Procedure Day

 And just like that, 5 days passed by without incident and here we are.

Well, I have just gone through 24 hours of bowel prep and no eating, well clear liquid only so feeling a little drained but let's get this show moving.

And the immediate results when I came round......?

You guessed it, absolutely nothing!

Although he did mention one more test to me and at this point, I am open to anything, so a nuclear medical scan of my gallbladder is now planned, despite the ultrasound showing no gallstones or enlargement of the gallbladder.

Fingers crossed.

Jigsaw 13 - Gnomes

 I thought this one was cute when I saw it and thought why not, a very different style to my usual ones. It was easy to sort each gnome into its own colour so actually was not difficult to complete. As it was a Cobble Hill design then it did have some fun shaped pieces.

Paper Flower Craft

 I don't get to do this very often, not sure if it is because work is just so busy that by the time I get home, I am too tired, or whether I just haven't had the inclination to want to do this craft.

Since moving back to the family home, life has been difficult. With taking 3 months stress leave last year and then a trip away, a family holiday and the chaos when I did go back to work, because we were still very much short staffed and there was so much to achieve, that I just never got my head engaged to get my craft room (aka oldest son's bedroom after he moved out in May 2024) sorted.

It is slowly now coming together, even though I did get the shelves in situ a few months ago. I still have a lot of work to do to finish unpacking boxes of items and also, I keep changing my mind about where things will live, you know, the usual thing, that you put something somewhere and then a few weeks/months later, you change your mind and rearrange everything!

Sadly, last week my youngest son's girlfriend lost her grandfather suddenly and I wanted to make something for her. So, I looked through the craft items I have got out and put on the shelves and decided to make her a small bunch of flowers. I knew she would appreciate the thought.

They turned out really well and I was really happy with the little bouquet when it was finished. She loved them too and thought it was a lovely gesture.

Breakfast

 Unfortunately, I couldn't really understand breakfast on the day I was let home?

Now, if I had been 6 years old and just had my tonsils out then I would have been in heaven 

Ice cream?

But for me, in my 50's and just having eaten not much for the past few days (I have already lost 6 kg of weight through this past 5-week ordeal) then being given ice cream for breakfast just did not go down well at all, and consequently, I didn't eat it.

Sunrise Day 2 in Hospital

 Like yesterday morning, I had a perfect view of the sunrise, well when one is awake at 5am, what else is there to do?

We do get spectacular sunrises and fog in winter here in my part of New Zealand and this morning did not disappoint at all. The city was blanketed and amazing

The netting you can see through the windows is there to protect the building from birds. Many an incident with pigeons coming in through open windows and making a mess of the ledges outside the windows, so this netting hangs all the way to the first floor from the top of the building.

Dinner in Hospital

 With being nil by mouth for a while and then clear oral fluids and eventually allowed a soft diet, then I was excited to see what I would be getting for dinner, when they allowed me to eat.

Soup, jelly & ice cream and custard would never have been top of my list! 

It was pleasant enough but did lead to me feeling nauseous and not happy, but no pain.

Sunrise

 The hospital sits sort of up on a hill, not that it is that noticeable, but when on the 8th floor then you do have a good view of the city. Obviously, the direction of the ward I was in also meant I got to see the sunrise.

And wow, was it spectacular on the first morning.

Here We Go Again

 Unfortunately, on Monday, I ended up back in emergency. This time I was at work, pain hit really bad and they ended up calling an ambulance to work! Let's not talk about the way this was managed in an office of nurses 😀 to say it was comical would be an understatement, but I can definitely see the funny side of it.

This time, the doctor took things seriously and decided that maybe some more investigation was required, so referred me to all sorts of people. This led to x-rays, CT scans, blood tests (again) and so many people poking and prodding me.

The results

Absolutely nothing! Everything came back normal.

However, they did admit me and kept me in for 2 days and keep me nil by mouth for 12 hours and then clear oral fluids only for the next 24 hours, which led to only being able to have ice blocks. Which when you can have nothing else, actually taste really yummy.

The end result was that because I have my double scope procedure happening next week then they decided not to book anything in hospital, it would take too long, and to let me go home with pain relief and to wait the 5 days for my private procedures.

Private Consult

 Today I had my consult, and he has no answers!

So, a multitude of tests to be completed starting with a double procedure of gastroscopy and colonoscopy. A 2 for 1 view of my digestive track from top to bottom in 11 days' time.

The worst part of it all.... the bowel prep I have to take in the 24-36 hours beforehand! That part I am not looking forward to at all.

Oh well, if we can establish what is causing the pain, although not had any more since the last time at the end of May (2 weeks ago) so feel a little bit of a fraud really, then I will be happy.

Interflora

 As I spent half my life in the UK prior to moving to NZ then I still have many connections and family back home. I completed all of my schooling in England, and my nurse training. I was 27 when I moved to NZ.

So, when I heard that a very dear friend had lost their mother then I needed to pay my respects. Now for obvious reasons, attending the funeral was not going to be a happening thing, so the next best was to let them know they were being thought of.

With online shopping a way that has made the world so small nowadays then sending flowers was never going to be an issue. Although I am always wary of what I am going to pay for and what actually arrives?

This time, I was happy with what arrived, and the flowers received were appreciated for the gesture that they were intended.

Jigsaw 12 - Sunny Villa

 When one thinks of a summer holiday then this is what I think of, plenty of sunshine and a quiet area to swim in the pool whenever you want during the day.

New Zealand has some amazing summers, but it doesn't hold the temperature from the day into the night when outside. I remember summers in America, and it was just as hot at 10pm as it was at 10am, and you could swim most of the evening and not get cold. Here you definitely need a sweater and jeans by 8pm if sitting outside as it gets a lot cooler.

Jigsaw 11 - Paint Craft

 The final one in the series of four from the Artistic Flair series that I completed the other 3 of last year in April and October.

I am glad that I had taken time out and done other styles in between as this would have been boring immediately after the others due to the design of the cat, the shelves and the general theme. But glad I was able to complete the series as it was still one that I really liked all the pictures in the series, despite the slightly boring repetitive nature of them.

Hospital Again

Yesterday I got hit with pain again. No explanation, just as sudden an onset as last time and no way of managing it at home.

I have been to my GP and have a referral to a private specialist to rule out some conditions, but I am now sat waiting for an appointment, although I always ask to be placed on the cancellation list, as I can usually drop everything to get to an appointment within 24 hours' notice.

With no idea on how to manage this pain, and obviously not having access to IV drugs at home, I did the next best thing...I called an ambulance.

Scared the crap out of youngest son who was away at a friend's house, as we have a doorbell camera and his phone gained a notification at 7pm that someone was on the driveway and he checked to see what we were doing, only to see an ambulance pulling up. He was quite concerned when he called to ask what was happening. Poor thing, he cares really, just doesn't like to show it too often. Bless him.

Anyway, their decision was that I needed to be checked out, again and to have some of their IV pain relief. So, back up to the hospital emergency department, a quick consult with the doctor, a silly nursing decision by me, that if I had some strong pain relief to have at home then I wouldn't need to bother them by visiting the hospital as I could manage this all myself at home, so happy to go home. She agreed and 3 hours later, home I went.

Definitely a bad nursing call but nurses are the worst patients, we know too much, self-diagnose and generally would talk our way out of any situation where we think we know better! It is also a long weekend here so nothing much is going to happen if I did stay in hospital, plus I have a private appointment in 2 weeks' time, so fingers crossed we start getting some tests.

So, I never really gave them the option of anything other than a script for some strong stuff and going home.