itching to get going…
It’s been an eventful week dear friends and followers.
As I said in my last post, my left hand isn’t working nearly as well as the left leg is, but I’m working on changing that. Last Friday, I practised my fine motor skills by colouring with a kit that my dear friend, Fay, brought for me for that express purpose (see video below).
Two days later, I woke in the middle of the night covered in hives in some kind of bizarre allergic reaction the trigger of which remains unknown. The itching from my hips to the tip of my head – especially my scalp – was unbearable. The rash has not yet completely disappeared but looks a helluva lot better than if did on the morning after the night it first appeared.
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On Tuesday, I went to the heart Institute to have an echocardiograph and to be fitted with a Holter monitor that I have to wear for two weeks. On the way back from the heart appointment, I stopped off at my place to visit with Kitty cat. Seems he was unhappy with my absence as he leapt up on my arm while I was sitting in the living room and latched on with teeth and nails, leaving two bloody gouges on my right forearm. Now I’m on antibiotics for a week. It never rains, but it pours.
After having lost the bed I had been offered at the Perth rehab, I was relegated to seventh on the waiting list – a position that hasn’t changed in several days. Meanwhile, the lights, noise, and mayhem on the ward I had moved to last week became too much for me and I had a couple of meltdowns from the overwhelm.
I decided I needed to go home, even though doing so would mean that I would lose any possibility of getting an in-patient bed at the rehab in Perth.
As it turns out, it’s not as easy to check out of a hospital as it is to check in — especially when one needs ongoing rehabilitation to make a full recovery from a stroke and one is deemed to not have the skills required (at the moment) to live independently. To make a long story short, I’m going to be here at the Almonte General Hospital for another week after having been moved to a new room (my sixth in the last four weeks and a bit). This most recent delay will allow my ‘team’ to arrange for a referral for outpatient rehab in Perth and potentially get me some initial home support in Almonte.
On other fronts, I had a lovely visit with Kris & Rob Riendeau, who brought me delicious cookies and roasted nuts; Fay laundered my shirt and socks, Judith voted by proxy for me and brought me cream for my hives, Andrea was just always there in the background and all kinds of folks sent me messages of love and support.
Thank you everyone for all your support <3!
Today, I started walking with a cane as well as completely on my own without the walker; I got physio exercises with respect to going up and down stairs as well as other stuff. So progress is being made in the midst of all the hullabaloo.
The itch of the hives may have abated, but I’m still itching to go home soon and hopefully to be able to ride Blue once again <3
P.S. Butt is also healing 🙂
© 2024 Susan Macaulay. I invite you to share my poetry and posts widely, but please do not reprint, reblog or copy and paste them in their entirety without my permission. Thank you.
