Friday 17th August MOAS II + 3 days- Pneumonia!

It had been another difficult night’s sleep but when Tracey came to see me in the morning I was looking a bit more alert and chatty. The initial x-ray was clear and I was now due for an ultrasound on my heart to check for fluid. Throughout the day I moved from being sat in the bed to the chair at the side of the bed. I always tried to push myself to get out of bed as it did me good and helps keep the chest clear. It’s also easy to get stuck in the rut of staying in the bed all day rather than trying to get out and up and around. I believe in trying to have a routine of getting out of bed and sitting in the chair throughout the day and then back into bed only at bed time or if a nap is required. It puts a bit of structure to the day.

After some time in the chair I was starting to get tired again and after the bed was changed I jumped back into bed for some well earned rest.  I was drifting in and out of sleep as the broken night’s sleep that I was getting started to catch up with me again. I remember saying to mum and Tracey “ I hope you don’t mind but I’m going to keep my eyes closed whilst we talk”. I was so tired it was getting really hard work and not doing me any good at all. The girls left me to try and get some sleep, on the way out they bumped into Tom Cecil who reassured them that I was doing fine but was pretty groggy.

 When Tracey came back later in the day again there was a hive of activity around my bed. The doctors were there doing more blood tests as my oxygen levels had fallen again. The test involves getting a sample of tissue from a needle in the wrist and is fairly uncomfortable. It took three attempts throughout the afternoon and evening for the correct sample to be taken and by this time I was exhausted and pretty fed up with the whole thing. It was at this point that we were told that I had pneumonia. It was a bit of a shock as up to this point we thought all was going well but it did explain the chest pain that I was experiencing.

Tracey was pretty upset by this and we had a long chat initially with one of the doctors who explained that I had pneumonia in the left lung and that this is what was causing me the pain. They had put me onto Tazacin (an intravenous antibiotic) for five days and the physiotherapy team had been booked for the weekend to come and work with me to try and clear the lungs of the fluid. They had also reserved a bed for me back on the high dependency ward should I deteriorate over the weekend in any way. A nurse from the high dependency ward came to visit me and familiarise herself with my situation just in case they decided to move me. We also had a long chat with Vicki the specialist nurse who put our minds at rest a bit as by this time Tracey was pretty upset. She also told us that they were going to move me to one of the single side rooms as I was pretty exhausted due to lack of sleep and needed rest.

Later that evening I was moved to the single room where I initially slept for three hours solid. I then spent the evening with Tracey and Mum before crashing out for the night. It was the best night’s sleep I’d had in a long time!