Hospital Admission 🏥 – take one …

So after seeing my new hero 🦸‍♀️ the Urgent GP at the hospital who really saw me and listened to everything I was saying, Mama dearest had her lioness/take no prisoners hat on and was coming with me ‘screw the bloody rules’ as I headed over to A&E to be seen by the ‘Medical and Surgical Teams.’ 🏥

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Bloody good job Mama McC did come with me as I did have a ‘wobble’ whilst yomping between the two departments. Mum gladly accepted the help of a kind looking girl about my age sat on the wall that I was now also sitting/clinging to and ran (yes for anyone who knows my mum, when the situation requires, mum has some speed in those little legs! 😂) to A&E reception who ticked my name to say I was waiting and then mother ran off to find a wheelchair to get me the rest of the way into A&E … luckily when mum returned empty handed, I was feeling much better so we thanked the girl who had waited with me and arm in arm slowly finished the journey to A&E.

… and then we begin the waiting in once more …

Please understand that I am NOT HERE TO NHS BASH, despite inhumane pressures and expectations our NHS staff continue to go above and beyond for every single one of us … I will do a separate post on these super humans entirely!

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So I am now registered and sent to take a seat, luckily there are two seats together by a plug socket and opposite the vending machine 👊 … I am still not really eating but a happier Mama in these cold, hard prison seats is a happier world.

Process starts, called in to triage nurse, show letter from Urgent GP, she shows doctor and then does observations, noting a temp of 39.something … this magical painkiller of Paracetamol everyone has been telling me to take for the pain has just been hiding wickedness for weeks!

Scribble, scribble, whisper

Give two paracetamol and sent back to waiting room. There are now no 2 seats together so Mum stands by me, seat becomes available she sits, seat needed she moves. It’s an easy little dance that most relatives are doing. Note Mama is 65. (Or 64 or something … you will notice this age change regularly but I am on some strong medications 😂)

The few who aren’t, have ruined it for the others and they have all been asked to leave. Mother lion has given that a hard pass, she has a fair point, I cannot stand unaided, who is going to help me without her? I am not retaining information/don’t have the energy levels to give my name, address and DOB … I started the day telling mum I was not feeling well enough to go to A&E and she was now understanding the ridiculousness of the statement!

‘Lennie‘ … I answer to all L names being one of 3 L’s so always assume they mean me! ‘Up I get’ … mum already standing has to help me up. Reception are quick to remind mum that all family members are supposed to wait outside and they are right in theory, it is ramo with people sitting on the floor and standing all over the place but with every intention, I was not getting my own self off of that cold floor and was not able to call out to or run along behind that Doctor and there is no way that the staff in that reception had the time needed to help me out. So Mother 🦁 won.

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We follow a young lady Doctor through an absolute labyrinth out the back of A&E to find a room she can examine me … the room is shit and the door doesn’t shut but there will be worse ‘rooms’ along the way believe me 😂 I decided to not take any photos of these as she did get a telling off for examining me there and she was bending rules in my interests and speed.

Question after question, again glad Mother 🦁 is with me as Leanne is becoming a grumpy now 🤬, I’m tired, feel like shit, am in pain and am answering the same damn questions on repeat. I am definitely getting rude and I don’t like this so mother is answering on my behalf as I close by eyes and nod, head shake or correct mother or fill in gaps. The repetitive questioning over, she tells us to try to stay in this room as someone will try to kick us out and then we would have to go back to the floor of the waiting room … tbf we did last 40mins in this ‘room’ with people repeatedly coming to ask what we were doing. Before last doctor sent us back to the waiting room.

Back to a cold spot on the waiting room floor but there is a small life win, there is 5cm of wall to lean up against – luxury!

