Possum Galore
A life ‘Down Under’!
"Your mission.......should you decide to accept it......Get Dulcie out of bed 26!"
We had a lie-in this morning. It was wonderful.Once up I rang the doctors and made an appointment for 2.00 pm.I checked the rain gauge and we had had 95 mm of rain yesterday. the wheel barrow at the bottom of the garden was overflowing and Joanne's rotating washing line, next door, was standing in a small lake.We headed up to the hospital about 11.30. Roxy could probably drive herself there now.Dulcie was sat in her chair asleep. We waited quietly but after about 5 minutes she opened her eyes.There were a few empty protein yoghurt cartons on her bedside table so I picked them up and took them and put them in the bin.Celia, in the bed next to Dulcie, was outraged! I couldn't understand what she was saying because she has had a stroke but I could tell by her manner that she was not amused.In the bed opposite Dulcie's was Jennifer. She was curled up fast asleep. The other bed was empty but the sign above it said it belonged to Maureen.Dulcie said that Maureen had kept them up all night crying "I'm cold, I'm cold"."I was hot," she said.Her lunch came 'beef in red wine, mash and vegetables and a country broth.'"I wonder which country it's from," I said.She ate most of it and had finished when the dietician popped by for a chat. She was lovely like all the staff. She asked us about Dulcie's weight. We said she always ate well but did not put on weight. She said that they had put her on protein shakes and that when she got home that it would be a good idea to continue to have them between meals.Celia wanted to go into the dining room for her dinner. She was sat in her wheel chair. This time I understood what she wanted. I went to find a nurse."Celia wants to come out for her lunch," I said."I just have to deal with somebody else first," she said, rushed off her feet."Can I wheel her out then?""If you don't mind," she said. I didn't.Celia showed me how to get the brakes off her wheel chair and I wheeled her out to the table where her tray of sandwiches were.I was back in her good books.We started a game of cards with Dulcie.When everyone had finished their lunch they were brought back into the room. Celia was wheeled back and then Maureen."I want to go back to bed," said Maureen. She was twice the size of the little nurse wheeling her in."I'll just go and find someone to help me," said the nurse.We carried on playing cards." I want to get in my bed," moaned Maureen. "This is bloody cruel!"Dulcie just shook her head."I will never ever recommend this hospital to anyone", said Maureen. "I have been sat here now for two hours."She hadn't."Help!" said Maureen.Celia, sat in her wheelchair, started to cry.Will and I looked at each other. Dulcie seemed unfazed."Will somebody help me? Anybody?" cried Maureen.I went to find the nurse. They were all busy putting other people back to bed after lunch.We tried to carry on at cards.Eventually two nurses came to put Maureen back in bed and I will spare you the graphic details but she had to be changed as well.Will won the card game.Dulcie was also ready to go back to bed. The nurses were now busy putting Celia back in bed.Time was fast approaching 2.00 pm and I had a date with Dr Wang!We left just as the nurses finally came to help Dulcie. On the way to the doctors I said to Will that we had to get Dulcie out of that room...it was just so depressing!I was the only one waiting in Dr Wang's waiting room. When he called me in he read Frank's letter. He took my blood pressure and said it was much better.... 140 over something......yikes....a lot better than 209 yesterday! He recommended I go for an Echo cardiograph, to see if there was any damage to my heart from the high blood pressure and he gave me a prescription for tablets to reduce my blood pressure. I had to go back and see him in a week.We came home and had lunch and not long after we both fell asleep in the lounge.It was 5.00 pm when we woke up.Wendi rang to say she was going to see her Mum now and we knew that Danny had said that he was going at 7.00 pm, so we decided not to go and have a night off. Just before tea was ready, Danny texted to say that he wasn't able to go after all, so we turned off the oven and headed out.I wanted the speak to Nina and try and get Dulcie moved.We saw Anne on the way in. She asked how Dulcie was and told us that on the night she had been taken down to 3b she had got out of bed and had walked over to Mary's bed before anyone had seen her. They had put her back but later they had found her trying to get out again. Dulcie's old bed next to Anne was still free. We said that we were going to try and get her moved back.Wendi was still there. Dulcie was good and sitting in bed. She had been for an Echo cardiograph earlier too.Jennifer, Maureen and Celia were all in bed.....and quiet.....for the time being.I kept on looking out for Nina.Wendi left and Celia started crying... but I don't think the two are related.A new nurse came in. She looked like the love child of Nana Mouskouri and Demis Roussos.She was lovely."Who's this?" she asked