status anxiety

Hospital survival guide

Essential kit

Ear plugs. If you can tolerate them (I know some can't), they are a godsend, especially if you're out on the main ward (as I was for a few nights) or if your side room is right next to the (very noisy, particularly at handover time) nurses' station (as mine was). One morning, the auxiliary who was trying to take my blood pressure stood at my bedside calling my name for several minutes before giving up - I was out for the count and couldn't hear a thing. They didn't want to touch me in case it alarmed me.
Personal stereo. Lose yourself in your music, drown out the coughing, spluttering, moaning and vomiting - just remember your charger!
Mobile phone. Luckily, because of the lamentable lack of patient facilities on our ward, they were quite relaxed about using mobiles and texting was my lifeline. Looking forward to a nice, juicy bill this month, though, as my usual 250 texts per month will not have covered it... Again, make sure you have your charger!

Things you only do in hospital

Puzzles. Thanks to my visitors, I've quite a collection of dedicated puzzle books and they really help to pass the time when you're having plasma exchange therapy, let me tell you! Favourites were crosswords, Sudoku and Logic Problems. Those left well alone were join the dots and spot the difference!
Use (unused) sick bowls to store fruit, condiments and other small items on table trolley thing.
Receive a gift of "York Fruits"
Read. And read. And read. Okay, so lots of people read anyway, but in normal life, I only tend to think of reading when I get into bed and this usually coincides with my wanting to go to sleep. It normally takes me weeks to get through a single book. I read about five while I was in hospital. I particularly enjoyed this

If you didn't know I was in hospital, see post below...

# Anxious spoke @ 10:11 AM