I shut my eyes for the whole thing.
When I opened them again the burly bed man was one handedly and expertly manoeuvering my bed into position. DH was smiling at me as he put down his book. Then he was gone I think. I think we chatted but my next memory is of taking a few mouthfuls of soup and maybe some tea... I think the DH and PS's visited and we had a good time, but really I remember most of that night I was interacting with the nurses.
I actually love nurses. They have been good to my PS's in difficult hospital stays respectively and come up shining. They do incredibly servile things, and attend to some very basic needs. I was completely at the mercy of anesthetics and morphine, and my body was doing its own thing with regard to elimination, and the bed pans were needed frequently. I could not move any part of me without pain and dizziness so they had to do everything. The third or fouth time, this baby nurse came in. "You look 5 minutes old" said the morphine. She was shattered, I could tell, but after a few minutes she got the message and an older nurse came in to sort me and the bed pan out. I never got to see the blue dye....
The older nurse was a nun I'm sure (it is a Catholic Hospital) she had on one of those big button blue cardigans, and she was very strict. She had no interest in my morphine induced nonsense, and when I told her my chest was getting bigger she had a quick look under the stripes, and said "no , it's normal" and left. So I watched my chest swell and buzzed the nurses back. Nice nurse Karen came in and had a proper look - it was getting bigger before our eyes . The nun came in and peered at me and muttered again that it was normal. "I feel sick " I wailed, so she shoved a vomit bag under my nose. They left.
While they were gone, I threw up. Then I threw up again and missed the vomit bag. I screamed for help. Attila the Nun came rushing in. "You really must use the buzzer Mrs D, it's 11.30 and everyone is sleeping. Even she couldn't find the buzzer in the bedclothes. Nice nurse Karen came in wth sheets and a cloth, and told me she had called the doctor. Attilla the nun peered suspiciously at my vomit bag and said "there's something in there - I thought you hadn't eaten!" "A little soup" I said totally cowed by her presence. I threw up again more neatly this time, and she rushed out and came back with a basin and a softer heart and stayed with me while I finished the process.
Nice nurse Karen brought me a wafer for under my tongue, and then we inspected my chest every half an hour after that. It continued to swell. "Something's very wrong" I said pitifully. She said the " (BSS) thinks it's a bleed and he'll be in first thing in the morning." she patted my hand and told me to try to sleep. With her visiting every half hour, I eventually fell asleep at about 2am I think. I felt that I was in a fluffy cloud as my arm and chest felt both numb and puffy at the same time.
I woke up around 6 and my birthday was over.
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