Dulcie."This is my son Bill and this is his partner, Nick"That is the first time I have ever heard her call me his partner as she usually refers to me as his 'friend.'"How lovely!" exclaimed Nurse Mouskouri-Roussos. "How long have you been together?"We told her coming up for 6 years."You have an accent," she said to me."I'm from the U.K" I said."My nephew's partner is French," she said, "Francois. There is a bit of an age gap but they are a cute couple and been together about 7 years."She took Dulcie's blood pressure, temp etc."Hmmm, your oxygen is down.....oh, someone has turned it off!" She said.I t was time for us to go. We had bonded with Nurse Mouskouri- Roussos."Do you think we could have a word with Nina?" I asked her."Come with me boys," she said "let's go and find her."On the way I explained that we wondered if we could get Dulcie moved out of that ward and back to her old bed." I was only in there for over an hour this morning, " I said, "and I was ready to kill myself!"Nina was busy by a bedside. Nurse Mouskouri- Roussos went to speak to her.We waited.Nurse Mouskouri-Roussos came to find us."Sorry, Nina is busy at the moment but I told her what you'd asked. I don't think there is much we can do because that bed is for emergencies.""Tell her I'll bake some biscuits if she'll try," I said. "Heck, I'll even come for the day and clean out bedpans."Nurse Mouskouri-Roussos looked at a chart."Nina is on tomorrow night, you could chat to her then," she said.I wondered about saying "If you could sort this for us Nurse Mouskouri- Roussos ( and then burst out singing) ... 'forever and ever and ever and ever, you'll be the one, that shines in me like the morning sun..."But didn't.We left."Nice to meet you boys!" She called after us.She loves the gays!We have to try and get Dulcie out of that room!'
An unexpected twist!
On our way to visit Dulcie last night, as I was walking into the hospital, I could taste blood in my mouth.I thought it was, perhaps, from my gums and did not think any more of it.This morning, even before I opened my eyes, I could tell the room was spinning. I closed my eyes and lay on my stomach and opened my eyes again and focussed upon one spot and the dizziness stopped.I have had labyrinthitis before and it was awful and hoped that it was not recurring. I just do not have time to be ill at the moment.It was only after I got up that I discovered the blood clot in my mouth.I had no idea what it meant but was quite worried.I was no longer feeling dizzy but my head felt heavy and a bit woozy.Will went off to visit his mum and I rang the nearest doctor and made an appointment for 3.30pm.Will's niece Shelley arrived before he came home. She was going to visit Dulcie but was leaving her son, Phoenix here with us while she went.Will arrived home not long after she arrived. Dulcie was much better and was due to be moved back up to rehab that morning. It was good news.Will had not met Phoenix before but it was the third time I had seen him.He cried for a few minutes when he discovered his mum had slipped out unseen but was soon playing with us. He was really good and when Shelley came back he was asleep on the sofa.At 3.15 Will drove me down to Acacia Ridge Shopping Centre and I went to the surgery while he nipped into Woolies.The surgery here seemed nowhere near as interesting or amusing as the one Dulcie goes to but perhaps that was because this time the visit was coloured by the fact that I was the patient...and with some fairly worrying symptoms.There seemed to be a few people before me but I got in a little bit sooner than I should have because the patient before me had gone to the toilet.The doctor was Dr Wang!...(I am not making it up.)I told him what had happened this morning. He looked in my mouth and up my nose and said it all looked good. He took my blood pressure......It was high..... 180 over 100.He was struggling to decide what to do....he did not know me....he had no records on me...he had never seen me before.He said, "I am going to write you a letter. I want you to go to the Emergency Department at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Do you know where it is?"Despite my shock at this unexpected turn of events, I found that question funny."Know where it is? I have only been visiting it twice a day for the last 2 weeks!"Will was waiting in the waiting room when I came out."What did he say?""I have to go to Emergency at Queen Elizabeth."We had to go home first to drop off the shopping and then drove to the hospital. We were both in a bit of a daze.It has rained here all day....in fact it has been the wettest day here since we arrived and actually the wettest day of any other visit of ours to Australia.It was strange arriving at the hospital. I was now the patient....how could this be happening?The nurse who I handed Dr Wang's letter to and who took my details was one of the lovely nurses who had looked after Dulcie when she had been taken in nearly two weeks ago...I reminded her and she remembered."Oh yes! Nick."I took seat in the waiting room but had only been sat down about a minute before the 'lovely' nurse called me