Saturday

Yesterday I got to go home for the day.

Sounds simple, but it took me three attempts just to get dressed, trying various methods of threading tubes and vacuum bottles through different articles of clothing before I managed to find something that actually worked. Kind of amusing really; an interactive sartorial jigsaw. No wonder you see so many people leaving hospital in jogging pants and a sweat shirt.

But by the time I’d finished I was exhausted, which was far less amusing.

The doctors always warn you when you go through surgery that it puts your body under a lot of stress, and that it takes a surprising amount of time to fully recover from all the drugs and get back to normal strength and stamina. What I’d not fully appreciated (largely because I’ve been living out of a single room for the last three weeks) is that I’ve been going through procedures every three days that while not true “operations”, still have most of their characteristics, especially all the drugs. Consequently I’d really not noticed how much it has been affecting me. But fundamentally I’m worn out.

So in the end while it was great to get home and spend time with my family and try to do some of the normal things that everyone takes for granted, it also revealed both that this can’t go on indefinitely, and I’m going to need to take some time off at the end of this to get my strength back. Which wasn’t something I was expecting. Fortunately I have quite a lot of vacation set aside, and I think this could be a good time to think about using some of it.

The day itself?

We did nothing special, and normal family life went on around me. Some requests for help with laptops and smartphones, a bicycle that needed fixing, and a nice home-cooked dinner. Which actually was just what I needed before being dropped back into hospital last night, ready for todays procedure.

No rest for the wicked, eh?!