First shower in 4 weeks

8 November 2011 (Tuesday), Day 27

Today was a big day because I would have my first real shampoo and shower in almost four weeks.

The day started off being sluggish 無精打彩 and dull.  Breakfast came and I had no interest.  Gathered myself, finished breakfast and then lied back in bed.  The physio assistant came and reminded me of the physio session.  I told her I had a sore shoulder and tummy, didn’t sleep well and probably would not go.  After a while, I thought I should not excuse myself.  So I went to the physio session but did not complete all the tasks.  I just did whatever I could.

Afterwards, I went back to my room and lied down on the bed, my usual position in the last few days.  

A nurse came and told us we could not use the shared bathroom because a patient next door had MSRA 抗藥性金黃葡萄菌.  

The nurse came again and said we could use the shared bathroom.  The room had MRSA but it was unlikely the patient had it.   

Then she came again and said we could only use the shared bathroom or the toilet assigned to MRSA patients.  She put up precaution signs on our room door. I was not happy that they made me use the facilities shared by MRSA patients which could increase my chance of infection. However we were not restricted from going out or having contact with other people. I really cannot understand their infection control procedure.   

The MRSA toilet was shocking and I wondered if they ever checked and cleaned it.  The floor of the shared bathroom was wet or damp most of the time.  And I had had occasions when people in the next door room just opened their side of door and met me inside.  There is no dead lock from the inside.  Even though there is a system displaying an “engaged” sign, people just ignore it, probably this is part of the hospital culture.

The doctor came and asked about my tummy pain.  He agreed to stop the heparin injections right away to give me a break.  What a relief. I learnt from him that the orthopaedic doctors had gone without seeing me.  Oh well, their usual style, storm in and storm out like whirlwinds.  If you are not there, bad luck.

The nurse told me that the orthotic staff would come to change the lining of my brace at 3pm.  So, I started my shampoo and shower at 2:30pm.  It felt so good.   The first time I felt clean and refreshed in almost four weeks.  My last full shower was on 12 October 2011 Wednesday. Changing the lining and drying me took four people and about 40 minutes.  I would be allowed to have a proper shower and shampoo once a week, which was a luxury.                       

Just for curiosity what infection did you get?

I was fortunate that I did not get any. However, I had to put in a lot of effort to protect myself from various outbreaks within the ward. This went on for about 2 weeks. Keep watching this space and there are more stories to come.