Vampifan's Views 40 - Monthly Musings 23

A get well soon e-card designed by Irqan. I love it!

It's that time of month for another of my Monthly Musings posts. I thought I'd do something different this month and tell you about my stay in hospital. I was rushed by ambulance to my local hospital, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on the day I fell ill (Wednesday 5th June 2013). I spent eight weeks in a critical care unit, followed by four weeks on a special needs ward. I was then transferred to Southernwood Care Home for further physiotherapy treatment and I spent just over two weeks there. I never imagined that I'd be in hospital for so long. But I also never realised how serious my illness was. I certainly had plenty of warnings that things were not going well, but being a typical man, I ignored all the signs, falsely believing that things would get better. I was losing my energy and my appetite. When I met up with Joe and Mathyoo earlier this year, I could tell that I wasn't 100% fit then. After that, things gradually got worse until that fateful morning when I realised that I simply had to get medical aid.

Me in the critical care unit on day 1 of my hospital stay. So many tubes!

Here I am doing my best zombie impersonation. No make up needed!

I dialed 999 and the paramedics were with me within minutes. I was so weak that I didn't even have the energy to get dressed. I was rushed into the Accident and Emergency department and was diagnosed with a hole in my bowel, which was leaking poisons and toxins into my stomach. The medical terms were peritonitis and septacemia, both of which can be fatal. My mum later told me that the surgeon who operated on me only gave me a 50/50 chance of surviving. I knew nothing of this as I was in an induced coma to aid my recovery.

My first trip outdoors. That's my mum holding my hand.

My first attempt at walking, with Kerry my Physio

I have very little recollection of the first couple of weeks in critical care. If you look at the second photo of me you can see that I have a tube that went down my throat. This was called a tracheotomy and whilst I had that tube, I couldn't talk. This meant that I could only communicate by sign language and that was extremely frustrating for me. I was given a notepad and pen but my handwriting was so shaky that they were of little use to me. It was such a relief when the tube was removed and I could talk again.
One of the best things about being in critical care at the QE was that the staff kept a diary of my progress. Each day, whichever nurse was assigned to look after me would write a report of my progress in the diary. Quite often, the staff would take photos of me, and the photos I have included here came from my diary. I was not allowed to see my diary until the day that I was discharged from the critical care unit. I thought that the idea of the staff keeping a diary for me was a brilliant one. It is something that should be rolled out across all hospitals in the UK. Some have taken up this scheme but most haven't. 

Mastering the use of a zimmer frame with nurses Jacqui, Andrew and my mum

I must praise all the staff in critical care for looking after me so well and for looking after my mother as well. She visited me every day that I was in hospital and the care home, which I appreciated very much. It was nice to have my brother visit me and I was delighted that he was able to keep my blog followers notified of my progress. I had a couple of visits from Joe aka Zabadak and they cheered me up no end.
Whilst I was in critical care I lost three stone in weight, which certainly delighted me, as I wanted to lose weight. I went down from sixteen stone to thirteen stone. However, I would not recommend this weight loss scheme to anyone. There are far easier ways to lose weight!
I had to learn to walk again. In this I was greatly aided by my physiotherapists. Two in particular stand out for me, First was Kerry, a wonderfully enthusiastic person who was a bit of a bully but a bully in a nice way. She left to go to Sunderland Hospital and I must admit she was a big miss when she left. I really liked Kerry. Fortunately she had a great replacement in Andrew. Andrew was the complete opposite to Kerry. He was very quietly spoken but a thoroughly nice person. My mum and I loved Andrew. He wrote a very moving and heartfelt message on the last page of my diary. Kerry and Andrew appear in two of the photos I've included.
When I was transferred to the special needs ward things got a lot different. I no longer had the one to one care I received in the critical care unit. Fortunately, I was looked after by a number of people who I already knew from my time in critical care. Special mention must go to the rehab nurses Andrea, Sonia, Susie and their boss Eileen. All four were an absolute delight to know and once again, they looked after me and my mum really well. They went above and beyond the call of duty and I will never forget them. It was always a joy to see them. I am sorry that I have no photos of my time in Ward 9 or of my stay in Southernwood, It was there that I went for extra physiotherapy treatment. With the help of two more wonderful physiotherapists, Mel and Sue, I learnt how to walk with walking sticks instead of a zimmer frame.
Now that I am back home I can get about the house without any aid. When I go outside I usually take one stick. I do have two sticks but I find that one is enough for me, I imagine it won't take long for me to walk unaided outside as well as indoors.
Happily my strength is back, as is my energy and my appetite, I am almost fully recovered. I'd like to thank everyone once again for their well wishes and support. It meant a lot to me.
On the hobby front I am painting 4 Zombie Plague Survivors, 5 Copplestone Castings Urban Cowgirls and 7 Eureka Schoolgirls with guns. They are all just about finished. Having gone four months without buying anything hobby related I have really splashed out. I have made pledges for three Kickstarter projects - the ATZ 28mm scale figure collection (an obvious choice for me), the Reaper Bones 2 collection (again, an obvious choice seeing as I bought so many figures from their first collection) and finally, the Mars Attacks project (the Martians don't interest me that much but the human survivors and soldiers do interest me a lot). I'm still waiting for my Zombicide 2 parcel to arrive and for the zombie figures from the Zombie Plague project. Both items are due soon, so hopefully I'll get them in time for my birthday next month.
Thanks for taking the time out to read my musings. I know it was different from my usual musings but I wanted to share my experience of being a hospital patient. Until this happened to me, I'd never been in hospital as a patient in my adult life.