Mum Gives Us Another Fright (Part 2)

Mum Gives Us Another Fright (Part 2)

Mum stayed in hospital for another 24 hours. We were back with lunch and supper on the Sunday, and I was with Mum to hold her hand whilst another doctor inserted the cannula, ready for the blood transfusion.  Mum hated it, but once it was in, and bandaged to hold everything in place, it was more bearable.

We left Mum at about 9.30 p.m. - still the unit of blood had not arrived, but everyone was so exhausted, we had to entrust her to the care of the nursing staff.  In the end, we found out they had done a really good job.

The next morning, the lady in the bed opposite told me Mum had become very upset when the transfusion started, and the staff had been worried she would try to disconnect the line; there could have been "blood on the carpet," and not much going into Mum.  A member of staff sat with her for four hours, until the transfusion was complete.

When I arrived to give Mum her breakfast, the cannula had been removed, and she was feeling much happier. The doctor came round and said they results from the latest blood test showed her iron levels were up enough for her to be discharged to the GP's care; they would prescribe oral iron medication for her to take at home.  The pharmacist came up to see me; I explained the difficulty Mum has swallowing pills, and he could provide us with ferrous fumarate syrup.

We got home at about 6.00 p.m. on the Monday night.  Mum had dinner, and got back to bed, and then slept for about 14 hours.  This time we weren't worried; we reckoned she had been awake most of Sunday night through to Monday morning, and had had virtually no sleep for the rest of the day; she had also had a three and a half hour wait in the discharge lounge for an ambulance to bring her home. She slept peacefully and soundly.  She missed breakfast on Tuesday morning, but when she got up at lunch time, she was quite rejuvenated, and back to her old self - including, on occasions, alternating between Dr Jekyll and Mrs Hyde. It was  such a relief to have her home again, we were all happy to put up with her moods and her foibles.