Miscellaneous ramblings of NarcKiddo

[Bach]

So relieved to hear that you are on the mend!  Warm wishes for your continued recovery 

[Little2Nothing]

Hope you are well soon. 

[woodsgnome]

May you continue the pace, safely; towards home and full relief. 

[dollyvee]

Wishing you a speedy recoveryy NK

[NarcKiddo]

I got home yesterday     

How nice to have home food (hubby is a great cook) and a proper sleep without being woken at 0530 by nurses brandishing blood pressure monitors.

Oh, and a shower. How wonderful to feel properly clean again. I have read that if you stop washing your hair it quite soon stops being really rank and turns all glossy and healthy. I have  discovered that this most certainly does not happen within 12 days!

I have to do everything slowly and take lots of rests before I get breathless. But I can manage that fine. Had a nice little outing for a Starbucks. Fresh air and a change of scene. Lovely.

 

[sanmagic7]

it all sounds wonderful, NK.  just so glad you're back.  love and hugs

[Blueberry]

  on being back home and on enjoying the 'small things'. 

[woodsgnome]

Hearty congrats    and may you continue to a strong recovery.   

[Kizzie]

That's awesome you're back home NK! Isn't home wonderful after the hospital?  Something as simple as you say as not being woken before the birds are up to have one's blood pressure take. Why on earth do they do that? And real food, your own bed and a hot shower in your own bathroom - heaven.

  

[Lakelynn]

I am holding my own with no oxygen support.

Hey Narc Kiddo, That's great news and excellent progress. Thoughts/prayers for your continued recovery. Hugs too!  

[PaperDoll]

Thinking of you and wishing you well for your recovery

[SteveM]

So glad you are home and enjoying the comforts it brings!
Feel better soon!
Hugs to you.

[natureluvr]

NC, I'm so sorry to hear you were in hospital with pneumonia!  I hope that you will have a speedy recovery, and be back to good health soon.   

[NarcKiddo]

I haven't really posted much recently. Been in a bit of a rut, not felt like sharing. A few EFs coming up. Nothing drastic. Just - blah.

I've also been very good as regards my pneumonia rehabilitation. Taking things slowly but pushing myself enough. However, it's now nearly four months after I left hospital and my lungs are not really improving (I measure via an asthma monitor). I'm generally fine on a day to day basis although sometimes find myself out of breath/tired unexpectedly. I was able to ramp up the exercise a month ago in a bid to get an improvement - that is tough because my lungs are really not supporting cardiovascular exertion very well. It can be done if I just suck up the discomfort. I want the lung function to improve because the pneumonia set it back really quite far. I am worried that if I should get ill again there is not really anywhere to regress unless I regain some lost ground.

TW - medical stuff.

It is really hard to get an appointment at our GP surgery but I made one a month ago, knowing I would need to review my inhalers and general progress around now. I was expecting slightly better progress. Anyway, I saw the doctor yesterday. You just have to see whatever doctor you can get. I think I saw this one many years ago. Certainly it was pre-covid.

So I explained my lung function is not really very great and we need to discuss that. He listened to my chest and pronounced it clear. I don't know how he could be so sure because he is one of those doctors who tells you to take a deep breath and then before you are halfway through he says "...and again..." as he moves his stethoscope to another site. But they did this a lot when I was in hospital so maybe they only need to listen to a part breath. Whatever.

Then he fired a list of questions at me. When I tried to elaborate on any particular answer he would not let me and just said he basically wanted yes or no. I have had this done to me before and always find it annoying because I answer truthfully but I think it is relevant for him to know whether shoulder pains (yes) are a recent thing or, as in my case, something I have had since a teen and nothing to do with this issue. Whatever.

Then he said "those are symptoms of lung cancer. I am going to put you on the two week cancer pathway" (this is basically a fast track diagnostic pathway so people with possible cancer do not languish on the usual 18 month waiting list). When I pointed out I have very recently had two chest x rays because of the pneumonia he said "chest x rays are very bad at showing cancer".

Then he fired a few more bits of information at me (unrelated to the cancer pathway), thrust some bits of paper at me and told me to come back in four weeks.

What is wrong with people? Why could he not have said "I think your symptoms are worrying and we need to be sure they are not cancer, so I am going to put you on the two week cancer pathway..."? All the bits of paper his surgery produce are very clear about the fact that 9 out of 10 people on the pathway are not diagnosed with cancer, but by that time the patient has heard his words and got the shock.

There were various other bits of carelessness surrounding the appointment that I won't bore you with. The practice is very poor - but so are all the other local ones which is why I stay.

Of course I am glad that I am going to be checked over to make sure I don't have lung cancer. But I'm still very annoyed with him and his brusque attitude. I also do not believe that anything of note will happen within two weeks. It's a good job I am not sitting here terrified. There is, of course, an element of fear he has managed to inject but I'm dealing with that OK. What I am not dealing with well, as a result of this episode, is all the other, day to day, minor stressors coming at me. There's only so much one can tolerate.

Sigh.

[Armee]

 

Wow. So horribly brusque. Ones like that give docs a bad name. I'm glad you are getting it checked out but like you presume this is a case of lingering pneumonia damage.