Friday evening I was discharged from yet another stay in hospital. Thankfully this time it was a planned admission under the care of my Endocrinologist. I will write a post as to why I have been reffered to this doctor shortly, but it's basically to do with my blood sugar levels possibly being a factor in triggering some of my seizures.
This stay was only 4 days so not to bad. It was so they could carry out some tests whilst I was fasting for 72 hours or three long whole days and nights!! This was no easy task when I was perfectly well at the beginning of it and used to eating every 2-3 hours. The intention was to record my blood sugar levels every four hours during the whole fasting session to see what they would do and how my body would cope. As I was well during this admission I thought I would capture a few snapshots on my phone to create a little diary as to what it was like and what I got up to during the time.
So it began on Tuesday morning. I was told to ring the ward I would be staying on and see if there were any beds available for me to be admitted. Now here in the UK the NHS is under extreme pressure, more than ever before and is in the news daily due to lack of beds and waiting times etc so I was not expecting a bed to be available so soon after my initial appointment with my Endocrinologist three weeks before. I telephoned the ward in the morning to be told that there was 99% chance of no beds available. Lunch time however I was called by the ward sister and informed that they were hoping to discharge one of the patients depending on blood results so don't go anywhere far incase I do get called in. Low and behold later on that afternoon I was called again and asked to be at the hospital within the hour to take the bed.
The fast began as soon as I arrived. For the next 72hours I was to only consume water, black tea and black coffee. I'm not a huge fan of black tea and coffee so essentially all I could drink was the water. (I did try a cup of black coffee after a day one but it made me feel sick!)
In order to undertake the fast I had to have a cannula inserted. I'm pretty notorious for not having the best veins ever. They are weak from so many past insertions and tend to shy away despite being fully hydrated. It was essential to have a cannula fitted not only because of possible hypoglycaemic episodes where they need to get sugar in me fast but also due to the chance of me needing intravenous rescue medicine in the event of seizures. I couldn't believe my eyes when the doctor who clerked me in managed to insert a cannula first time! It wasn't to last...
Within hours the cannula site became red, sore and started to swell. I asked the nurse to look at it as it was becoming painful to move my hand. She tried to flush it with saline but unsurprisingly it was blocked. She then tried to locate a vein to insert another needle. After attempting to get one in she failed though. 5am the next morning I was woken up by another doctor who had come to attempt to insert on again. 5 attempts later, with blood all over my sheets and him having being showered in saline I still had no cannula fitted. They then called another doctor to come and try who used to be a phlebotomist. Thankfully on attempt 9 (which believe is or not is still a a low number for me!) she managed to successfully cannulate me! It couldn't be inserted fully in so had to be taped, plastered and bandaged to me so I didn't accidentally knock it out. PHEW!
So I had a lot of time to do a whole lot of nothing. I spread my time out by listening to music, reading and watching downloaded tv programs. This got boring very quickly though. The worst thing however was when everyone else on the ward was eating their breakfast, lunch and dinner! Especially when the food trolley would come onto the ward and fill the air with the smell of food. I know hospital food doesn't exactly have the best reputation but when you're really hungry anything sets your stomach going.
During lunch times I would go and have a shower to avoid the temptation for a while. Then during dinner times I would escape the ward and wander around the hospital corridors or sit in the day room catching some sun. I was very lucky to have lots of visitors during my stay :) ranging from friends and family to doctors and nurses who I know personally that work at the hospital. The paramedics I spend time with out on the ambulances as an observer with even popped in a couple for times. It must have been strange for the other patients to see me with people in all their uniforms just sitting hugging and chatting with them. It very nice to have friends from various areas of the healthcare profession when you spend so much time in hospital!
It was inevitable really that at some point seizures would hit. They did so at 4am on my third night there. To be honest I thought it would be sooner. I woke up the next morning to find myself with an oxygen mask, the sides up on my bed and feeling like I'd been hit by a train! I'm told I had gotten out of bed just before 4am visited the toilet then on my way back had gone over to a nurse and asked her if I could have one of my migraine tablets. By the time she had gotten to my medicine cabinet she had found me seizing on my bed. I was left so utterly exhausted for most of the next day and remember none of it.
By the time came for me to be discharged I was allowed to eat. When the nurses asked me what I would like they told just say anything and we'll see what we can do as it was dinner time on the ward anyway. All I fancied though was cold, buttered toast. Yep. Hospital toast is usually cheap white bread, cold, chewy and dosed in butter. Which just so happens to be my favourite and I rarely eat bread at home so I was taking full advantage!! At first they said that there was no bread to which I was genuinely gutted. But of course they were joking and brought my a pile of toast with a sugary hot chocolate and I can tell you it was the best meal ever!
And that was that. My endocrinologist came to visit me everyday and just before I was discharged. He told me wants me back in for another test in about a month but thankfully this will only be a day case. I'm interested to find out what he thinks and what the results will be. x