in.Will said " Do you want me to come?""Yes," I said...but he didn't hear me and stayed seated in the waiting room.The Emergency Department is very new and state of the art. I was lead to a cubicle and lay on the bed. I told her what I had told Dr Wang and she took my blood pressure again. It was high.She went away and after awhile came back and asked me to follow her. As we passed the waiting room door I asked if Will could come with us. Of course he could so I pressed the green button to open the door between the waiting room and the Emergency Department and he came with us. I was lead to another curtained cubicle, and introduced to another nurse."He is Super Nurse," said the 'lovely' nurse, "you are in good hands," and she left us.Super Nurse asked me to put on a gown and I got on the bed. Again I explained what had happened that morning, the dizziness, the blood clot etc.He took my blood pressure....it was 209 over something. I could see Super Nurse was shocked.He put in a cannula and drew some blood to be tested. I was expecting it to explode out of me but it didn't. He took the samples away.I told Will to go up and visit his Mum as it was nearly tea time. He said he would be back later.Super Nurse came back and fitted me with an ECG, he watched the trace for awhile then hit a print button and left again.I noticed my heart rate was 82 bpm....I wondered if I could slow it down with my mind.I stared at the numbers and breathed slowly and the numbers dropped gradually.....I got it to 72! I was pleased with myself and looked around but no one was there to see. I glanced back at the numbers and they were back in the 80's.My phone vibrated in my pocket. It was Danny."How are you?" I asked. He was good but tired and busy still working. He had tried to phone Will to see how his Mum was but could not get through. I told him that Will had said she was much better and that she had been moved back up to rehab."But you'll never guess where I am?" I said....who would have?A doctor came....his handshake was not firm....he was called Frank....I told my story again and all the way through he kept on saying"yes.....right.......yes........right.........right.......yes........yes.......right........"but in that way when people are not really listening to you. He came and went popping back quite a lot to re ask questions about things I had already told him.After awhile he came to say that I was going to have an x ray then left me again. I was lying there about an hour and eventually Will came back."Watch this," I said, " I will lower my heart beat by the power of thought,"I did it again. Will was amazed!Frank came back. They were going to do a brain scan too. Hmmmm, I did not like the sound of that.He was worried about my blood pressure so gave me a tablet to lower it.Super Nurse came back.The porter who took Dulcie up to her ward also arrived with a wheel chair."Can I take Nick for his x-ray?"Super Nurse said something I did not understand."Pardon?" I asked."You are being taken to Shortish Stay."I was unhooked from the ECG."Goodbye machine" I said as I slipped my shoes on.I didn't need the wheel chair. I didn't need the porter. The man who was going to do the scans came for me himself and lead me a back way."You are getting a behind the scenes view," he said.He did a chest x-ray first. He let Will watch."Good news! You have a heart," he said. "now let's see if you have a brain."The CT scanner is like a big metallic doughnut. I had been in one a few years ago when they were looking for stones in my gall bladder but I had never been in one head first.I lay down and they strapped my head down and left the room. The machine whirred and I could see something moving round slowly then fast. I was wondering what it would find and again could not believe that this was happening.The whirring stopped and the door opened."I saw your brain," said the man. Will had seen it too. He said that they had taken 800 photographs of it.I was taken back to the Short Stay ward and lay in bay 8.Daniel the nurse assigned to me said the results of the scan may take an hour or so.Wendi rang Will. She had been to see her Mum and wondered if she could come to see me. Will went to show her the way in."Can you believe this is happening?" I said when she arrived.She did not stay long but it was nice to see her.After waiting a bit longer. Daniel turned from where he was sat at his desk and said,"The results are back. I have seen your scans and they are normal. The doctor will be along soon to see you."I didn't know how worried I had been until he said that. It was such a relief and I nearly cried again. I seem to have been doing a lot of that recently.Frank came. He confirmed what Daniel had told me. He was sending me home with a letter for Dr Wang, who I had to see tomorrow, and a prescription for some blood pressure tablets.I thanked him and shook his limp hand and we walked out into the rain.It was murder getting the ECG tags off my chest....it was the worst part of the day!Don't worry.....I am ok....but it just goes to show.....you just never know what is going to happen next.
'Welcome to the Barr Harmers!"
