Michelle (The Slice and Dice Part 2)

I am sitting in the Peckham Lodge Hotel having just left Michelle ensconced in her hospital bed.  She has had blood taken, an ECG, signed a consent form, got her wristband on and the nurse has filled in a mile long admittance form.  The Doctor has been to see her and all things being equal she will be going down for her op at about 8 am tomorrow.  The doc reckons the op will take about 3 hours so hopefully I will be able to go in and visit her sometime after mid-day.  I will post how things are when I get back here, I am staying up here for a couple of nights possibly longer depending on how she is, trouble with being in a hospital so far away from home is she's not likely to get so many visitors   mind you she porobably won't care about that for the next couple of days.

Thanks for the update Carol. I'm sure she'll be fine. What hospital is she in?


R.

Peckham.... lovely. Have you seen Delboy? We wish her well.

Quoted from richardjackson99

Thanks for the update Carol. I'm sure she'll be fine. What hospital is she in?


R.

She's in Kings College Hospital  

Quoted from Bumble

Peckham.... lovely. Have you seen Delboy? We wish her well.

No we looked for 'Nelson Mandela House' when we came up before, but couldn't decide which of the tower blocks it was    The hospital is actually in Camberwell but  I'm only about 15 or 20 minutes walk away - I leave the car by the hotel which is free, if I drive to the hospital it costs an arm and a leg to park anywhere remotely close to it  

Thanks Carol, fingers crossed for her - at least we now know where to send the peas to!


R.  

Oh yes she'll love that won't she as she     so much

please wish PR, all the best from us, jennifer was born at kings collage,  was a bit scary, Big hospital, and easy to get lost.

Quoted from Bumble

Peckham.... lovely. Have you seen Delboy?

He's not the surgeon is he?

Our thoughts are with you both

All the best xx

Hope all goes well, will be thinking of her  tomorrow morning  

Give her my love O.B best wishes to both of you

Hi Carol send her our love

hope tomorrow goes well we shall be thinking of you all


Pen and Ian

wish her all the best  

We are all thinking of you Michelle. By the way Nicola had a big lump removed this afternoon at 3-50 it was 9lb 6oz and she said she is staving. Just think how long will it be before they let you, eat will they allow you to nibble on fresh peas, like they do with grapes. Maybe you could lie in bed just flicking them up in the air and catching them in you mouth like they do in the movies. Get better soon just in case we have any problems with the web page.

Congratulations on the 9lb 6oz but does said lump have a name yet?  

Michelle finally went down for her op at about 10am (there was an emergency during the night and everything was delayed)  I finally got to see her at 7.45 this evening, I've walked miles trying to keep myself from going completely up the wall   Poor kid has tubes and wires going into and coming out of every orifice, even a tube up her nose and down her throat, which made conversation very difficult, tho' to be honest she wasn't really with it, I just needed to see her and satisfy myself that she was really alright.  She has an epidural so she isn't in any pain at least and the nurses are very pleased with her, everything seems to be fine.  Might be a different story tomorrow though when they start removing the tubes etc and getting her out of bed, needless to say I will be there to make sure she is ok.  After a very bad and restless night last night, I'm hoping to sleep better tonight (should do I'm absolutely k*******d

Thanks for the update Carol. Glad it went well. Give her our best.


R.

Are the tubes wide enough to get peas down?

Don't forget to let her know  we are all thinking of her and tell her we need a new smiley.



As much as she hates peas I bet she will be really please when she can get out of bed and go for a pee on her own.
I hope you had a better nights sleep last night but I know how hard it is.

Quoted from Bumble

Are the tubes wide enough to get peas down?

Possibly Rita but considering that she threw up in her oxygen mask when they passed the tube up her nose and down her throat I don't hold out a lot of hope that it will happen  

Quoted from Terry

Don't forget to let her know  we are all thinking of her and tell her we need a new smiley.

NIL BY MOUTH
EXCEPT PEAS

As much as she hates peas I bet she will be really please when she can get out of bed and go for a pee on her own.
I hope you had a better nights sleep last night but I know how hard it is.

