When Things Go Right

I woke up this morning at 4.30am, and discovered I’d forgotten how to talk. It’s now nearly 7pm and I still haven’t remembered how to.

This morning I had the hospital appointment. Ambulance transport rules say that if you have a morning appointment, you must be ready by 8.30am even if the appointment is at 11am. The ambulance arrived at about 9am, and I don’t know if it was a coincidence or someone actually requested it for me, but it had a stretcher in it so I was able to lie down 😀 We got to the hospital about 9.40am, and asked if there was somewhere I could lie down. There wasn’t, but they instead said they’d see me immediately, which they did.

My appointment went well. We got around the not being able to talk problem by me typing on my tablet and Johan reading what I was saying for me. They went through my medical history (a lot of questions were answered with “only because of my M.E.”, which was a bit scary), told me what was going to happen, had me sign the consent form, and then got me on the bed to listen to my chest and feel my tummy. It was over by 10am, and the nurse sorted out calling for the ambulance to take me home.

We again asked if there was somewhere I could lie down to rest, but they didn’t have anywhere available. However, we went to the main entrance to wait and found some comfy sofas, so I reclined (and at times lay) on there. An hour later and the same ambulance came to take me home. Because I’d only actually sat up for about 20 minutes, I was able to get up the stairs on my bum. Johan helped lift me and the ambulance woman followed with my legs.

The ambulance people were amazing. They even shut the blinds on the way back because the light was bothering me. I’m also grateful for the doctor and nurse at the appointment who made sure the appointment happened straight away and was over as quickly as possible. Because it went so well, I was in a lot less pain and felt a lot less ill than I had done the previous week. I was still very sore and didn’t feel great, but I could cope with it.

On Friday 2nd December I’m going back to get my teeth removed under a general anaesthetic. We’ve booked stretcher transport, and though they hope I’ll only be there for the day they have advised me to take overnight stuff just in case. I’m going to write a sheet with all my important information to take with me to try and help the nurses and people look after me. I’m also going to ask that Johan be allowed to stay with me on the ward, as he knows me and can help me communicate. If it goes as well as today did, that will be awesome.

Other than the appointment, I’ve spent most of the day in bed. Had a weird dizzy spell this afternoon, where I suddenly felt extremely dizzy and weird, though without any extra nausea. Not sure what caused that, or what it was about. I had a 20 minute nap and I wasn’t as dizzy afterwards. I also had a bath this evening as it had been more than a week since my last one so I was desperate. It was a new carer and it was interesting trying to get things sorted when I couldn’t speak, but she was happy to listen and to be told how we like things done. I think I like her 🙂

I’m probably going to sleep soon, as I got woken up at 4.30am by my bad tooth (it calmed down quite quickly after waking me up, luckily). It’s now getting towards 8pm, so that’s a good time to be thinking of sleep.