Another Hospital Adventure Part Two

Last week I wrote about just the first 24 hours of my three-day hospital stay, if you missed it you can find it HERE. This week’s blog post will be about the remaining two days.

Day two

I woke up happy in the knowledge that Jay would be coming to visit me, we had feared had we not been able to arrange a sitter for the dogs he wouldn’t have been able to visit (thank you I.C).

Quite early in the morning one of my neurologists came to see me to give me the MRI scan results (which were negative) and to advise me that an anaesthetist would be coming to speak to me, he told me I needed to convince her to do the epidural blood patch. I should have realised then that she wasn’t on-board with it but it went over my head. He also discussed occipital nerve blocks (injections in the base of my skull) to see if that made any difference. If they didn’t it was more proof that the leak was real, he told me for the moment we wouldn’t be doing the caffeine infusion if I was getting a blood patch the following day.

Within about 30-40 minutes the anaesthetist popped around to have a chat. We spoke about my various medical conditions, the pro’s and cons of an epidural blood patch, the procedure itself and the protocols for recovery. The meeting seemed very positive and it felt like it was a go. Halfway through the meeting Jay turned up and he was able to give his input on how incapacitated I have been etc.

After she left we decided to have a coffee downstairs in the restaurant but as we were about to leave the neurologist came to see us and asked how the meeting had gone. We told him she had gone away to do some research ( and I had pointed her towards CSF Leak Association ), she would get back to me and that we both felt the meeting had gone well. He then asked me to go back to the ward as he wanted to do the occipital nerve block injections.

He did say the usual “short scratch coming” which at the moment still feels like the understatement of the year. I pride myself on my high pain threshold after having a lumbar puncture when the local anaesthetic had worn off, putting up with the most horrendous bowel adhesion pain for 6 months before they operated. Nothing prepared me for how painful this was. The doctor felt around the base of my skull asking which part was most painful and then injected local anaesthetic into that area. I was injected 4 times, the worst bit on the following three was knowing how sore number one had been. The pain made me sweat almost immediately and tears pricked my eyes. I have very colourful language and was mindful that we were on the ward, so managed to limit myself to the odd “Jesus Christ” and “Shit the bed”. I have no idea where shit the bed came from it’s not something I use ever but it helped.

The feeling of numbness was exceptionally weird, the back of my head felt like it was missing and the tips of my ears went numb. I was determined to go and have a coffee (and a fag to be honest) so immediately after the injections were administered I left the ward. As I had spent so much time lying flat I knew I would get an hour or so upright. My days are spent lying down so I can get the odd hour here and there to get stuff like having a shower done. It’s not a great way to live but it works for me at the moment and you have to play with the cards you have been dealt. At the moment I have an extraordinary bad hand but I am just waiting for a fresh deal.

Jay could only spend a few hours with me and they raced by. The times when I had visitors (my parents visited every day) went the quickest. The ward I was in was classed as short stay, essentially you were there until they could get you a bed on a proper ward, so patients were always changing over. By Thursday afternoon I was the only original patient left from those I was in with on Wednesday.

In the afternoon the anaesthetist returned, she caught me wheeling myself back from the toilet. Her opening statement was “You look better after those nerve blocks”. I didn’t look better, I didn’t look any better than I had done that morning. The only difference was the back of my head was completely numb. My head was still pounding every time I was upright. I knew with her opening gambit the news wasn’t going to be good.

She had decided that she wasn’t going to do the patch, she blamed the fact I had EDS (something I hate because ever doctor who refuses to treat me does this despite all the literature telling them the only difference in surgical approach is the closing of wounds. I find it incredibly lazy and insulting). To be fair I don’t really remember much of the conversation as I was crying so hard. She told me she thought the best thing I could do was be referred to pain management. She seemed to think that this was the perfect solution, me lying down for the rest of my life stoned off my bonce on pain meds.

I cried on and off for the rest of the afternoon. It was a mixture of anger and frustration, I knew I couldn’t tell Jay at this point because he had left thinking that the blood patch was being done the following day and that potentially I would be fixed. I rang my mum, who talked me out of self discharging, I can say truthfully if she hadn’t had been on the end of the phone I would have just packed up my belongings and got a taxi. I was so frustrated with it all that I couldn’t see the point in being separated from the dogs and my husband any longer. My parents drove across the city to come to see me and to give me the medical information they had printed off about CSF leaks and epidural blood patches.

I didn’t see any other doctor after the news that the blood patch wasn’t going ahead. I want to think it was because they were as frustrated as I was although the thought has crossed my mind that they had heard about me losing my shit with the catering staff and were in hiding.

I rang Jamie later in the evening to tell him that the epidural blood patch would not be going ahead. I managed to hold it together and not cry whilst I was talking to him. We were both exceptionally angry as we had been sold the hospital stay on the premise that I would have a blood patch, that I could possibly get better. He had lost a week’s holiday pay taking the time off. It was such a blow to both of us that we are still angry about it. I should never have been admitted if they didn’t have the anaesthetist on-board.

Day Three

I woke up in agony with my back and spent the usual amount of time begging for pain relief. I wish I was allowed to administer my own medications in hospital but as they are controlled drugs I am not allowed. So I am at the mercy of the nurses and how busy they are. My head was also really bad as I had spent too much time upright the previous day. I couldn’t lift my head of the pillow without intense stabbing pains. My eyes were also extremely sensitive to light so from 6am I was wearing sunglasses.