I certainly had a better night and I've just phoned the hospital and Michelle has had a good night as well, the doctor has been round and is pleased with her progress.  She will be coming out of the special care room and going on to the ward, so I'm not quite sure where I will find her when I go in later on.  Have decided to stay up here for another night so will update later when I have actually seen her.  Looks like a nice day out there so I might hop on a bus and go into town (assuming I can find the right bus and not get lost   )

Quoted from O-B

Possibly Rita but considering that she threw up in her oxygen mask when they passed the tube up her nose and down her throat I don't hold out a lot of hope that it will happen  





I certainly had a better night and I've just phoned the hospital and Michelle has had a good night as well, the doctor has been round and is pleased with her progress.  She will be coming out of the special care room and going on to the ward, so I'm not quite sure where I will find her when I go in later on.  Have decided to stay up here for another night so will update later when I have actually seen her.  Looks like a nice day out there so I might hop on a bus and go into town (assuming I can find the right bus and not get lost   )

Thats good new Carol hope you don't get too lost  

Good to hear she (and you!) had a decent sleep. I'd jump on the tube if I were you.


R.

Quoted from richardjackson99

. I'd jump on the tube if I were you.


R.

Thats not nice Richard. The tube is still in Michelle  


I' glad everything went well. Tell her that we are all thinking of her

Glad to hear everything is going well   please pass our best wishes on to Michelle  

Very good Andrew, I'd not thought of that.

R.  

well im glad for you that at least all the waiting is over im sure those hours went very slowly

send her our love we are thinking of her and hoping there isnt a postal strike !!!!!!!

Quoted from richardjackson99

I'd jump on the tube if I were you.

Like black cabs, there aren't many tubes south of the river.

Andrew is right there aren't many tubes (not so many in Michelle either now) but the bus stop is just along the road from the hotel   Also don't forget I'm not called Old Bird for nothing   I used my bus pass   hopped on a bendy bus to Oxford Circus, got off at Westminster Bridge, took a few piccys had a wander round Parliament Square, thought about popping in and seeing if Gordon was there, but couldn't be a***d.  Went back to Morrisons picked up a salad and a yoghurt and went into Ruskin Park, this is an absolutely enormous park right next to the hospital and had lunch, it was a beautiful day (well in the morning at least, more later)

Went in to see Michelle at 2.00 (visiting time is 2 till 8.30)  She looked much better she'd had several tubes and wires removed and had been out of bed in the chair for a while.  She was due to leave the high dependency unit at 10 to go on to the ward.  I waited and waited she finally went up at 10pm, so I didn't get back to the hotel until nearly 11 last night hence why I didn't update last night

While we were sitting waiting for the bed to come down from the ward she is now on there was an horrendous thunder storm and somewhere (I hope it was a lightening conductor) on the hospital got struck - there was an enormous crash, a metallic clang and the whole ward shook - oh what an exciting life I'm having at the moment.

I shall be travelling home this evening after I have been in to see her, but I expect I will be up and down between home and here a few times more before she comes home.  Any way I have passed on all your good wishes and I will talk to you all later  

Thanks for the update Carol. Pleased she's making progress. What sort of timescale is there for her to come home? And glad you had a pleasant morning yesterday.

All the best,


R.

Not sure when she will be home yet they're talking about the epidural being in for a few more days and she still has a catheter and central line for intravenous antibiotics etc so it's just a case of wait and see at the moment  

Bet you are knackered OB what an eventful day! glad to hear she is doing ok, hope she'll be home soon

THanks for the updates Carol glad Michelle is doing well thinking of you all x

Quick update before  I head back up to Kings - I actually came home yesterday and slept in my own bed - bliss   Michelle continues to do well although now she is on a normal ward (eventually) the attention is a bit lacking she was still waiting to be washed at about 9.30 (she can't actually get out of bed on her own so just has to wait    Lisa and I are going up shortly we'll probably have to do it all for her - oh joy!  Because it is a holiday weekend there will be no physio or anything so she is reliant on the nurses for everything at the moment - or mother when she gets there (visiting doesn't start till 2.00 so it's no good going any earlier.  Yesterday she was still only on sips of water not sure yet if she will be able to have anything more today - she's gasping for a cup of tea she reckons she'll be well on the way to recovery when she's allowed to have one  

Thanks for the update, looking forward to tonight's instalment - bet she's had chocolate!

