Hi folks, Joc was out of bed within 24 hours and here's a photo to prove it.
Barely had they taken out the breathing tube when they bullied her out of bed for coughing and marching-on-the-spot exercises. In zis hospital pneumonia ist verboten! Hands up those of you who leap out of bed in the morning and march on the spot for 10 mins. I thought so...:) Amazing what can be done with a morphine pump and a Physiotherapist From Hell.
It was great to see Joc with a bit of colour in her cheeks, facial swelling down and the oranges of her eyes already faded to pale yellow. Soon people will stop speaking Urdu to her in the street, as the bilirubin pigment fades from the skin over the ensuing weeks.
Shortly after the picture was taken there was a minor drama when someone allegedly smelt gas in the ventilation systems. We tubeless ones were thrown out by Security "for our own safety" and poor Joc was unceremoniously bundled back into bed by none-too-gentle orderlies who appeared from everywhere to evacuate the ICU.
Given the machinery and attachments, that would have been amazing to see. Happily it soon proved to be something minor and they shut down the offending Bay, as it happens the one opposite Joc's.
Improvement was visible hour by hour, by the end of the day she no longer required oxygen, was speaking quietly to us and luxuriating in the relaxation of the nil-by-mouth rule by sucking on small ice cubes. The word 'chocolate' no longer causes the light on the anti-nausea-drug pump to light up :)
Rosemary's telephone over at the Support Group has melted and Joc's email continues to overflow with good wishes from friends, relatives, and one fchiang@hotmail.com who advises her to Lose Weight Fast!!!
I myself receive many kind offers of food and shelter, but the mention of illness seems to trigger some type of Skinnerian response mechanism in Joc's relatives and I need to work through the freezer to make way for the tanker load of chicken soup which I have reason to believe is imminent.
Had staffing levels permitted, Joc could have even left the ICU yesterday but she surely will today, and go up to her 8th floor recovery room with a nice view out over the Eastern suburbs to the mountains. There she can get some sleep without constant beeps and alarms and being flushed and disconnected and reconnected all the time.
After a few days, well-scrubbed visitors, without communicable diseases and bearing a recently-signed Organ Donor Form will be admitted :)
Love, JH