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Saturday May 30th, 2026 I
had a fall in my home due to low blood sugar which resulted in a broken
hip and that meant ending up in hospital where I eventually got home on
Friday afternoon on the 19th of June after having surgery for a
replacement hip joint.
My glucose monitor set
of my alarm to say I had low blood sugar of 2.1. When I saw this I
knew I needed something to eat and it needed to be something more
substantial that a boiled sweet. So I headed downstairs to the
kitchen to make myself something.
In the process of going
to the kitchen I had a fall but at the time I just thought I'd bruised
my hip and so I managed to get back up and went on to make myself a
sandwich. Once I had that I went back upstairs to bed.
In the morning my hip
was really sore and I considered calling 911 but as I had a grocery
delivery from Walmart arriving around 10 am I decided to wait for that.
When it was delivered I struggled to put it away but realised that my
hip was too sore to continue so while I managed to put most of it away
my shrimp platter did not make it to the fridge and so had to be thrown
away.
Anyway... I called 911
and they sent out an ambulance for me and so around 11 am I arrived at
the hospital where they discovered I'd broken my hip and so it was into
surgery to give me a hip replacement.
Next thing I remember
was waking up in a two bed room with nurses taking my vital signs such
as blood pressure, temperature, pulse, etc. They asked questions such as
did I know where I was, what year it was, etc. And so the process
of healing started.
I will say that I found
all the nurses very helpful and while a lot were students they all did
an amazing job. Like I had to be helped to the toilet and all that
entailed. Also had to be washed and helped take a shower.
They had found my medical records and confirmed I was under a Dr Shaw
and so was given all my normal medication plus some pain medication.
After a couple of days
I was moved to the rehabilitation unit where I was again in a 2 bed room
unfortunately with someone who not only snored rather loudly but also
was fitted with a very loud alarm sensor which went off several times
during the day and night.
I was then shown how to
do several exercises and I was told not to bend more than 90 degrees so
needed to learn how to use a grabber to put on my trousers.
Got three meals a day
and two snacks so well fed albeit with rather plain and uninspiring
food. Got my blood sugar tested throughout the day and also blood
work taken. Being a diabetic they gave me the usual insulin injections.
I will note my Freestyle Libre 2 glucose reader often reported 0.5 below
what the hospital reader reported albeit a couple of times they did
match.
Then it was into a
wheel chair for a couple of days and then onto a walker where I had to
walk and also do various exercises. This included me walking up
stairs with a walking stick.
Continued to get some
pain medication throughout my time in the hospital.
My cleaning lady
Annette got access to my home to bring me some clothes to wear as for
the first several days I had to wear a hospital gown. She also
brought me my Kindle so I would have something to read. There was
a TV available at each bed but after a couple of days it was a purely
paid service. I was able to use my Kindle to watch YouTube.
I got a couple of
letters from a friend in Alaska as she was the first to note I wasn't
working on the web sites. My friend in Toronto also talked to me by
phone. Also got a couple of emails checking on me when I got home
as I wasn't able to do any internet work while in the hospital.
And so I was well taken
care of in hospital and today Friday 19th I was able to get home and have
started to catch up with things. My handyman Doug was able to drive my
car to pick me up from the hospital and helped me get into my home up
the eight stairs and also got me a walker and a grabber to use. He
also moved a bed downstairs for me in case i has issues going upstairs
to bed.
I am to get a visit
from the red cross for several visits during the first few weeks to
provide meal assistance and also to help me get to appointments.
Also have a person to visit in the next few days to assess my needs for
showering and taking a bath. I wil note that this person won't be
able to attend until some time in August so quite a delay there.
When i got home today I
found that Annette had made me a pot of chicken noodle soup and a loaf
of bread so looking forward to trying that for dinner.
The first night home I
heated up the soup which was excellent and then managed to get upstairs
and had a reasonable nights sleep. Struggled a bit getting downstairs in
the morning and have to say it's painful to move around and have to use
the walker.
I will note I didn't
smoke while in the hospital so that was three weeks without smoking and
didn't have a problem with that. However I like to smoke so am now back
smoking again now I'm home.
I would note that you pay $45.00 for the
ambulance. In my case I got a reminder as I didn't get home in time to
pay the bill so they sent me a reminder and so an extra cost for them
that probably wasn't needed.
And so now a few days home and still
having problems moving around but have a walker to help. Still a
struggle getting up and downstairs and still a bit painful. They
reckon it will tale a couple of months before I can move around with
ease so we'll see how it goes.
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Making progress with my hip
replacement. I must say that the Red Cross have been
very helpful. They give you six weeks of support when
you get back from hospital, In my case the first week
they brought some microwave meals, The second week they did
some cooking for me and put out my rubbish. Third week
they did the same and then the other day they took me to my
eye appointment.
They will do grocery shopping
for you but you do need to pay in cash. However they
provided me with a local organisation that will do grocery
shopping and take credit card which is excellent.
Neighbourlink
519 352 5647
office@neighbourlinkck.com
Also got a physio who provided me with
some exercises to do each day and he's visited three times.
C.B.I. Homecare
Nalaka Edirinsing he 519 981 6184
He provided a pdf of 6 exercises I needed
to do and the first time made me do each one while he was there.
One thing I found interesting is that when
I phoned the hospital to return the walker they told me it could take
some months before they could pick it up. That doesn't seem right
to me but that's what I was told.
Also one other thing I just remembered.
When in hospital each room has a whiteboard where they note down the
names of the people that will be looking after you each day. They
note the nurse in charge and also the student nurse. I noted two
things... first they often forgot to update the information and
secondly the nurse in charge was never the nurse that came into see you
when you asked for help. In fact I don't think providing that
information was the least bit useful. |