R.

Sadly she hasn't had chocolate, she's still only on sips of water though she did sniff mine and Lisa's kit kats   It's been quite a stressful day for her - it's weekend + Easter + the ward is very short staffed, as Michelle is still confined to bed without help she's trapped, she can't actually get out of bed on her own at the moment consequently she was a bit glum when we got there this afternoon.  Also I went and bought her a card for the TV over the bed yesterday and when I put it in it showed the phone number showed there was £5 credit on it and then the whole thing promptly crashed - so now it doesn't work at all and needless to say there is no one to sort it out either   A lady across the ward from her thought she was going home and Michelle was all set to move across to her bay with as it has a working telly but, suddenly the few remaining staff decided that she couldn't go home after all, so bang went Michelle's hopes of a working telly   All in all it hasn't been a very good day at all and doesn't look like improving any time soon.  I'm off up there again tomorrow also Monday, hopefully a friend of hers is going to do Tuesday then it'll be me again - where would she be without her mother/nurse/chaser of the few remaining staff  

PS sorry it has taken so long to post this but I haven't been able to get on here all evening

Thanks for the update Carol. Sounds like all large NHS Hospitals are the same then, judging by the recent experience of a member of our family. Very disappointing. Is there any chance of her being moved closer to home to complete her recovery? Our family member was moved to a local hospital to complete theirs - what a pleasant change it was!


R.

Have been abroad for a while so just catching up and did not know that Michelle has been in hospital. Nadine and myself would like to send our best wishes and hope that all is well.

Have just arrived home from the latest visit, it's approximately a 140 mile round trip but as the last 10 to 15 miles is London that bit takes nearly as long as the trip up the M2 and the A2   She was a lot happier today, she had seen her own doctor and she is now allowed to have yoghurt and fruit juice which is better than sips of water.  She still has the epidural, drain and catheter so is still pretty much bed bound, they did say they were going to take the central line out as there is nothing attached to it now, but it was still in when I left at about 6.  They have at least moved her across the ward so she does have a working telly now and it is a bit brighter as she is by a window sadly there is no view as there are some temporary buildings right outside them

Thanks again, Carol. Sounds encouraging, which is good for Michelle. When are you going again?


R.

Tomorrow I can't have her up there with no visitors can I? and as to your previous question if she will be transferred closer to home I don't know, tho' it would save me a few miles.  I will be well and truly ready for my cruise - only a fortnight to go  

Good for you, you'll have earned it - where are you going?

If there is a local recuperation type hospital, I'd try and get her in there - the one near us is lovely. A refreshing change from the major hospital.


R.

This is planet thanet   recuperation hospital what's that   I think she's better off in Kings than in the local QEQM it took them god knows how long to diagnose her in the first place    As for the cruise I'm going to North Africa and the Canaries  

Glad to hear Michelle's improving Are you counting the days/hours to your cruise yet

Cruise sounds good Carol. We too have a large impersonal factory, sorry, hospital. But a couple of the little towns near here have had their "cottage" hospitals converted to use to free-up beds at the major one, prior to discharge home. Seems to work - so it'll probably be ended soon!

All the best,


R.

Quoted from richardjackson99

Cruise sounds good Carol. We too have a large impersonal factory, sorry, hospital. But a couple of the little towns near here have had their "cottage" hospitals converted to use to free-up beds at the major one, prior to discharge home. Seems to work - so it'll probably be ended soon!
R.

