Thursday 1 April 2010

Hospitals and things

The FH has been suffering from excessive tiredness for some time now, months, indeed. I have engineered him to get a referral from the GP to a sleep clinic, as I suspected he was stopping breathing when he slept. I was right: he went to Papworth Sleep Clinic on Tuesday to fetch an oxygen monitor which he had to have clipped to his finger all night. We went to Papworth to see the doctor yesterday, and the print out from the monitor revealed that his breathing is stopping up to FORTY TIMES AN HOUR! Oh, my word! That was a bit of a shock - I thought it was maybe once or twice each night, nowhere near as bad as that. So, he has to go tomorrow overnight to be supplied with a CPAP machine which, I think, will supply a fixed pressure of air into his windpipe whilst he sleeps so that it can't collapse and stop him breathing. The first night is done under supervision in the hospital, and we were very lucky that they let him go in this week - the receptionist said it would be any time in the next six weeks, but then I said we would accept a cancellation spot and wanted it done asap, and she said, "Well, is this Friday too soon?" to which I replied that it most certainly was not! He is not allowed to drive until the treatment starts to work, so we have to inform the DVLA, which I should do tomorrow. I have to take him back to the hospital tomorrow for 1.30pm and then pick him up again on Saturday morning, with his machine. I'm looking forward to having a more alert husband back soon!

Today has been a whirlwind - I took the EFG to a different hospital to see a pediatrician about some growth issues, then called in on my sister to pick up her Easter gifts for the girls, dropped off a leotard to another friend in the town, headed off north to the other town to a menswear shop to buy the FH some PJs for his hospital stay and then picked up the YFG from school before finally making it home at about 3.10pm. It was a long day in the car!

When we got home, the two chicks hadn't made it out of the eggshells properly, so we gave them a little helping hand and they are both OK now. One has made it onto its feet, but the other is still rolling around on its back as its legs haven't really gained their strength yet. Both have loud cheeps, and we are hearing them all over the house. I am going to sort out the box and the light for them before I go to bed and maybe move them over later on, but I might leave it until the morning, depending on how they seem at about 10pm.

1 comment:

Toria said...

That sounds bad, I'm glad you found out & have been able to get the treatment started so promptly. Hope he is feeling better soon.