My back never copes with hospital beds and always causes me lots of problems. Quite often it will take me a good 48-72 hours to get my pain levels back under control after a hospital visit, which is simply ridiculous. In hospital I had been confined to my bed as I couldn’t sit in the chair as my head wouldn’t allow this. At home I can lie down on the sofa or on my bed and the changing surfaces stops my back getting too angry. However today I could quite happily rip my spine and surrounding muscles out as I am in agony with muscles that are in spasm. Pain makes me emotional and tired, which is not a good combination. Any tears in front of a doctor and you are immediately labelled as depressed.

I saw a different neurologist first thing in the morning who advised me that the caffeine infusion would be going ahead. In my notes the pharmacist had left a message informing the doctors I would need an ECG before the infusion. To which this doctor said I didn’t. Without a definite yes or no on the ECG my treatment was delayed further. All I was concerned about at this point was getting home and I was getting frustrated that no one was taking any action. By 10am I was washed, dressed and packed, that is how serious I was about leaving. I was also beyond exhausted, although I had been sleeping whilst in the hospital I was constantly being woken up by people being moved into the bay. My bed was right beside the door and no matter how careful the porters were my bed ended up being bashed by the door as they wheeled a bed through. It would hit the end of my bed so hard that the whole thing would shake. People were in and out constantly so my no matter what time of the day or night it was my bed was being knocked.

Between approximately 10-11am I saw my usual neurologist who apologised for the change in plan, he was as surprised as I was that the anaesthetist had refused to do the epidural blood patch. He assured me that he and the consultant would come up with a plan. (I have now been home two weeks and have yet to have had any correspondence with them.I know things move slowly in the NHS and I am one of many patients, it’s just life is particularly tough at the moment). The plan for today was that I would have an ECG and as long as that was normal they would go ahead with the caffeine infusion.

Our bay was being looked after by the dream team today and I am not being sarcastic. The two nurses we had and the health care assistants were brilliant, really funny, got stuff done quickly and were in and out all the time. In the two days prior to this we were lucky if we saw anyone at all for hours at a stretch. One of the nurses was the lovely lady who had come to my rescue on the first night when I had the issue with food (Cottage pie, Fish pie anyone?) and we had a male nurse as well. I don’t know who was more unlucky, me or the male nurse as he was the one going to be doing my ECG. If you have never had an ECG, they basically stick a bunch of sticky pads on your body in various places. It can be a bit embarrassing for all involved if you have a large chest (that’s me) as a lot of the stickers have to go around and under your bosom. Years ago I had a very embarrassed male nurse putting the stickers on and he could barely bring himself to touch my breasts to put the stickers underneath. Now when I have an ECG I grab the bull by the horns and grab them myself cupping them out-of-the-way to spare both our blushes.

As expected my ECG was normal and half an hour later the caffeine infusion was started. I was warned prior to it starting that if I got palpitations, felt weird etc I was to call for a nurse. I really didn’t think I would feel anything as I drink so much coffee these days as caffeine boosts CSF production. Some days the coffee helps a lot and other days it makes no difference at all. The infusion would take about two hours to run and after that I would be free to leave the hospital. It was a very long two hours!

Just as the IV was started lunch was served to our bay. The catering staff out did themselves, managing to give 5 people the wrong lunches and I ended up without one. When we tried to get the catering assistant to sort it out, she left the bay without speaking. We ended up calling a nurse to then get hold of the catering supervisor to sort the cock-up out. I eventually got my vegan curry, however the lady across from me who suffered from Coeliac disease couldn't get a guarantee from the catering staff that her meal was indeed gluten-free. I on the other hand never ever want to eat curry again.

Initially I felt nothing as the drip started. It was only on the 30-40 minute mark I started to feel strange. I felt like every muscle in my body was twitching or vibrating and I felt really buzzy. I started to get palpitations which I thought were more to do with postprandial hypo-tension or reactive hypoglycemia. I did call for a nurse and my observations were taken, my blood pressure was just bizarre 121/66 ( a wide pulse pressure of 55 should be nearer 30) and a pulse of around 75. So there was no need for concern and the infusion could continue.

As time went on I noticed that my head pain had reduced and I was now able to sit up without grabbing at my head. This effect lasted for 5 hours, believe me to be headache free for 5 hours was absolute bliss. It also reduced my head pain for the following 5 days. By the time the infusion finished I was sat up and no longer had to lie down. I had my sunglasses off because my eyes weren’t light sensitive and they remained that way for the  following 5 days.

I managed to leave hospital at around 3:30pm with a diagnosis in writing of Spontaneous Intracranial hypotension (SIH) or in layman's terms a cerebrospinal fluid leak. I suppose even though I hated every minute of being in hospital at least I have that diagnosis, which has been backed up by the occipital nerve block injections and the results of the caffeine infusion.

We are still raising money via Help me walk the dogs again for a new wheelchair and power trike attachment so I am able to get up to Woodbury Common and walk the dogs again. We have now raised £1400 of the £5000 we want to raise. Hubby is getting his back waxed on 31st July and as you can see from the picture he is pretty hairy! You can sponsor him via my go fund me campaign. The waxing is being recorded and it will be released on YouTube and via my blog.

Many thanks

Rach