You don't know how lucky you are Richard, our local hospital in Hemel Hempstead is in the process of closing, we've now got inexcess of 250k people relying on Watford hospital & it just can't cope. They call it progress >

Glad to hear shes doing well OB-give her my love and tell her to think nice thoughts of RC (she'll know it will make her recover faster lol

Quoted from Jack Knightmare

You don't know how lucky you are Richard, our local hospital in Hemel Hempstead is in the process of closing, we've now got inexcess of 250k people relying on Watford hospital & it just can't cope. They call it progress >

Tell me about it we live 2-3 minutes walk fron Kidderminster Hospital if I had to call an ambulance I would have to be taken to either Russell's Hall about 10 miles plus away or Worscesershire Hospital 20 miles away >

Michelle was quite poorly yesterday, her epidural ran out and she was without pain relief for about three to three and half hours before they gave her an injection.  I didn't leave the hospital till 8.00 then had to drive back to the planet    Today she has texted to say they are going to send her home tomorrow - I'm confused when I last spoke to her she still had her epidural and her catheter so goodness knows.  Everything ground to a halt over the long weekend and suddenly its it's full steam ahead its as though they've suddenly realised that nothing has been done for the last few days and now it's full steam ahead.  I'm going up for 11.00 tomorrow so we shall see what's gonna happen  

Quoted from O-B

its as though they've suddenly realised that nothing has been done for the last few days and now it's full steam ahead.

Well, even the NHS has traditions to uphold... I could tell you a story about my Dad's treatment since January but it would only be scary...

at least with no staff at the weekend they was a reduced risk of them giving her a nasty bug but it is worrrying about having  no pain relief!!!!

hope you get some better news tomorrow

Michelle's friend Andrea has been in to see her today (she's a doctor) and she thinks she looks quite well, the epidural is out now but she was put straight on oral pain relief (not like yesterdays cold turkey) she still had the catheter and the drain in when she left, but I'm going up early tomorrow and woe betide if things aren't all as they should be  

I'll be wearing my ear plugs at 11:00 tomorrow just in case - I'm only 60 miles away!

Let's be positive though: if they're talking of her coming home at all, they must think things are moving in the right direction. Fingers crossed for tomorrow Carol.


R.
ps. Thanks for the update.

It's all change again She has had her catheter removed, but not the drain - yet - hopefully that's coming out today and now she is coming home tomorrow, so instead of getting up there for 11.00 it is usual time 2.00.  Must admit I'm happier about this change I did think they were rushing things a bit, I didn't go up yesterday as her friend (who is the doctor went) she was there when the epidural came out and they gave the new pain relief straight away (not like the cold turkey of the day before)  Hopefully when I get there the drain will be out and then I will be able to help her with a shower (she can hardly wait )  As I am baby sitting again when I get home later did it last night as well (where would my girls be without without me ) I shall be staying at Lisa's tonight - she doesn't get in till gone midnight and after a trip to London and back I just don't think I can stay awake long enough to drive home   Plus I've already changed my bed ready for Michelle thinking she was coming home today.  Hopefully when I do the next update she will be here with me  

The joys of parenthood, Carol!

All the best,


R.

fingers crossed she come home tomorrow that journey too and fro couldnt have been much fun

We are thinking of you and Nic & Leigh send their love.

Hooray - she's home   Well she's at my house, she's going to stay with me for a few days until she's a little more mobile.  I got there at about 11.15 somewhere round about then anyway, much to my amazement she was dressed and ready to go - didn't even have to wait for her medication, they've taken the dressing off and the wound looks very neat.  I took her down to the entrance in a wheelchair then went and brought the car round - try driving from London to Ramsgate avoiding all the potholes not easy I can tell you    I'm sure once she feels a little better she will be on here.

That's excellent news for you both

Thats Great News Carol my love to you both hope it's a speedy recovery

Good news all round. Hope you'd stocked your freezer up.

Thats great news  

thats good news send her our love

Excellent. Bet you're both relieved. Speedy recovery.


R.

Great news   our love and best wishes to you both  

Thats fab news..... sending lots of love!  

WOW! That's the longest thread we've had in a while! thank you all for your kind wishes

I'm doing a lot better each day - and am pretty much able to walk upright again now. it's very exciting. Have been for a play on the electric invalid carts at tescos and asda since it is the only driving i'm likely to do for a little while. On reflection, trying to go up the travelator was probably a bad idea, since it couldn't grip and was almost as terrifying as a roller coaster ride given the new features on my abdomen, but i take what excitement i can get at the moment.

