name and status

this was something else i noticed about being in hospital this time, but i need to explain a couple of things first.

firstly my first name is elizabeth - though i have always been known by my second name of sarah (mum didn't want me to be teased about my name at school, my initials would have been spelt SEW). from talking to others, i know that i am not the only person called by their second name, in fact it is quite common, it just seems to cause confusion.

secondly that i had a very unusual surname - in fact if you come across someone else with the same surname - we're most likely related. for many years i hated my surname being unusual and that no-one knew how to spell or pronounce it, and began to look forward to changing it to something easier. however somewhere in my late twenties i actually began to enjoy having an unusual name (i did once look something up on the internet about the geography of surnames and how they had spread across england over the 20th century, only to be told that they couldn't do my surname as there were under 100 entries on the census).

nine months ago matthew and i got married and suddenly i realised that i was going to have to give up my name, so i compromised and have retained my maiden name as an additional forename and still use it for work - mainly as i have worked around the country and youth work people know me with my maiden name.

so that is the background to my name.

not using my first name is interesting, most people know me as sarah and it is only really the medical/ dental and other official people who ever use elizabeth, so i do answer to it on occasion (but not if they try to be friendly and call me liz - who is she?). previously in hospitals people have referred to me as elizabeth - the doctors, nurses, radiologists whoever. however this time i was very definitely Mrs Hodge, which i found quite strange. probably as after only 9 months of marriage i'm still getting used to it myself, but also the change from first name to married surname. maybe there is some hospital policy? it did take some getting used to and really didn't feel like it was me, though i did tell everyone that i was sarah - some learnt it, others didn't and to one or two i was merely 'the lady in sideroom 2'!

when i was first hospitalised with lupus, many of my student friends came to visit and kept asking for sarah and after some confusion found me (it was a time when a lot of people learnt that i was using my second name). a year later when i went in again for a few days, they very proudly remembered that i was in fact elizabeth - but by then i'd trained the medical people and they all knew me as sarah, so more confusion ensued.

this time there was some confusion, especially for work colleagues who had to think hard about my married surname, let alone what my first name was. but i think everyone found me in the end. so if i did confuse you - i'm sorry, i don't mean to be difficult.

home

i'm now home!

it was a frustrating afternoon waiting for my medication to arrive from pharmacy - the hospital has a discharge lounge - which is basically a ward with chairs around the edge, very soulless. people are wheeled in and then either picked up by friends and relations or transferred to other hospitals/ homes.

in a way it was a bit of a shame that my stay finished there - as up until that point i had nothing but praise for the care i have received.

anyway, i slept the sleep of the dead last night, 11 hours, and it was lovely to have a leisurely breakfast this morning, with the wonderful matthew.

the picture is some balloons that my sister sent me, a novel take on flowers.

thank you to everyone who has kindly sent cards, best wishes etc. they do make a difference.

release?

it looks as if thus could be my last posting from sideroom 2.
i am ready to go, just waiting for some drugs from pharmacy. i've packed am just waiting for the ok.
i may have to move from sideroom 2 to the discharge lounge, where ever that might be, so i thought i'd say goodbye from here, while i still can.
the blog has really helped me and thank you for reading and commenting, either here or on facebook you have encouraged me.
i still have someway to go before i'll be fighting fit again, so this may yet be renamed 'life from no 39' or similar, but for now i'm just glad to be going home and am looking forward to spending the weekend with matthew.
thank you.

extreme bonjela testing

in order to keep myself amused this morning i have decided to undertake some extreme bonjela testing. this has come about for two reasons.
firstly, as previously mentioned a crop of ulcers and a fungal infection have taken up residence in my mouth over the last week. yesterday i was given a bottle of liquid antibiotic and a tube of bonjela, these, along with an illegally smuggled steroid mouthwash, have begun to make some impact on my unwelcome visitors.
secondly, when i bought the paper yesterday i made a rash impulse buy of a packet of walkers sensations sweet thai chilli crisps (a fave of mine). it is hard to believe but it is obviously possible to impulse buy in hospital. anyway once back in sideroom 2 i realised that that might not have been the wisest way to spend 99p. crisps, chilli flavouring, mouth ulcers... so the packet remains unopened.
thirdly, yesterday was chocolate day, ie some of my visitors had bought me some chocolate. matthew and i had some in the evening whilst playing cards and i realised that mouth ulcers don't like extreme sweet either.

so in a minute i will be liberal with the bonjela and once it has had time to work, try eating either the crisps or the chocolate. i will off course update you with the results later.

on a more positive note i understand there is now a bed shortage and the 14yr old can see no reason to keep me here, we just need a more mature doctor to sign the form. the only possible fly in the ointment is that i will need some antibiotics to go home with, if it is only for a couple of days there is enough on the ward. if i need them for longer they will have to be ordered from pharmacy... and because of the bank holidays this weekend i will need to get them from here.

major crisis

there is currently a major crisis on roskear ward...
they have run out of male urine bottles and there have been frantic calls around the hospital to try and locate some. fortunately this crisis will not personally affect me!!
on my first night on this ward i could hear one of the nurses asking the men in the next bay how many bottles would they need for the night, one or two? it took me a couple of minutes to work out exactly what bottles she meant.

things i am most looking forward to about going home

matthew
my own bed
watching tv without paying 3.50 a day for it
making phone calls without paying 10p a minute
people ringing me without paying 50p a minute
being responsible for my own medication again
no longer being pricked for blood tests/ blood sugar/ canula's etc
reading 'the girl who kicked the hornet's nest', out today in paperback
a quieter life - not so many bleeps/ buzzers/ phones etc
a nice freshly brewed cup of tea

good morning- day 7

greetings from sideroom 2, it's coming up to 8am and i'm awaiting breakfast in bed. unfortunately i didn't sleep too well last night, my brain couldn't shut off and because the height of my exercise routine is a walk to the front entrance and back (and please bear in mind that roskear is the 2nd closest ward to the entrance) my body wasn't particularly tired either.
anyway i am hoping that today is to be release day - so far my 'obs' are fine which is good news.
once i've breakfasted and dressed, i shall wander down to the shop and get a paper and then the waiting game will begin. i don't want to tempt fate by packing, but then again it shouldn't take too long to pack and in the meantime i've thought of a couple of things to keep myself amused whilst waiting.
so here's hoping that everything can be sorted and i can be ready to leave by lunchtime (as this best suits matthew's diary for the day).