5mins only and the young lady doctor appears with another doctor and complains we gave the room up 😂. Team effort to get me off the floor this time, mother dear is 64 and riddled with arthritis, she has more than done her bit on shifting her 34 year old daughter around. Lady doctor pushed, doctor man pulled and I cried in between while mum was on bag duty. Back on tour we go, this time a discarded wheelchair is grabbed on the way past, who needed it most? Me or Mum is the real question! 😬

The next room as promised is literally the worst room 😂 it is the actual Doctors changing room … needs must, gets me seen faster. We (myself, lady doctor, doctor man and mother) sit on chairs 🪑 running in the middle of around 20 lockers. Now the annoying repetitive questions start again … but now make sense!! Lady doctor was thorough and quickly joined the Urgent GP on my list of best people!

Doctor Man starts with kudos for her which I always think is awesome in a mentor!!! 👏👏

Even though the pain in my stomach was not brought on by pressure of examination, the blood work 🩸that accompanied the discussion with the doctors had made them VERY concerned! Very High infection markers still after finishing two consecutive courses of powerful antibiotics is a worry. Low Haemoglobin where is the blood going, my stomach looks descended, am I bleeding internally? They are not happy and I urgently need a CT and a chest X-ray to see what is happening inside my stomach plus I will definitely need to stay in the hospital for IV Antibiotics for at least one night he says … fibber but I don’t care, it’s simple maths really 👩‍⚕️+ 🛌 + 💉💊 = 😍

Waiting outside of X-ray with two other patients and relatives, a lad with a broken wrist and a girl with a twisted bowel … but ooooo the quiet 🥰 I had quickly forgotten that they said I needed a chest X-Ray as I had gone into a happy little zen. Chest X-ray complete (completely clear which a smoker is always a great relief to hear! ) My doctor reappears, to send us back to the main waiting room to wait for however long on the cold floor …

Regardless, of how the discussion truly went down, it was agreed that we could wait in the actually more uncomfortable X-ray waiting area and the now 4 other patients and relatives one by one asked the same question and were offered the same euphoria of peace and quiet without the 900 other people waiting 🥰

*Note this is the moment an absolute legend who has clearly ridden the A&E wave previously walked past with a HUGE rucksack, a coffee flask pointing out of each side pocket, blankets and cushions all expertly attached to the rucksack with a picnic basket sat perfectly out of the top. All pain was forgotten in that one moment and the world became so simple … what else was in the bag?! #MarriageGoals

By this point Mother dear is now deteriorating, she is tired, these chairs are uncomfortable, Papa bear was not allowed in (Mama wasn’t really either #rebels) is at home waiting for Mum to call him to pick her up … he, along with my sisters have been on a WhatsApp loop the whole day so we all know what’s going down now. Negotiations begin between myself and mother for her duff duff to Hospital exit – she doesn’t want to leave me waiting on my own and reminds me that I would not leave her if the situation was reversed … I quickly burst her bubble on that one and explain that would not be the case and I would have dropped her on the roadside without slowing down *that’s parking no?* 🤣 and we agree to disagree, and have that one last not so crappy machine coffee (I liked it!!) and a cigarette and we can time this with a drive by from Daddio picking mum up and dropping a couple of bits to me for my just 1 night in hospital …

A plan that worked perfectly at what was c. 12:45am now. Hugs and kisses for my daddy and a million go home and go to beds to both ma and pa, as pa hands over his proud bag of swag – flask of tea, pjs, toothbrush and hairbrush and a big kiss and cuddle I decide on one more last solitary cigarette before heading back inside …

This did not work out as instead I ‘befriended’ a chap who was quite delighted that he had been shot 3 times by the eye with a pellet gun … ‘well that’s lovely’ I thought …

… My life is so dull 😂 after returning to the X-ray party crew, hanging out waiting for the golden ticket aka hospital bed, 45 mins later I was tucked up in a bed on the General Medical ward with antibiotics and pain killers pumping through my veins, ready to get myself feeling less like death and more like party dude above but like a lot less party 😂

Please note … I am on A LOT of medication right now … A LOT 🤣

If my writing heads off into ‘Maurice’ land, I will be re reading at a slightly later point to ensure that my old pal does not cause any inconvenience …