Oh boy...
So, we didn't manage to get to Wells as sort-of planned last Sat: Kai wasn't feeling too well so we did home stuff (and shopping and washing) instead. On Sun Ken and I went out for an hour or so to Go Outdoors (he needed new trainers), Hurrans (for seeds) and Dunelm (because I knew they have a pretty extensive range of bedding and wanted to check it out, because...)
... it's our 28th wedding anniversary on the Solstice, and while there's no traditional thing for the 28th, the modern one is orchids. Which is fine for me but not so easy for Ken. I found in my searches that there's a beautiful gemstone called orchid tourmaline, but finding a sample of it, much less an earstud, is proving very difficult. But I was firmly convinced that there must be some pure cotton orchid bedding somewhere (other than this American site, which has lovely designs but they're all polyester), and Dunelm was a good place to look.
And indeed they had an absolutely gorgeous set - Lipsy Mirrored Orchid 180 thread count pure cotton. At £90!
Needless to say that's far too much for bedding, even as a joint present. So I took a look around and found the same set at Argos for £66.50 instead, still very expensive but which we ordered (and collected today). Picked up a gorgeous deep petrel, pure cotton sheet to go with it at Tesco. That's the anniversary sorted: we're not going out for a meal this year, it's a Thurs and Ken has to work the next day.
However, when we got back Kai was feeling much worse, in a great deal of pain from his stomach, so I rang 111, who organised an appt (at 10 pm) at the Knowle West Health Park (BrisDoc, out-of-ours surgery for emergencies). Kai's temp reached 99.7 while we were waiting, but had dropped a little by the time the taxi got us there. The registrar examined him and took blood samples, said she couldn't find anything seriously wrong but would ring me with the blood results later (actually at quarter to four on Monday morning) and if we didn't want to get to the BRI that night (we didn't, the thought of a 4 - 6 hour wait in A&E was too much) advised us strongly to see his own dr in the morning.
I tried ringing from 8.30 onwards on Mon am but couldn't get through (the surgery was unusually busy), but as luck would have it Ken had an appt for his own blood test, so was able to speak to reception and get Kai an appt at 10. And the dr sent us straight to the BRI...
The surgical assessment unit got Kai a bed very quickly (by this time he was vomiting and the pain in his abdomen was almost unbearable) and started heavy painkillers while they organised tests. Two X-rays and a CT scan, plus yet more blood tests, at least proved there was nothing really nasty going on, so I rang Ken (who had Mon and Tues off this week) to bring in Kai's (always prepared) bag to the unit to relieve me, and he stayed until they threw him out when visiting hours ended at 9 pm.
When I arrived the next morning Kai was covered from head to waist in a thoroughly nasty rash, and they weren't sure whether it was drug related (they'd given him IV penicillin the night before) or something else.
More tests. We stayed in touch on skype as best we could, but Kai'd had practically no sleep for several nights, and was in too much pain to chat. I found out when I booted up on Wed morning they'd moved him out of the general ward into his own room in a different part of the hospital at one in the morning, though, and I had great fun finding it when I arrived a couple of hours later. He was still suffering and still dozing off much of the time, but I was able to speak with one of the drs, who thought the rash might be a form of chicken pox or shingles...
Seems Kai didn't acquire my immunity when he got my stem cells. However, knowing (more or less) what it was is always helpful, and when I arrived today he was much better, most of the pain gone, and the rash looking better too. But he's on IV aciclovir at the moment, and can't come home until he's finished the course, which we think will be Sat.
We did wonder if that might be why he was moved, as of course it's very infectious (either that or, as I joked to Kai, he's the BHOC's star patient and if they didn't look after him Prof Marks would descend upon the unit with the power of a thousand wombats...) But so far so good. Fingers crossed it all just gets better. We do NOT need relapses at this stage.
I've been too tired to do much this week (two hours travelling - hour each way - to and from hospital plus the time spent with Kai hasn't left me much time for anything else) so Ken and I have caught up with some film watching in the evenings to help clear the pile and let me put my feet up. Notting Hill last Sat - great stuff! - Warlords of Atlantis (oh dear... dire), The Slipper and the Rose (very sweet), Cube (good, but anything but sweet), and tonight Nobel Son, which is weird and rather unpleasant.
And that's about it for now, my eyes are stinging and I need to sleep. More news later.
Labels: anniversaries, busyness, medical matters
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Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor
pontificated this at 11:51 pm
3 Comments:
Oh lumme. Shingles can be particularly nasty and very painful. SIL Gill had it on her scalp and with a week-long migraine thought it might be a brain tumour. It took several trips to doctors and A&E before one enterprising doctor spotted the problem.
Send him our love and 'fluences for a hasty recovery.
GoodTwin
Oh my goodness, what an awful time you've been having. Shingles is nasty but, as you say, knowing what it is, is more reasuring than being in the dark.
I do hope Kai can come home as planned on Saturday and that he feels much better soon.
Take care, all of you!
You have an exciting life. Meant for a comment, not a curse.
The sheets are lovely. I cringe at having to pay around 22 pounds for a set of plain white cotton sheets, so y'know, sleep on them lightly!
The power of a thousand wombats? Clearly this man is not a person to mess with.
Varicella (the smallpox germ) has a number of nasty tricks. Too bad, as you say, that Kai did not get your immunity along with the stem cells. The rash part of it? Sorry, Kai.
Take care of yourself and Ken and Kai. Cheers for coming home tomorrow!!
Now to prove that I am not a robot (pout).