Day 17 – Pain in the Heart

I don’t remember sleeping that night, it was hard to get comfortable (they still couldn’t get a suitable bed so I was on a flat trolley type bed) and the pain was bad. I haven’t put what time but in the early hours I had to call a nurse. Most of the pain was concentrated in my tummy and lower back but I had started to get pains in my chest. The nurse on duty was concerned and called for a doctor who then attached an ECG machine to monitor my heart. The results were ok and as they had suspected the chest pains were to do with trapped gasses from the surgery. Further doses of painkillers were given and then it was discovered that the PCA morphine had run out so I hadn’t been getting pain relief for a while – explained a lot. I must have managed to get to sleep eventually but was woken when another ward ‘re-shuffle’ started and me and another lady from the same bay were moved to the next room along. Other women in our bay were taken elsewhere. This was because of the 4 bays in the ward, 3 were usually male and only one was for women. However, at this time 2 of them had been full of women but more men needed admitting. It then transpired that not all of the women were renal cases, some had been given beds from other wards due to bed shortages. Either way, once again we were on the move and so sleep would have to wait, again. My new bed is by the window and I can see the skyline which is nice. It’s amazing how the little things can lift your spirits, watching birds (and planes) pass by was a simple pleasure – I never thought the Small Heath skyline would mean so much! I was also kept amused by the continual bickering of staff who were understandably annoyed about bed shortages.  They blamed other wards for the complaints they faced, believe me some of the patients did not take the bed move lying down…if you know what I’m saying!