I made it up to my flat today to see the boys - one of them was pleased to see me - ron was more interested in mum who was feeding him. fickle creatures. just got to make it back down now - and after a little while on the computer - i'm completely knackered now! have to have a little nap methinks!!

Soon be back to NORMAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

see you soon!

Glad to see your sense of humour hasn't been taken away with the op!  

Pleased your doing so well  

x

well done Michelle fancy going out shopping gosh you must be bored !!!!!!!!

it sounds like your on the mend and that you havent lost your sense of humor Im sure the cats will start to love you again once you start feeding them again and they realise the nice warm lap is back .I dont imagine your tummy can take much cat areobics  yet

Excellent news. Good to hear from you Michelle. Trust the scar's healing well. Hope there was no road rage in the supermarkets!

All the best,


R.

There were a few pitying glances and one old boy gave me evils. Perhaps he thought I looked too healthy to be in a cart! My trip home proved very exhausting. I've curled up again - can't stand straight any more today.

There were a few pitying glances and one old boy gave me evils. Perhaps he thought I looked too healthy to be in a cart! My trip home proved very exhausting. I've curled up again - can't stand straight any more today.

There were a few pitying glances and one old boy gave me evils. Perhaps he thought I looked too healthy to be in a cart! My trip home proved very exhausting. I've curled up again - can't stand straight any more today.

There were a few pitying glances and one old boy gave me evils. Perhaps he thought I looked too healthy to be in a cart! My trip home proved very exhausting. I've curled up again - can't stand straight any more today.

One reply would've been enough!  

If you're having technical problems, I'm sure our "Web Whatever" will help when she's better!!!!!!!!  



R.  

Glad your on the mend we've missed you on here

Most people with mobility scooters are lethal. So, are you at home now or staying at mum's?

The 4 posts were due to the fact she was playing with her new work Blackberry (obviously she will get used to it) and in answer to your question Rita she is still with me at the moment - if anything yesterday proved that she is not quite ready to go home just yet  

i should have known technology named after fruit would be problematic! it's nice to have a new toy to play with, and my boss brought me a chocolate orange too! my kind of fruit!!

I spent about an hour and a half on the computer at my flat yesterday - and it left me absolutely knackered! While you definitely recover quicker once you get out of hospital there are definitely limits!! I shall enjoy sitting with my feet up completely guilt free while i can I think!

Just received a lovely arrangement of flowers and a balloon today from a bunch of nutcases! Will try to get a picture up later! They are lovely and very much appreciated - so thank you you lovely nutters!

Mum's taking a break from babysitting duties, and has gone to Canterbury with her friend - possibly to buy some clothes for her cruise next week - she tried some stuff on this morning and it was all too big! I'm under strict orders to behave myself - as if i could summon the energy to get up to anything!!

Make the most of it while you can!

xx

I'm sure you'll find something to get up to! glad you are feeling a bit better...mmm chocolate orange-does that make up fot the Easter eggs?

i have a couple of easter egg at home - something to strive for!!

Quoted from party-ring

i should have known technology named after fruit would be problematic! it's nice to have a new toy to play with, and my boss brought me a chocolate orange too! my kind of fruit!!

I have just come up with a new phone just for you.....

the Pea Phone it would Pea Green and come with pea installed applications included 100's of pea recipes for you to enjoy your favourite green veg......

The only tone on the Pea Phone would be the Poodngton PEas......

... perhaps not! - My friends husband sang the theme toon for Poddington Peas - but i don't hold it against him - it's his car i've been borrowing all winter!

Here's a link to the piccy of the flowers:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4020907&l=869c75b85e&id=751233276

not sure i'll be inhaling the helium this time -if i cough it hurts like a lot of swear words so might play it safe. of course lisa might steal it instead - she has a thing for helium - but it hurts to laugh too so i might have to ban her.....