Late again ......

... with my blog - last week's vow to do a daily entry never saw the light of day! This is the first chance I've had to do an update.

The news is Derek came home Thursday, late afternoon. After the doctor saying last Sunday he could come home Monday, they changed their minds on the basis that he was having breathing problems. No bloody wonder - the rooms are like ovens and the windows are screwed shut. His room got sunshine almost all day long and even with the shutters down it was stifling. The family of the Spanish man in the other bed were also complaining it was too hot, so it wasn't just because we're Brits!

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were nightmare days, even worse than the days last weekend that I blogged about - I just couldn't keep him calm. We got a wheelchair and I spent a lot of time just wheeling him around so he could see something other than his room, particularly finding open windows in the corridors where he could get some fresh air. By Wednesday we were about ready to let him discharge himself, 12 hours a day of listening to him moaning about being kept in and what he'd like to do to everybody was getting beyond a joke. He was so angry and frustrated. I talked him out of it and eventually sneaked him off the ward floor and did a tour of the hospital! Strictly forbidden but by then we didn't care much. He'd been told that morning he'd be having an x-ray and if it was OK he could go home. Then one of the staff said he wasn't down for an x-ray at all. Finally at 5.30 the spanish equivalent of a porter fetched him away - for an x-ray! No chance of getting a result and a discharge that day.

Thursday I made a super effort to get to the hospital by 10.00 am as I had on Wednesday. Parking at that time of the morning means driving round and round the car park until a space becomes available - Wednesday it took 15 minutes, Thursday about 5. I wanted to be around for the doctor, who finally showed up about 11 or 11.30 - and told him he could go! YAY! All we had to do was wait for the doctor to do his report, collect the medicines he'd need and we'd be off. Can you believe it took till 3 pm for the report to appear and then we had to wait for another half hour before someone could find the time to put the drugs together.

To my utter horror we were given sufficient medicine for ONE DAY! No instructions either, though I worked out what he should have and when from the report. Trouble was, I didn't know what they were for. And I was given an insulin pen for him. That worried me; though I know very little about treating diabetes with insulin I do know that the dose has to be adjusted according to blood sugar levels. All I had to go on was that he needed 12 in the morning and 6 at night (12 and 6 WHAT?) - you dial the dosage on the pen then insert the needle, depress the plunger and wait till it stops clicking. Wasn't given any warfarin though it is required. The nurse indicated we should visit our own doctor the following morning.

Thursday night was not good, Derek was quite disorientated and neither of us slept much. Neither did Sara and Elli as Elli was developing a cold and was very restless.

Friday morning, first call was the Health Centre in town to get this prescription business sorted. Very disappointed to put it mildly. When we finally saw the doctor he showed no interest in Derek or his condition, simply read the report we'd been given and asked us what we wanted from him. I said we wanted the drugs listed; he asked how much I wanted! What was it with him? I suggested a week's supply, should have said a month, I expect the reaction would have been the same. He never spoke to Derek, never asked him a single question. While the doctor was putting the drug list through his computer and printing the prescriptions Derek started showing signs of having a hypo - first time he's ever had one. I pointed this out to the doctor who ignored it, so I asked for a sugary drink - he eventually went out and asked one of the receptionists who came in with a packet of sugar. Phoned Sara who was shopping nearby to get some glucose tablets from the pharmacy and bring them to us. Finally the doctor finished the prescriptions and we left; Sara was waiting with glucose tablets and we got him back to the car, fed him a couple of tablets, hoping he would get back to normal pretty quickly. Realised that after being practically immobile for over two weeks, even the limited activity he'd done that morning was enough to lower his b/s enough for a hypo.

Sara had gone back to do a little more shopping and by the time she returned to the car I'd decided to take a trip to the private clinic we use, where the emergency doctor works whom I'd called at the start of all this. Needed to talk to someone who spoke our language and get the lowdown on the whole situation. Saw Dr Willis, lovely man, made us feel at ease (yes, I know we're paying!) but gave us a lot more confidence and told us how to go on with the various meds. His opinion is that Derek is being given too much insulin and we should try and gradually get him off it and control the diabetes with diet and tablets instead. We go back to see him on Tuesday for blood tests etc. I'm compiling a long list of questions too!

