Morning everyone. Not feeling so great today, after yesterdays LP. Kicked my rear end to get to hospital for 9am. Sis was waiting for me.........shes also one of my carers. Got to the ward and was really needing a wee. Was shown into my room (private…great) and then told to get into a gown and get into bed. This is the dialogue twixt me and nursey.
me Er, excuse me, where is the hoist please?
nursey Hoist? What hoist?
me I rang to say I need a hoist and was told you would acquire one.
nursey No-one told me. Oh
me I cant transfer without a hoist. Oh and I need a wee please.`
My sis had looked into the loo and saw a commode.
nursey How are you going to get onto the loo?
me With a commode
nursey Commode? What commode? We dont have one`
me Theres one in the loo`.
nursey Oh, right. Ill see if I can find a mobile hoist then. We do have a ceiling hoist in another room.`
me Can I use that room then please?
nursey No, its occupied, but they dont need a hoist.
Sis and me rolled our eyes and I held onto my bladder!
Ten minutes later a magical hoist appeared. Nurses didnt know how to operate it. We told em…nothing…magical hoist wasn`t so magical afterall…it was dead as a dodo. Even when plugged into a socket, still nowt!!!
Nursey, Oh, it wont work.`
me No. I still need a wee.
A man appeared…looked at hoist…fiddled with it a bit and said, It wont work!`
me.have you got another one?
nursey Ill go to another ward and see if I can find one`.
Ten minutes later another hoist appeared. Now this one was truly magical, `cos it did work! Fantastic.
Sis undressed me and got me into gown. We used the hoist ourselves and got me onto commode. Then over the loo…ahh, relief! I looked at my feet…theyd gone all purply and blotchy. I aksed nursey if it had footrests. Daft question, I know...it didnt!
Right, onto bed. All wonderful. Doc came. we discussed the procedure. I asked him to try not to hurt me, as memories of the horrendously, painful previous one was. He said he wouldn`t. Then another doc appeared. Guress who it was?
It was that lovely neuro who showed me 3 distinct blobs on my 2008 MRI, in my neck area. The 3 blobs which had miraculously disappeared in 2010 when yet another neuro showed me the same scan. Hmm, wondered how that happened. I asked him about that and he said he couldn`t remember!
So, the procedure began. Curled me up into the fetal position. Not easy when your legs/feet/toes wanna argue! Okay…needle with aneasthetic went into. Oooo, that smarts, I thought. Then longer needle to draw the CSF.
Arrgghh! Ow!!!!! I yelped.
Doc Oh, Ill give you a second lot of aneasthetic`. More smarting followed! Procedure continued. Still made me jump. But I knew I had to just lie there and thing of England…oh and the possibility of an MS diagnosis…maybe!
About 20 mins later, it was completed and I was more than relieved.
For the next 2 hours, I laid flat and felt more comfortable than I had expected. But during that time, my heels began to burn and tighten. This is the fairly new problem I have with pressure soreness. Sis put my gellies on…heel protectors.
At 12,30 I needed to wee again. I called nursey and she had to go back to the other ward and re-claim their hoist!!!
To end this sorry tale, I was allowed home at 3pm and vowed never to have another lumber puncture.
Results in 3 weeks…what will they be? Answers on a postcard please…
luv Pollxx