Finally, on 25th May 2020, I got to go home! I was honestly so excited and I couldn’t wait to be at home. I had been in hospital this time for over a week, been on an IV drip for a lot of it, had changes to oral medication and wanted to make sure that that didn’t derail the recovery. I had suffered through sore knees and ridiculously warm temperatures on the ward. We had had a secret visit of Jordan to the hospital to have breakfast with me that made me seem like normality was returning. There had been tears as well as laughs with my friends and family keeping me occupied as well as the ever present nursing staff to keep my spirits up.
I could have gone home on the Sunday but we had decided to wait for a little bit longer to make sure that there were no problems with the drugs that I was taken as we had played this game before and it had gone wrong, so when the consultant said on Monday morning that he was discharging me I was so happy. Only one problem, I had to wait for my prescription to arrive from pharmacy. I think I got the go ahead to go home at 10am and to say I got ready quickly would be an understatement. I was basically already packed (owing to never really unpacking in an attempt to feel tidy and organised) so I quickly had a shower, got into my specially designated “home time” clothes and decided to wait for my hair to dry so I could make myself look pretty. Vain, I know but I wanted to look more like myself than I had felt when I was in hospital. So as I sat and waited for my hair to dry and pharmacy to arrive, I texted Jordan and my Mum to arrange who was going to collect me and as Mum had a bit of a cough (which turned out to be hayfever), it was decided that it would be Jordan.
Now the interminable wait began. The wait for Pharmacy was FOREVER. Honestly. I was waiting for at least 3 hours, if not longer. My hair dried (and I straightened it). I put make up on… I did everything, I sat and watched documentary after documentary. I kept asking the poor nurses and healthcare assistants if there was any word on when I might be able to get my prescription and go home because that was literally all that I wanted to do. I just wanted to go home.
I know it sounds very ungrateful that I was being so impatient because I was getting to go home in the first place but as I sat waiting for Pharmacy to give me the medications I needed, I was thinking about the hospital bed that I was effectively wasting. Had they been able to discharge me much earlier in the day, someone else could have had the room that I was in. I mean I also would have got home quicker but it just left me thinking about how the whole thing was incredibly lengthened by the wait for medication, was there no way this could have been sorted the night beforehand? Or something like that, there must be a way to streamline it!
Eventually I got the message through that my drugs were all there and so I texted Jordan and he got in the car as quick as possible to come and get me.
I decided that I wanted freedom ASAP and so I decided to make my own way out of the hospital. So I got my (ridiculously heavy) rugby bag, and hauled it outside, into the bright sunshine. And finally I was able to give Jordan the biggest hug imaginable, throw my stuff into the car and start making my way home.
It was a sweet sense of relief but also apprehension. Last time I had gone home it had all gone wrong, was the same thing going to happen and was I going to end up in the hospital again?
When we got home I sat and relaxed, Jordan made me meatballs and pasta for dinner and we spent the evening on the sofa not doing a lot. It was sweet.
Home, sweet home. It is a cliche but its where I felt safest and able to relax finally.
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