Update for the week......

After this entry I hope to do an update daily! I know there are friends out there waiting for news so I'll do my best to find a few minutes each day to let you all know what's happening.

So, New Year's Day and the transfer to Valencia. We got to the hospital in Denia early enough so we could follow the ambulance. I think we set off about 12.30. We'd been given the address and basic directions, luckily we also found the location in the TomTom. Just as well as we lost sight of the ambulance on the motorway after about 15 km! We missed the correct exit off the motorway and did a bit of a circular tour of part of Valencia. It's a frightening place to drive in and I couldn't have done it alone. Simon concentrated on getting the right directions while I drove and we eventually arrived in the right street about 2 p.m. There doesn't seem to be any car parks near the hospital and we parked on the street outside the emergency entrance. Luckily we spotted the ambulance Derek had been in and shortly after bumped into the ambulance crew who took us to the emergency admissions ward door, they also let the staff know we were there. After waiting there for more than an hour we were eventually allowed to see him for 5 minutes each, he seemed in good spirits but tired. No-one seemed to be able to say whether he would be moved to his correct ward any time soon so we thought we'd head for home. Can't remember what time we got back, think it was about 6. Spent a quiet evening catching our breath!

Tuesday we headed back up, again arriving around 2 pm and finding the same street (after another wrong turn!) to park in. During our visit we saw a doctor who told us Derek was being moved back to Denia the following day. It seems that the private ambulance crew (who took him from the house) had reported he was suffering from chest pains. I think actually he was in so much pain he didn't know where it was coming from and his chest was just one of the places he indicated as having pain. After being checked out by the doctors in Valencia they were happy that nothing needed to be taken care of immediately and he could return to Denia to continue his recovery there. I was SO thankful - dreading having to drive alone and find my way around Valencia - that is one scarey city to drive in! I'd even tried to find alternative methods of transport - taxi (€120 each way), train (direct non-existent), driving to Torrent, the outermost Metro Station on the line that goes near the hospital, and so on. We were told he'd be transferred anytime after 12 noon on Wednesday. We arranged that he would call me from his mobile when he arrived back in Denia. I also asked the doctor to phone me when he'd left so I'd have an idea of what time he'd be back.

Wednesday was the day Simon was leaving so this was going to work in our favour - I didn't need to go to Valencia and I could see Simon off and on his way instead of leaving him to his own devices as I'd had to do with Sara and Mark. It also meant I had the rest of the day to tidy the house, get some washing done and just have a bit of time to myself to gather my thoughts.

My young friend J. came calling late afternoon - she is fascinated by my scrapbooking and as I'd just settled down to re-organise my embellishment storage she was happy to help me! While she was here Derek called to say he'd arrived back at Denia - but he was still at the entrance and didn't yet know what floor or room he'd end up in. About half an hour later he called again and a nurse gave me his room number. J and I cleared my stuff away and I went to visit Derek. He was nicely settled in and reasonably comfortable, so I stayed a couple of hours, came back home and did the nightly round of phone calls!

Had a few chores to do on Thursday morning but got to the hospital about noon. Apart from having a few blood tests and injections nothing much was happening. He has a room-mate, Antonio, an elderly Spanish gentleman (well, older than Derek anyway!). He's having a hernia operation Friday afternoon.
It seems that families are expected to play quite a part in the care of the patient, which explains why there are always so many people around! We're expected to feed them if they can't manage it themselves, even sleep overnight in the reclining chairs provided! I don't think I'll be doing that!

Friday Derek is really champing at the bit to do stuff - get out of bed, get in a wheelchair and go for a wander etc. etc. It's proving really difficult to get him to accept that while the spirit is willing the flesh is very weak. He did spend time in the chair beside the bed but can't stay in it for long, and he wants to move from chair to bed and bed to chair with monotonous regularity. The staff must be getting fed up with us constantly pressing the buzzer for attention. As in UK hospitals it takes forever for anything to happen and Derek's sense of time just doesn't exist any more - 20 seconds might as well be 20 minutes. My patience wears very thin at times like this, when he's extremely demanding and just will not wait. I appreciate he's been confined either to bed or his room for well over a week and wants to see something other than those walls. He told me the doctor he saw before I got there said he might be home on Monday. Ye Gods, I hope not! No way can I cope with him the way he is. I understand that, as in UK hospitals, they don't hang around before getting patients out of bed and moving around. Because he isn't allowed to do that I have to assume that he is deemed not ready for it.

Saturday - remembered to take the christmas decorations down! Didn't have time to investigate whether the christmas tree has a root, just left it in its pot on the drive, I can deal with it later! The hospital visit passed in much the same way as Friday, Derek being impatient, me trying to keep him calm. I try telling him that today is a fiesta day in Spain, that nothing much will happen until everything returns to normal on Monday, but he isn't listening. Doesn't want to. I wonder if he's making a nuisance of himself deliberately so they'll be glad to get shot of him! His faith in my ability to cope with him at home in his present state is a huge compliment but totally impractical. He hasn't even been able to use a proper toilet yet! It was a very long day!

Today I had my morning planned - basically ironing and cleaning! Then Derek rang about 9.30 wanting me to go early to the hospital, so I abandoned the ironing and went. In fact, I'm glad I did as, amazingly enough, there was a doctor's round. The big news is that if the blood tests they will carry out tomorrow morning come back OK he can come home! I have mixed feelings - I still think he needs a certain amount of nursing care (I'm not sure they have community nurses here and I hope we won't be expected to pay for nurses to come in and do things), but on the other, he is so frustrated and down that he can only improve if he does come home, and frankly I don't know how many more of these days I can take! I phoned the children to let them know the good news - Sara immediately booked a flight out for herself and Elli for Tuesday! She's been desperate to get back to us, when she last saw her dad a week last Friday he was still in intensive care.

The wife of Derek's room-mate, Antonio, has finally gone home after spending three days and nights at the hospital keeping an eye on her husband (and sleeping in one of those reclining chairs!) - you have to admire her, I don't know how old she is but she's got some stamina!

Going to call it a night for now - as I've not been getting in from the hospital until 9.30 or 10 each night I'm absolutely whacked. Hopefully when I blog tomorrow night it will be to report that Derek is home. And I must remember to tell you all about the hospital food and how fascinating it has been to see Spanish families at such close quarters!