To start with on Monday I had a volunteer from Hamstead take me out to Flinders eye clinic so the Dr.s there could check that my eye was OK and this terrible redness was slowly going away and that my vision had not been damaged. All is fine, my eye will probably just be red for another week. My Dr. at Hamstead came to talk to me on Tuesday to tell me that they were happy with my progress in all the areas they were watching and testing me on. I hated the fact that I was being assessed at every specialist meeting but that's probably because I'm a teacher and I felt it was pretty much a pass/fail assessment as to when I would be going home as well as it being clear to me most of the time as to what they were testing me on. I admit that the first few assessments I did in Flinders went terribly wrong. I was on so many drugs and could not concentrate for more than about 2 minutes, which to me felt like half an hour. I couldn't even remember how to lay out the numbers on an analog clock the first time I was asked to, that is how out of it I was. I knew I was most probably failing but I reminded myself what I was going through and that in the end, with all of the help I was receiving, I would get there, get back to being able to work and stay focused.
Tuesday night I was feeling good, I only had 2 more sleeps in my creaky hospital bed, a few more specialist appointments and then I would be in my own comfortable bed and not have tasteless hospital food to eat. But does my life exist without drama? No, of course not! Once again a spanner was thrown into the works. On Tuesday I had a bit of a headache. I took some Panadol and felt OK but come Wednesday the headache was back. It turned into a migraine. As I suffer migraines my neurologist prescribes me medication to help it and as they did not have this medication at Hamstead they gave me something else to ease the pain I was in. Migraines are terrible so if you don't have migraines I urge you to be aware that if someone suffers migraines they are really unpleasant so please be kind to them when they are suffering a migraine. Back to the topic. The medication they gave me at Hamstead did hardly anything apart from make me dizzy and want to sleep. After I asked for the stronger med, o...somethingorother again, the nurse said she would go get some for me but instead she sent the Dr. into come and see me. She did the same tests as she had previously and explained that because I had just had brain surgery she would consult with the other Dr. on the ward and decide whether or not to send me to RAH to have a CT scan to make sure my brain wasn't bleeding. She explained that after the last surgery they did a scan and there was some bleeding on my brain but that was typical after what I had been through and it would, I suppose you might say, drain away. I believed her but an hour later I was in an ambulance, first time for everything, on the way to the RAH! Lights really hurt my eyes when I have a migraine so the next few hours, approx 5, weren't the nicest. There was a good hour where I was in a bed at the hospital in the ED waiting in the corridor because as they were bringing me back from having the CT scan an older lady came in with apparently terrible constipation. This was one of the only times where I was a bit frustrated that I was just kind of forgotten about. I thought to myself 'hmmm constipation versus possible brain bleed', I thought I deserved a bit more attention and privacy. I got over it. They didn't let me eat or drink until I had had all the tests done. The tests came back clear but the migraine was still there. The Dr. in ED said they didn't have the med I take for my migraines in the ED, ridiculous, so suggested that someone bring it from home but in the meantime they had ordered another ambulance to take me back to Hamstead. I got back to Hamstead at about midnight and crashed into bed after taking some more useless pain killers. In the end my migraine worsened over night and didn't clear until my dear mum, who was flying back from Qld for a work conference on Wed night, was able to bring me my migraine medication the next morning at about 10am. Wasn't the nicest night!
The doctor came and spoke to me yesterday morning and said that all the specialists were happy for me to leave as all the tests were clear but because I had had my migraine the night before it was up to me. As I had constantly reminded myself the whole time I was there, I was going to use the professionals I had around me to the best of my ability so I actually didn't say 'nah I'm out of here' rather I explained that if I didn't feel back to my post-op usual self I would stay another night to see how I felt. I think that surprised but also pleased her.
I had my last OT appointment at 11:30 which was cooking myself lunch, so much better than the hospital food if I do say so myself. At the end of that I realised I had not felt tired at all and it was then I realised I was fine to go home. To finish off my short stay, honestly was in comparison to other people's stay, at Hamstead I had a large meeting that involved all the specialists that had seen me as well as family. We went through a whole range of topics from getting back to sport and what I should avoid eating and drinking for a while then said our goodbyes.
I can't express how much respect I have for the Dr.s, specialists and nurses who looked after me whilst I was in hospital. I could not do their job. As for my family and close friends, thanks for being so caring towards me, even if it took me 3-? days to reply to your text messages and I asked if you could please hold off your visit. I feel so cared for.
It was a great feeling to leave Hamstead. I feel like I've accomplished another small step in this journey to recovery. I'm seeing my neurologist on Wednesday, I'm thinking he'll go through the biopsy results with me so we'll see how I feel then but for now I'm just going to enjoy the next few days away from hospital.
Oh home!
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