Skip to main content

Hot, hot, hot

I love summer. I love the sun, wearing sandals instead of Ugg boots and having an excuse to eat ice cream. My body however, does not. When it gets hot I dehydrate easily because my bowel does not absorb fluids well. One of the main jobs of the large bowel is to absorb fluids from your poo and the fact that I don't have one of those anymore (a large bowel I mean, not a poo!) means that my small intestine is trying to do a job it wasn't designed to do. And that is the reason I need to have fluids through my Hickman line. 

When it gets hot everyone is advised to drink more to stop them from getting dehydrated. But that doesn't work for me. If I drink more, the extra fluids don't get absorbed so they just pass out through my bottom. So I just end up having more trips to the toilet. To keep hydrated I have to make sure I have all my feeds and sometimes I need to have extra saline fluids aswell to keep me topped up. 

The other problem I suffer with in the hear is swollen feet. When I woke up this morning I had lost my ankles. 


See. They were gone! I struggled to even get my sandals on because my feet were so huge. So I've sat this afternoon soaking my big, fat, tired feet in the paddling pool in an attempt to try and reduce the swelling. After that I had to have a nap because I get extra tired in the heat. I need to have at least 2 hours sleep in the afternoon on a normal day so when you add in the sun and dehydration then I'm well and truely exhausted. 

I was lying on the bed, in my underwear and with the fan going and it brought back memories of being in hospital 2 years ago. I was in from June to October (with only 2 weeks at home at the end of June as I was transferred between the Listed hospital and St Marks) and it was HOT HOT HOT! I used to lie on my bed just as I was now, in my underwear with the curtains pulled round. Hubby had to bring in a fan from home as they didn't have enough on the ward for everybody to have one. And having had major surgery, being in pain and being so hot was really no fun. So I counted my blessings that tonight as I lay on my bed it wasn't a bed in hospital and although I still get pain it's nothing compared to that post surgery pain. I've come so far in the last two years. Imagine where I might be in another two? 

NB x
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Home today?

The antibiotics have finished now and last night my Hickman line was used for the first time. So far it seems to be working fine and if the doctors are happy with it when they do the rounds later this morning I will be able to go home. Today! Yay! Of course I'm excited to perhaps be going home but I'm also relieved as my poor veins have just about had it. I never really have any decent veins in my hands and arms and the few that can be used have been well and truely pricked to death. It's got so bad that I'm now having cannulas put in my feet. And yes, it did hurt.  Hopefully later I will be packing my bag and going home to Hubby and the kids.Unfortunately everyone is at work today so if, no, when I get discharged later I will have to make my own way home. Nottingham has a really good transport system, including a tram stop at the hospital but I don't think I'm up to using public transport today. I'm going to splash out on a cab that will take me door to doo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Holiday from hell

My first week in Cornwall was amazing. Me, Hubby and the kids spent the week near Porthleven along with all Hubby’s family in a big house with its own pool and hot tub. The kids had a great time with their cousins, we celebrated Big Girl’s birthday, went to the beach, ate together, played games in the evening and just generally had a wonderful time. It was the holiday I had dared to dream about while I was in hospital amd I couldn’t believe I was well enough to enjoy it. No, I wasn’t able to eat and drink but that was a small price to pay to be making memories with my loved ones. At the end of the week we packed up the car and drove to St Ives where we had booked a fisherman’s cottage one minute from the beach with my parents. My sister and her husband would be staying nearby and Big Girl’s boyfriend and his family were also staying in St Ives at the same time. I’m good friends with his Mum so I was really looking forward to having a great second week with even more of my favourite peo...
Post a Comment
Read more

The spoon theory

Have you heard of 'The Spoon Theory'? No? Neither had I before I got ill. Why would I have? I didn't spend my time trawling through the internet in search of lotions and potions and pills that might just make me feel a little bit better,  because I was well. I was out living life and having fun.  Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I don't have fun any more. I just have less of it, with fewer people and without the aid of alcohol!  The spoon theory was written by Christine Miserandino and she asks that when you reference the theory you add a link to her website, so here it is:  http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/ I  saw this tonight on Facebook and thought was a brilliant visual to help you understand the 'theory' (and my life) a bit better.  That really is what it's like having a chronic illness. But the trouble is you never know how many spoons you have when you wake up. My  body likes to play trick...
Post a Comment
Read more