The last week or two has been a strange experience for me, to say the least. I headed off to work for a 12 hour night shift on Christmas Eve and witnessed, at most, a couple of hours of the seasonal spirit. I began to feel unwell and soon found myself crawling around on all fours in abject agony. It seems that the universe had decided to bless me (via a wonderful sense of irony!) with the birth of my very own little bundle of joy – a kidney stone!
Two canisters of gas and air (and a wonderfully trippy ride in the ambulance) later, I arrived in the A&E department of a nearby hospital… although I could have been in “La La Land”, for all I cared!
I spent the holiday on the male surgical ward amongst an assortment of elderly geriatrics, detoxing substance users and those not long of this world. The environment was absent any festive decoration due to our ridiculously over the top health and hygiene laws. The staff did their best for the patients. I’m sure they didn’t really want to be there, yet (apart from a couple of individuals who made no attempt to hide it!) they didn’t really let it show. It is certainly something I understand is part and parcel of the job – given my part time work in the same profession. I was very grateful for all the care they gave me though. However, being a patient, in pain, in this setting, at this time of year, surrounded by those less fortunate… well, it certainly puts things in perspective.
Eventually, after being poked, prodded, scanned and stared at by nameless doctors and specialists, I was doped up and left to my own devices! I had a few visitors, and friends and family kept in regular phone contact with me, which I was truly glad of as it helped to pass the time. Eventually, I learned that I had delivered my internal treasure, only to find that I was having twins! The latter didn’t seem to want to budge, so I was loaded up with bags of pharmaceutical goodies and discharged home.
Now it seems I am playing the waiting game! It has been difficult for me sit up (let alone type a blog entry) and have only managed to do any typing in the last day or so. I hope to get up to speed shortly (I still have yet to post the final part of the “Disney Dark Side” blog series!), so please bear with me!
Many thanks to those of my fellow truthers who got wind of my predicament and kept in touch – especially James who offered to catch the train over, just to take me up the pub for an hour (sorry I couldn’t manage it!) and Andrew for the hugely generous offer of a tablet to do some typing! The thought was truly appreciated.
Cheers to you all and the very best for now.
Carl (The Truth Seeker’s Guide)
1 comment:
sorry to hear about your "ailment"And i thought I had it bad by getting sick the 1st day of the new year and staying in bed for 3 days!But Im sure that was easier than what you went thru. Man, I hear those kidney stones are a torture!Sure hope you are fully recovered!
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