I made it to the Isle of Wight!

This time last week Bestie was having contractions and getting ready to drop her kids off at my house and I was having problems with my Hickman line. 

She had a beautiful baby boy and I had a 2 night stay at St Marks hospital. Life's just not fair! But there was a happy ending-I made it to the Isle of Wight on Saturday afternoon, so I only missed some of the holiday, not all of it. 

In the early hours of last Thursday morning I went to Northwick Park hospital in an ambulance, blue lights flashing all the way. St Marks doesn't have an A&E department so I go in there and they transfer me over (the 2 hospitals share a building so it's very easy to do)

Luckily the IFU ward found a bed for me and by 10am on Thursday morning I was up there enjoying views of Wembley stadium again. I knew some of the patients on the ward. Sadly some still hadn't left since my last stay and some others were 'frequent fliers' like myself who I had met previously. 

Dr7 was in clinic all day and Dr8 was on annual leave so I only saw the junior doctor. She arranged for me to have a line-o-gram, which is basically a test where they inject contrast into the line and do X-rays at the same time so that they can see on the X-rays if there's any leaks, clots or blockages. 

I went down for this test on Thursday afternoon but after waiting for over an hour I was told that I was being sent back to the ward as they'd had an emergency come in. As I had been up most of the night I fell asleep and slept for the rest of the afternoon. 

On Friday morning Dr7 came to see me and we discussed what could be causing the pain in my chest, just behind the Hickman line. He was going to ask the specialist nurse practitioner (SNP) to come and see me. She was very good at unblocking lines he told me. The line-o-gram was rescheduled for Friday afternoon. 

The SNP came to see me and brought with her a trolley full of needles, syringes and other stuff. She flushed the line with saline and the pulled blood back from the line. She had to pull quite hard and the reason was soon apparent. There was a blood clot in the line. She seemed to think this was the cause of all the problems but the line-o-gram would still take place to make sure. 

I had the line-o-gram in the interventional radiology suite; the same place they put the lines in. There was a team of about 6 people to carry out the test. There were 2 doctors, although 1 led and actually did the procedure, 2 radiographers to operate the X-ray machinery and then theatre nurses. There were definitely 2 of them, but there may have been 3.  

They injected the contrast down my line and at certain points I had to breathe in, hold my breath, breath out, hold my breath. Assume it was when they were taking the X-rays. And in 5 minutes it was all done. 

The test showed that the line wasn't fractured as originally suspected, not were there any other clots. This was all good news. Dr7 said that I had to have fluids overnight down the line and if I had no pain or problems then I would be discharged in Saturday morning. 

I was desperate to get out of there and join Hubby, the kids, my parents, sister and her hubby on the Isle of Wight as I was supposed to be on holiday. Everyone else went as planned on Thursday evening. One of the nurses said she couldn't believe 'I had let them go'. I tried to explain to her that I was fine with it and that I wouldn't want everyone to miss out on a holiday just because I wasn't well. I know to some of you reading this, that would be unthinkable but over the last year, Hubby and the kids have gotten used to doing lots of things without me so in a sad way it's not that unusual for us. 

One of the ladies I work with and with whom I am very good friends offered to drive me to Portsmouth to get the ferry. At first I said no as it's too far but she was happy to do it and it meant that I could get there quicker and I didn't have to struggle with the underground with my bad leg. I was so grateful-I couldn't thank her enough. 

I had my fluids on Friday night and although the line was a bit achy I didn't say a word as I wanted to get out of there! I was picked up just after 10am on Saturday morning and we headed to Portsmouth. I was going to get the ferry but realised the hovercraft would be faster, albeit a little bit more expensive. I didn't care about the money (the reason I will never be rich!), I just wanted to get over there to see everyone. 

Plus, going on the hovercraft was something I had always wanted to do. I've never been on one but seen them every time we've been to the Isle of Wight. We always go as a family, in the car, on the ferry and it's not like I could just jump out at Portsmouth and say "I'm going over on the hovercraft- meet you there!" is it?

So secretly I was pleased that I got to go on the hovercraft, although I would have prefered to have gone on the ferry with everyone else on Thursday of course! Because I was a bit early for the hovercraft me and my friend got a bag of chips and say watching the sea. I also needed the loo and couldn't believe it when I needed to pay

But it did give me an idea. I thought that given the amount of time I spend in the loo I would photograph any interesting loos I came across on holiday. You might think this is strange but it's just a bit of fun from the perspective of a more than regular user!

Anyway, I got excited when I saw the hovercraft come up onto the beach and told my friend to take a picture of me getting on it. Here it is...can you see me? I'm in a black top and red-y trousers. 

The crossing was smooth and fast- only ten minutes. When I got off after taking a selfie with the hovercraft...

...I was like a fat kid in a sweet shop- super super excited to see everyone. 

I ended up waiting nearly 20 minutes for them to arrive but when they did I had gigantic hugs with the kids and a cuddle filled with relief with my Hubby. We had a picnic by the beach as they hadn't had lunch yet. 

Over the next 2 days the sun shone, there was barely a cloud in the sky and we spent time by the sea, as a family. It was perfect. In the evening we played frisbee and boomerang on the beach, needing just a cardigan to keep off the sea breeze. 

Here are a few pics from the weekend: 

This is the holiday diet...

And as promised here are 2 of the best loos the Isle of Wight had to offer-

If you've never been to the IOW I would thoroughly recommend it. It's perfect for families but we also spent time there as a couple before having the kids so there's plenty to do for adults (including a couple if vineyards!)

These few days seem to have put a spark back into me. I had forgotten how much fun it is to have a holiday and spend time with the people that you love. It's made me so excited for our summer holiday now...I can't wait. 

NB x