I had a lovely weekend. On Saturday my bestie came to visit with her Hubby and kids. He did homework with the kids for an hour while we had our time chatting and catching up. I had bought her a top from the M&S man who had a stall in Costa earlier in the week as a thank you for having my kids so often. Because he was there all weekend we decided to take a walk down and have a look at what he was selling.
We've nicknamed him the M&S man as he has lots of M&S clothes for sale, plus stuff from Tesco, Next and places like that. It's all really cheap- tops £3, jeans £5, jumpers £5 and some of the stuff even has its labels still on. He had a gorgeous men's winter coat from M&S with the label on of £159. He was selling it for £25!! I was going to get one for Hubby but they didn't have his size. Always the way.
Kitty had gotten the kids some arts and crafts sets so we took the monster puppets set to the dayroom and the kids did that while we chatted some more. It was soon time for them to go and I hate saying goodbye.
On Sunday morning I was going to the shops to get some treats ready for when Hubby and the kids came and I stopped in to ask the lady in side room 6 if she needed anything. She's not well and not able to walk on her own so we will often ask if she wants anything when we're passing on the way downstairs.
She said she didn't know if she wanted anything because she had never been down to the shop and that got me thinking. There was a wheelchair on the ward so I thought it would be nice to put her in the wheelchair and take her for a ride.
Sue and Di were going to come too so we put the lady from side room 6 into the chair and walked to the lifts. She said she hadn't been out for so long so I asked if she wanted to go outside on our walk with us.
She did so I went back to get my dressing gown and to fetch a blanket to keep her legs warm in the chair. We went out of St Marks entrance as normal and her face lit up just to be out in the fresh air. She was so excited to be out and I was so pleased to be able to do that for her. We walked around the perimeter of the hospital, stopping for a break at our bench and then came inside through the Northwick park front entrance.
We stopped to look at the M&S man and the lady from side room 6 was able to get a few bits for her husband. In WH Smiths she found that they sold Worchester sauce flavour crisps so got some of those for her hubby too. We wheeled her up and down each aisle and she loved browsing and just being off the ward. It makes you realise that these simple pleasures can mean so much when you can't just do them whenever you choose. She was so grateful and kept thanking us but really the pleasure was ours; seeing her face that morning when we wheeled her outside for the first time in months will stay with me for a long time.
We got back to the ward and I knew it wouldn't be long until Hubby and the kids arrived. I was literally counting down the minutes. To say I was excited to see them was an understatement. I soon hear the familiar patter of feet and I ran towards them, my arms outstretched. "Mummy" they both shouted. We hugged and then they saw the things I had laid out on the chair.
There were the arts and crafts kits from Kitty and also an Easter bonnet kit each that my Mum had got for me to give them. Big Girl also had some hair clips and bands that I had got from one of the stalls in Costa in the week and I had managed to get Big Fella the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sticker book that I had been promising him. I like to treat them to little things, I suppose because I feel guilty about being away from them all week.
We sat in the day room making things, going homework and playing games. It was bliss! It felt like we were a normal family spending a Sunday afternoon together.
We went to the hospital restaurant for lunch but after being there for a short while I started to get bad pains in my bottom. I closed my eyes and tried doing some deep breathing but I knew that these were not going to pass. I told Hubby that I needed to go back to the ward to get some pain relief and left them to finish their lunch.
I struggled along the corridor and made it to the lifts. One of the men from A bay was in the lift with me and he knew that I wasn't great so went to fetch a nurse once we got to the 9th floor. The nurses bustled around getting injections and entinox for me and I got into bed.
I couldn't believe I was having an episode while Hubby and the kids were visiting. I get 4 hours a week with them and this bloody pain was going to rob me of some of that precious time. I was so mad. It just seemed so unfair. If it was going to happen why couldn't it have waited for just another hour, for them to go home? Why did it have to come on while they were there. Aaaaaarrrgggghhhh! I could just scream!
Knowing that getting all angry and worked up would only make things worse I started to do big deep breaths and tried to relax. It's a good job because Hubby and the kids were back on the ward. I asked Hubby to make me a hot water bottle as I find it helps with the pain to sit on one. The kids kicked off their shoes and climbed into bed with me.
"What's that Mum?" they asked, pointing at the Entinox. "It's Mums medicine." Hubby told them. "Sometimes when her bottom hurts her she has to have this medicine instead of a tablet or an injection." "Ok" they replied, seemingly unfased by it all.
Soon it was time for them to go and the pain had subsided enough for me to get up and go to mass. My Irish friend had come to the hospital with her husband to meet me and after mass we went to the restaurant for a catch up over a cup of tea. I like chatting with them both; they're easy to talk to and very good people with hearts of gold.
After such a busy weekend I got into bed that evening and fell asleep holding my book. It's just a shame that the weekends have to go so quickly and never seem long enough. I suppose some things don't change whether you're in hospital or out in the real world.
NB x
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