Mon 3 Mar: Back to A&E

The last 36 hours, since I was at the hospital, were the slowest that I can recall.  I laid in bed for most of it, managing to get up to watch a bit of Top Gear in the evening.

And now it is Monday morning and there is no way I can go to work again.  I stayed in bed as everyone got up to gol to college/school/work.   My head is still aching; still no worse than a 4/10, but I still feel sick as a dog and I am not eating anything.  I still think it's just a nasty virus but I am getting a bit bored of it by now!

At lunchtime Pam came home to see how I was.  Apparently, according to her, I had been sitting on the edge of the bed at 6am, having been clock watching all night, waiting to be able to take some more pain killers.  Not that they really worked, and Pam tells me that I was struggling with the packet.  I don't remember that at all!

Pam looked at me in bed and I must have looked dreadful as she gave me no option about going back to hospital.  But I wasn't having it and refused to move!  After an hour of nagging, Pam finally managed to persuade me by saying she was going to call an ambulance if I didn't get in the car.

So we go back to the queue at A&E, wait for around 3 hours, until we get seen by the staff, who, once again, can't really find anything wrong with me.  As a final check the junior doctor goes to ask the more senior doctor to come and see me.  He asks the usual questions, does the usual tests, and says that he can't diagnose it either.  But he also says, "Something is obviously bothering you if you have come back to A&E twice.  We've got enough to scan your head if you'd like"

I had never had a CT scan before but happily agreed to it immediately.  I don't remember much about the scan, but I was taken to the holding area in the assessment unit to wait.  They injected me with some dye during the scan to help highlight any "bad" areas!  After the scan was complete I went back to wait on the assessment unit.

It was pretty manic on that ward.  A six bedded unit with lots of sick people in it, causing a constant problem for the staff.  At least there was entertainment I guess!

Pam was waiting for me when I got back and we waited for the results to come through about an hour later.  When they came, the diagnosis was a suspected abscess which meant nothing to me!  And Pam wasn't really aware of them either(surprisingly!!).  The hospital said I would need to stay in, but didn't have a bed on a ward for me, so I had to stay on the assessment unit overnight.  I was so tired, and the chaos was still going on.  Pressing buzzers, shouting, moaning, and general kerfuffle!  Time was still passing slowly but it was getting towards 10pm when Pam left.  The steroid tablets I had been given to reduce the swelling around the abscess had started to work and my head was easing off.  I slept on and off all night, until they came to move me at 5am!  Thanks!!