Peter’s Hospital Diary

It’s another cold morning here in London, not a breath of wind, and the prospect of some snow later!

I went to bed last night feeling slightly off colour, and only slept fitfully last night, but this morning I felt a lot better. I have now decided to eschew the cooked breakfasts in favour of the cereal-and-milk variety. Much safer, or so I thought. Having had a bowl of cereal, and a cup of tea in the day room with my fellow transplant patient (Jean) we were summoned back to our rooms for the ward round. (We did suggest that they might like to come to us…)

All was well until I started to walk, then the contents of my stomach started to intermix – with unpleasant results. Part of the problem may have been the 2 cups of cold water I had drunk to wash down the drugs 10 minutes before. Lesson learned! (Don’t eat Rice Krispies!)

Onto more pleasant things… The ward round went well. The Friday morning round is usually a big one, with a consultant (Matthew) and the two House officers). Overall they are pleased with the progress, and if all continues to go well, there is the possibility of release on Monday or Tuesday. The cause of the infection has been found, and they want to make sure that it is cleared up and that I am properly hydrated before letting me loose on the streets.

Yesterday afternoon started with quite a good lunch (in fact I began to feel guilty about some of my comments, although after this morning…!) and as the antibiotics did their job I started to feel less lethargic. There was a ward round in the afternoon and we discussed some of the blood results – one of tests shows a higher than normal level of broken cells, though this is not uncommon if you have had a splenectomy). My haemoglobin levels were still quite low so I had two units of blood infused, and a litre of fluids with potassium to correct my electrolyte balance. (The noise of the pump doesn’t make for a peaceful night!)

I had a welcome visit from Greg (my former section head when I was working in Bristol). We had a long chat for about 90 minutes until he had to go for a meeting.

I finally got round to writing some words for a patient information booklet that Guy’s is producing for transplant patients. This is to advise transplant patient what they might need to bring with them on admission.

Have to smile – as I sit here typing, the man who runs the paper trolley has just popped in with my daily paper, could life get any better?

Yes it could! Kim has just given me the best back and shoulders massage I have ever had. I’m going to post this, and then lie back in the calmness it has induced……….