
One of those weeks
I had my 18mnth oncology review yesterday. Unfortunately my regular oncologist was away and I ended up spending three hours in the car to see a 14 year old minion. I wouldn't have bothered going if I knew that was going to happen. I really wanted to discuss the AI drugs as I am pretty much over them.
14 months on, life is not too good, I didn't think I was getting worse, but in the last month I've developed achilles tendonitis, which on top of persistent neuropathy in my feet is more than irritating. Off to the podiatrist who, predictably wanted to sell me orthotics. That whole performance cost over $200 buck, after the chronic care subsidy.
Now I have some shitty thing happening in my 'bad' arm that feels very much like cording except my skin is also so sore i can't bear anyone touching it. That's moved from my wrist upwards in two weeks, if I have to extend my arm I help and it feels disgusting. The minion thought it might be nerve damage but because my arm in now swelling it's off to the lymphoedma crew on Thursday. What's the bet they want to put me in compression garments.
I've lost my casual job--a combo of the business not having enough work for me and my being too slow to be hired out by the hour. My brain is porridge and when I could work through things in my own time then bill for what I thought a normal person would I could fudge it. Not when I'm temped out and have to work in someone else's office..to top it all off my blood pressure has become such a concern (wonder why) that I need to wear a twenty-four hour monitor. They really hurt when they need to get up over 170 to get a reading.
Sigh. Sorry for the rant, but this is not the way I thought things would turn out.
14 months on, life is not too good, I didn't think I was getting worse, but in the last month I've developed achilles tendonitis, which on top of persistent neuropathy in my feet is more than irritating. Off to the podiatrist who, predictably wanted to sell me orthotics. That whole performance cost over $200 buck, after the chronic care subsidy.
Now I have some shitty thing happening in my 'bad' arm that feels very much like cording except my skin is also so sore i can't bear anyone touching it. That's moved from my wrist upwards in two weeks, if I have to extend my arm I help and it feels disgusting. The minion thought it might be nerve damage but because my arm in now swelling it's off to the lymphoedma crew on Thursday. What's the bet they want to put me in compression garments.
I've lost my casual job--a combo of the business not having enough work for me and my being too slow to be hired out by the hour. My brain is porridge and when I could work through things in my own time then bill for what I thought a normal person would I could fudge it. Not when I'm temped out and have to work in someone else's office..to top it all off my blood pressure has become such a concern (wonder why) that I need to wear a twenty-four hour monitor. They really hurt when they need to get up over 170 to get a reading.
Sigh. Sorry for the rant, but this is not the way I thought things would turn out.
120 Replies
- OMG are these people NUTS??? Where is the compassion? Why don't they use their BRAINS?? It is a perfectly reasonable request for someone in your situation. Did they even bother to look at your file? I remain completely flummoxed by the attitude towards sleep by many medicos that I have come across. Don't they understand the crucial role it plays in good health and healing? On one hand we have pretty much constant exhortation in the press about the importance of sleep, how it affects stress, our immune systems, brain health etc etc. And then on the other hand you have morons lecturing mature women in hospital at 2am about drug addiction when all they want to do is have a good night's sleep in a loud unfamiliar environment... FFS!
- @Zoffiel Go - Evil rulz, ok ? What a hide, talking about dependence when you're in that situation! xox
- The bleating, and unattended, unattached monitors have a yellow button with 'silence' written on it. It works. I shut mine up. Then I shut the one in the empty cubicle next door up too. The one on the other side is attached to a bloke who looks like he needs all the attention he can get.
About 2 am I asked for a sleeping pill and got a lecture, from a minion, about dependence and the dangers of relying on sleep aids. Not what I wanted to hear, and me saying it was in everyone's best interests that I don't have two sleepless nights in a row didn't cut it either. I was nice enough about it, said if he'd get me a sleeper, I'd give him one of my extra strong breath mints in exchange. That gave him something to think about. I am an evil old woman :) - @Zoffiel Poor you. Few things worse than sleepless nights in the slammer. Last time, I threw a bawling and sobbing fit (didn't need to act because I was seriously distressed after 38 hours without sleep) and begged for a sleeping pill. Got it. I hope today sees some progress for you. And hopefully when you get home, Chickie will be happy with the success of a possum modification blitz (LOVE that one). Big hugs to you.
@AllyJay you nailed it about the NOISE in hospitals - and nobody seems to be aware of the need to make an effort to reduce noise in the middle of the night. @arpie you were lucky to survive that. What awful neglect. - Worse still is if you actually WORK in the hospital that you are now the patient!! Then - every cleaner, staff member & their cousin look at you in SHOCK & want to find out what is wrong!! LOL Happened to me back when I had one of my knee surgeries!!
@Zoffiel I hope that you can access some earplugs & face mask to block out the sound & light.
You are right about them ignoring the beeps, @AllyJay .... a few years back, I had an angiogram done & they tightened the thing too tight around my groin, slowly cutting off my blood supply. I started feeling rather faint & could see my pulse and blood pressure was dropping alarmingly! The machine was buzzing madly. No-one came. I hit the Nurse Button, no-one came. Luckily Hubby was there - he went to the desk to alert them (as I told him I was about to pass out!) No-one came!! I told him to stand in the doorway and YELL! Someone came!! Took one look at the machine & hit the emergency button, yelling CODE RED CODE RED ..... then 15 people turned up, upended the bed, injected something into me, put a heart monitor on me ..... and released the pressure on my groin!! I could have died - but didn't! - @Zoffiel...that's terrible. How many of those meep meep meeping monitors did you feel like murdering? And the most frustrating thing I find, is that nobody pays the slightest attention to all their bleeping and buzzing anyway!!! I've run a few tests myself, by removing my "ET call home" finger monitor thingy, which records oxygen saturation levels. Remove thingy...bleep...bleep...bleep...hello...nurses...this patient has no oxygen in her blood..bleep..bleep....nobody gave a stuff. Replaced thingy and stopped my particular alarm going of, but everybody and his brother's still went off all the time. Then there's the banging doors and my personal favourite...the clacky shoes. Some tarted up individual wearing heels that clack clack clack with every self important step. Hopefully at least the arm will become less angry today.
- Sleepless night and the arm is still angry. Grrr
- Sometimes, hospital is the only place to be and they should be pumping those antibiotics into you at a good clip. Try to get some rest and Chickie will be there to complain to you when you get home.
- Fingers and toes crossed you'll be healed up soon enough. Rest well. X