My day started with the phone ringing. It was Shirley ringing to say that Dulcie had been moved down to a ward on level three. Shirley was worried because they had said when she rang that it was a palliative care ward. I didn’t know what that meant but told Shirley I would go up to the hospital and find out what was going on.I went back downstairs but the phone rang again so dashed back up the steps. The phone went off before I got to it. I had a sudden thought that whoever it was might then try my mobile, which was downstairs, so dashed back down there to get it....but it wasn’t ringing.I went back up and put my mobile on the table and started to wash up....and my mobile started ringing. It was Wendi. She had heard from Shirley. I said I was going to go up and find out what was going on.I quickly finished the washing up and then went down to get ready. The house phone rang again so I dashed back up to answer it. Heaven knows what poor Joanne next door must have thought if she saw me running up and down like a thing demented. It was Danny. He was going to the hospital too. I said I would see him there.I drove over and went to Ward 3b. A nurse looked down a list in front of her and then got on her computer.“She’s in ward 3a bed 19.” She said.I walked to ward 3a and found Dulcie sat in bed. She was fiddling with a straw.“How are you?”“Not too bad, Nick.” She said.She had one of those protein milkshakes by her bed so I took the top off took the straw off her, stuck it in and handed her the drink.“I like the vanilla ones better,” she said, “this is strawberry and it is too sweet.”“Well, drink it down anyway because they make you stronger,” I said.There was a nurse by the door talking to another nurse and when they finished talking I asked her why Dulcie had been moved from rehab.She said she had just been told that a confused patient was being sent down. She said that this ward was a ‘special ward’ and that it had a nurse in it the whole time to keep an eye on the four patients. There were 2 men and Dulcie and another woman. The nurse said that she had not been too bad though and I thought Dulcie seemed much better than yesterday.“Will she be able to go back to rehab when the confusion gets better?” I asked.The nurse did not know. I needed to find someone else to ask but went back to chat with Dulcie for a bit. The nurse pushed Dulcie’s chair a bit nearer for me to sit in.“I had another of the blackout’s last night, Nick,” she said.“What do you mean a ‘blackout’?” I asked.“Well, one of them things where I see things,” she said.“Right.......and what did you see?”“Well, I saw two men by the chair next to me. One was in a dark blue shirt and one was in a light blue shirt. I spoke to them but then I realised I was on my own with them so I pressed my button...and I kept on pressing my button.”It was probably something to do with that that prompted them to bring her down here. I had got the impression from the nurse that she had been down there for most of the night.“Do you fancy a game of cards, Nick?”Yay! I was delighted! This was our girl!We played euchre...one game is the first one to get to 15 but we played just up to whoever got 11 points first.She beat me! I was winning by miles but she steadily crept up and won!“The little children in here are very quiet,” she said. A bit later she pointed to a girl that she could see. There wasn’t one there.In the bed opposite her was a large gentleman in vest and boxer shorts, sat in his chair with his white rimmed sunglasses on. He looked as if he was enjoying a lovely beach holiday. He never moved and looked as if he was staring at us but he might have been asleep under his dark glasses. I looked up at his name on the wall.It said ‘Nikolai Minkov.’ I think he is KGB.In the bed next to Dulcie was Maguerita. She kept walking out of the ward using her walker and after a few moments a nurse would bring her back in. She was fully dressed and looked like a bossy librarian but it turned out she used to be a teacher.She was brought back in while we were playing cards and sat back on her bed but a few moments later I heard;“Excuse me, could you move your chair a little?” She could not get past with her walker. “I am looking for a small grey handbag.”“I think there is a grey handbag on that seat over there.” I said point ing to the bag on the chair on the other side of her bed.“That’s not grey, it is blue!” She shot me down. “I am looking for a set of keys. I need some possessions.” She sat on the bed. “Winter is coming!” she proclaimed. “I need socks!”Dulcie raised her eyebrows and we carried on playing cards.Marguerita wandered out again and was brought back by a little Scottish nurse. The nurse was asking if she had been in management.“No, I was never in management. I was just a teacher. It would have been good if I was in management though. I would have loved spending all night planning what to do next.”It all became clear. Of course anyone who loved work as much as that deserved to be on a special ward.I glanced at Nikolai....he was still staring.Dulcie said she wanted to go to the loo. The nurse was sat on Nikolai’s walker writing in his folder or communist dossier.She put it down and went off to fetch something. Dulcie was already shuffling down the bed.