Day 50 – If, not when

Wednesday 28th October 2009

This morning Big Mouth was coming out of the loo as I was heading that way so I said good morning to him. He just grunted. Charming !!!

When I was walking back to my room I could hear him talking about me to the other men. He then asked what time breakfast was. None of the other men could remember so I shouted, “eight o’clock’.
“I might have know ‘clever clogs’ would know”, he spat.
“Having been in here for nearly seven weeks”, I said, “you get to know the routine”.
That really shut him up.

Kermit arrived shortly after breakfast and explained what the next step would be should my wound continue to leak.
“Because you have a cavity where your hip and muscle used to be”, he said, “it’s just filling up with fluid as there’s no muscle to act as a sponge.
We could do nothing but it will continue to leak and there’s a strong possibility of infection. This means no new hip.
I know you don’t want another trip to the woodshed….”, he said.
I smiled at him as he had used ‘woodshed’ instead of theatre. Sister Clarke, not being in on the joke, had a puzzled look on her face.
“…however it’s looking like we’re going to have to fill in the cavity with a muscle transplant taken from either your tummy or your back. I’ll need to speak with the plastic surgeon from Durham hospital first”.
“Where will this take place”, I asked.
“Through at Durham”, he replied, “I think you’ve been very brave, considering everything that you’ve gone through. I’m just sorry that it’s looking like more surgery is needed and I’m afraid it’s a case of ‘if’ and not ‘when’ we put in a new hip at the moment”.
I shrugged my shoulders, “It’s just one of those things”, I said.

A little later Maureen, one of the auxiliary nurses, came to take my obs.
“Are you ok now”, she asked, “as I heard you got a bit upset yesterday”.
“I’m fine”, I replied.
“Who the hell does he think he is”, she said, “imagine, saying something horrible like that. Sister Clarke was furious when she found out”.
“Sister Clarke knows,”, I said.
“Oh yeah”, she replied, “she’s going to have strong words with him. ‘No one upsets my patients’ she said”.

When I was visiting Mary, Sarah, one of the staff nurses, gave me a hug.
“That’s for being upset yesterday”, she said.
“Does everyone know about what happened yesterday”.
“Of course”, she smiled…