On Monday we have to go back to Denia hospital to the haemotology department for a blood test and sintron (warfarin) check. Not looking forward to that, I expect language will continue to be a problem and goodness knows how long we'll be there.

We also have to go to Valencia in February for a follow up for the aneurysm. The appointment is the day before Simon, Louise and the boys return home after their proposed half term visit - hopefully Simon will be able to help me find the way back there!

During all of this of course Sara and Elli arrived. I visited Derek on Tuesday morning and got him to agree to let me come back home to meet them though he wasn't happy about it. Arrived home the same time they did! We had a quick drink and then headed back to the hospital. Sara brought Elli in to see grandad and the spanish family visiting his room-mate made a huge fuss of her of course. However, after about an hour, when she'd got accustomed to the place and started shouting and flirting and playing to her audience, a twerp of a nurse (male) asked Sara to leave. Considering the whole place sounds like a fish market, with up to 8 visitors in each room clacking away at full volume, and the staff shouting louder than anyone else, I thought this was a bit rich. Unfortunately Derek didn't feel inclined to let me leave before he'd had his dinner and I'd got him settled back in bed, so it was past 9 before I left the hospital. Sara was dying of hunger and it was past Elli's bedtime, plus I knew we'd have to clean up after the builders before we could even have a cup of tea.

On Monday morning the lads who'd been tiling the new bathroom indicated they needed to make the door opening between the kitchen and the new bedroom. They took a while to get some of the wall units down, moved the fridge into the living area (nowhere else for it to go!),cut the base unit in half so I would still have one cupboard and then proceeded to knock the hole through. By the time I realised they weren't going to cover the furniture it was too late, there was dust going everywhere and I have no dust sheets myself. It took me nearly two hours to make the place halfway decent on Monday evening. Thankfully they'd covered the hole so I didn't have a cold house as well! The dust continued to fly into the house until Wednesday and each evening we had to clean up before we could eat! There is still a layer of dust on surfaces and under furniture which I'm tackling this weekend.

While we were seeing Dr. Willis on Friday Sara phoned me asking if he would see Elli, she was pulling at her ears and Sara was worrying about an infection and the flight home on Saturday. Fortunately there's no ear infection but she does have bronchitis or bronchialitis (not sure I know the difference). He prescribed antibiotics. Poor little Elli was really fractious for the rest of Friday and Sara was crossing her fingers one of the meds would kick in sufficiently for them both to have a better night. The antibs started working pretty fast and they both had a decent night's sleep.

Saturday arrived, going home day. Elli was in good spirits, complete change from Friday. Sara was quickly packed having only brought one bag and a holdall. So it was just a question of preparing bottles etc. for the journey home. Antonio collected her at 12.30 and for the first time she managed to get on her way without shedding buckets of tears. She was much happier about her dad and also really looking forward to getting home to Chloe and Scott. We've sent Chloe a little present and written a little note, thanking her for letting mummy and elli come to see us and help us.

I thought it would be a good idea to try and establish how Derek's blood sugar levels vary throughout the day, so decided to test him every two hours or so, particularly before and after meals and any activity. There isn't much activity at the moment and his morning insulin dose was reduced to 6 instead of 12 on Dr. Willis's advice. Throughout the day it was between 5 and 8 m/mol. Will do more or less the same today and tomorrow and take the notes with us on Tuesday. Also recording how he's feeling. He definitely perked up on Saturday so I'm hopeful that he will make steady progress from now on. He needs to get moving a little more as he's retaining water and it's causing some breathlessness.

Today I've probably got a full day of cleaning the downstairs of the house. Did the bedrooms and bathroom yesterday. Need to find a small shelf unit somewhere to house what was in the wall cupboards and which have been cluttering the floor since last Monday.

On that note, I'll publish this, wish you all a happy Sunday and hope to keep my 'promise' from now on and update daily!

Also thank you to everyone who's been sending messages - I really do appreciate it!