“Just wait until the nurse gets here,” I said. “She’s coming.”I went off to the nurse station to find out more information while she was with the nurse.I spoke to the little Scottish nurse. She said she had been brought down because she was confused and in this ward there was a nurse with them all the time. Danny arrived and she had had a long chat to him on the phone.“Will she be able to go back to rehab once she is no longer confused?” I asked.“I don’t see why not.” She said. I was happy with that.Danny and I went to see Dulcie. She was coming back to her bed.“She’s a bit all over the place,” said the nurse.“Well, she has been in bed for 10 days now,” we said.“Look,” I said to Danny, “she’s not on oxygen,”“Yes, but she needs it,” said the nurse.She handed her the nebuliser.I left her with Danny and brought home some of her nighties to wash.Will and I went back again this evening. Darren had taken over duty in the ward. Dulcie was sat in a chair next to her bed. She was back on oxygen. Nikolai was still in his beach wear with sunglasses on. Terry, the other man on the ward, was sat on his chair and Marguerita was nowhere to be seen.Tea arrived and Dulcie tucked in.A doctor arrived. She said that they were pleased with how things were going. She had been impressed with Dulcie’s answers to questions she had posed earlier about where she was and the day and month etc. All in all they didn’t think she needed to stay in that ward much longer and were hoping to get her back up to rehab before she lost her bed up there. It was good news. She will perhaps be moved tomorrow.Nikolai had his TV on very loud.Marguerita came back. “Here we are again!” She said.It appeared that she had been out with what I assumed was her daughter. She got on the bed to have the tea that was waiting for her. Her daughter left.“What is your Christian name?” she asked Darren. He told her.She ate her macaroni cheese. A few moments later.....“Evan! Evan!”“It’s Darren,” he said.“I’ve no milk for my tea.”He went and brought her a cup of milk.“Oh you beauty!” she said. “Oh,oh! No butter!”Darren had the patience of a Saint.“It’s there hiding under your spoon.” He said.“Naughty thing,” said Marguerita.We began a game of cards.“Could you switch the wireless off, Nick?” said Dulcie. We explained it was Nikolai’s TV.It was hard to concentrate on the cards with all that was going on around us.Terry wanted to go for a walk but couldn’t because they did not have the staff to cover the ward. He would not let go of his walker.“Don’t touch it!” he said to the nurse who was trying to take it off him.“Why not?” she asked.“The bosses have said it needs to be vented.”Darren had helped Marguerita to the shower.A few moments later the door swung open and she was stood there in just her bra and nothing else...“No soap!” she said.I concentrated on the cards in my hand.Terry started singing.While Marguerita was cleaning her teeth a man and a woman arrived.“Is this your son?” asked one of the nurses assistants.“No, he is far too big to be my son.”I think it was her son. She came out and sat in the chair by her bed. She told them she had been out.“Who with?” They asked.“Monika!” she said. They didn’t seem to know who Monika was. Darren was dragged in and another nurse who said that Marguerita knew Monika and had been allowed to take her out.“We went to the city,” said Marguerita, “and she took me to the bank.”This put the cat among the pigeons. To cut a lot of eavesdropping short....it turns out this chap/ ‘son?’ was trying to get control of Marguerita’s financial affairs. She was in a lot of debt and he was trying to sort it out.“And when I am dead you will keep everything for yourself!” said Marguerita dramatically.It was so difficult to concentrate on the card game.Dulcie won the game....again!Will commented on how nice the curtains were in this ward. When opened they depicted a tropical beach scene.“Yes,” said Dulcie, “The captain of the Brisbane Broncos (football team) brought them this morning!” She was still not quite right but was nowhere near as bad as yesterday.On the toilet door was a whiteboard and someone had written:“Welcome to the Barr Harmers!”She wanted the loo and Darren having just wrestled Nikolai in and out set about helping her.Will and I went out into the corridor to wait.I was staring at the floor. Something moved. It was an ant.“ Can you see that ant?” I asked Will, worried that I was catching ‘Delirium.’He could...in fact there was a whole line of them parading down the corridor.Darren came out of the ward and went into a room opposite.“She’s nearly ready. Should I put her into bed?”We said yes because she was tired.He sighed. “They are keeping me on my toes tonight.”When she was tucked in bed she held both our hands.“Well my darlings,” she said, “ you’d best be off.”We had taken some mince out to defrost for tea but called and got a Chinese on the way home.The first Chinese take away we have had since we arrived in October.We deserved it.