Poorly Relations

On the day we flew home from Tenerife, Phil’s aunt Daphne went into the James Pagent hospital in Lowestoft for a hip operation.   She was very much on our minds because prior to surgery her consultant only gave her a 50/50 chance of surviving the anaesthetic.  But she figured with the pain she was in and no real quality of life, she decided to take her chances.  The new hip was to replace the one she had replaced less than 2 years ago but they didn’t do it right and Daphne has been in agony with hardly any mobility ever since.   This time round, the operation itself was a success but there were complications, namely that post op Daphne’s kidneys were not working.    After the operation she was moved into the intensive care unit where she still remains.

Mandy, Daphne’s cleaner and part time carer went to visit Daphne on Sunday and she was shocked to see how poorly she was.  She rang me to give me an update and we decided that we would visit her on Tuesday.  It was a foul drive down to Lowestoft in the rain and took us nearly 3 hours.  We knew Daphne was on dialysis but didn’t realise she was on it 24 hours a day.  Poor Daphne was wired up to various machines, she knew we were there and although she tried to talk to us, she wasn’t making very much sense.  It was sad to see this little frail lady who was obviously very frightened and confused.  We had a long chat to her nurse who said that the confusion was almost probably due to the anaesthetic; she said that it takes longer for an older person to break down the drugs in the body.  Only time will tell I guess. 

We went down to the canteen for lunch as we didn’t want to tire Daphne out and when we went back up to ICU, Ray came into visit.  Ray is Daphne’s financial advisor and power of attorney; he looked surprised to see us at the hospital and vice versa.   Patients are only allowed 2 guests and understandably they are very strict on this in ICU so we took it in turns to go in.  Unfortunately Daphne was even more confused in the afternoon and we decided to leave at 2pm.  This was probably just as well as it took us 3 three and a half hours to get home to Overstone.  The sat nat died half way home and we took a couple of wrong turns and nearly ran of petrol.  We will visit Daphne again next week where hopefully she will be feeling a little better.   In the meantime I am phoning the ward each day to see how she is but sadly there is no change.   We do not know how long she will be in intensive care or indeed what happens if her kidneys don’t start functioning.  Obviously she can’t be on dialysis forever and I think next time we visit we need to try and talk to a doctor.

On Wednesday I got to the gym and when I came back Phil and I set about weeding the patio next door.  No easy feat because the patio is massive.   Phil was much better at it than me so he de-weeded whilst I swept up after him.  It took us nearly 3 hours but it was a job well done.  I did some housework and changed our bed and after Phil had his shower we drove to MK.  First stop was Tesco’s in Wolverton to get supplies and then it was round to Sue’s.  Sue was at home and after a busy day I rather think she could have done with some relaxing time with her Kindle but there was no chance of that with us two.  Phil went out with Jimmy and the Wednesday boys and Sue and I had supper at her house.  We did have a very nice supper and it was meant to be a quiet evening but of course it ended up being an evening of over indulging in red wine and chocolate and it was also a late one.  Great fun at the time but not so fun the following day.

Yesterday morning Sue had a plumber due round at 9am, so after breakfast we said goodbye and made our exit.  It wasn’t straight back to Overstone because we needed a few bits at Homebase and we also needed a food shop.  We shopped at Asda in Bletchley and it seemed to take forever.  We 
finally got back to the caravan at midday and after unpacking the shopping we nipped to the Manor for lunch.   Phil wasn’t feeling very well yesterday, he gets this acid thing sometimes and had been sick in the middle of the night.   Thursdays are always ‘write off’ days for Phil and yesterday was no exception.  I wasn’t feeling too clever but I had to do some jobs in the caravan next door.   I also wanted to put gravel into some pots and plant my new solar lights and this took a while but I am glad I did it.  A couple of days ago a new caravan appeared on the plot at the end of our cul-de-sac so there has been quite a lot of activity in Martins Court.  The site people having been plumbing in the new van and the next- door- but one neighbours are having new decking installed.  We saw this being delivered before we went away and it seems to have taken forever to put up.  Perhaps the rain has delayed it, I dunno.

Today is going to be a busy one; step dad is arriving for the weekend some time around lunch time and we are expecting a new gazebo to be delivered and want to get that up this afternoon.  We also have friends coming over on Saturday.  Originally we were going to do a BBQ but the forecast is rain so we have gone to plan b.  Even if the gazebo does arrive and we manage to erect it, I think it’s going to be too cold to sit outside.  Bloody typical British weekend weather but here’s to a good one anyway.