Home, sweet home

11 November 2011 (Friday), Day 30

Towards dawn 黎明, the guy or guys in the next room were using the toilet every half an hour.  My roommate got up twice to the toilet too.  

I found most of them shut the doors (one door opens to my room and one opens to the room next door) but would not lock them. I agree locking the doors is superfluous 流於表面 as they can be unlocked from the outside without fuss 不費勁. Most patients and certainly the nurses here would regardless just open the door and when they found someone in, they just said “sorry”. Therefore, I prefer to use the common toilet in the ward.  At least users there respect the system of checking first before they open the door.

And, I found some of them don’t flush the toilet or wash hands afterwards. It was early in the morning.  I could hear every single sound in the toilet.

After the daily physio, the doctor told me that I should go to the Orthopaedic 骨科 Clinic to check my hand and have a full cast. He said because I had wounds and cuts on my hand, Hobart gave me a back slab.  If the wounds and skin got better, I should have a full cast to provide a better and more rigid 堅固 protection for the wrist. He told me to see the plaster technician, who is legendary 有名in the Launceston General Hospital. He is so good at what he does that he is also known as the “plaster king”. He did a very good fibre glass 玻璃纖維 cast for my husband on his split heel many years ago.

“Are you the plaster king?”  I asked.

“Yes, I am,”  he replied.

I told him what my husband talked about him and we had a nice chat.  

“Please give me a light cast,”  I pleaded 懇救.

“For your injury, you have to have a plaster but I will also use fibre glass.  So the whole thing won’t be too much heavier,” he said.

He was quick and neat.  In no time, I had a clean and slim full cast (though still heavy).  I asked him to autograph 簽名 on the cast.  He humbly 謙虛地 signed: Rodney, Plaster Man.



When he cut open the old cast, it was the first time I saw my right hand in four weeks. The scene was pretty ugly.  There were loose stitches hanging from the skin, a long scar (10cm) running down from the thumb.  I could not see the back of my hand.  He said there was a wire under the little finger which had been scheduled to be removed on 23 November. Hopefully by then my right hand will be functional again.

My husband and I were home at the 1pm home visit by the occupational therapists. The dogs were very excited to see us.  The occupational therapists were good and sorted out what I would need when I go home. I wished the tradesmen would come and fix everything the other week.  

In the evening, I was quietly having my dinner alone in the room.  Two nurses came and said they had bad news. I, or more precisely the four patients in my room and the room next door, would have to be isolated 隔離 in situ 原地.  For how many days they did not know. We were only allowed to use the shared toilet of the rooms.  I asked if I was MRSA positive.  They said no. A patient next door was confirmed to be affected by Norovirus, 諾沃克病毒, which is highly contagious 傳染性. The whole hospital was closed a few years ago due to the same virus.  Because we shared the same toilet, the four of us had to be isolated immediately. I rarely used the shared toilet as I didn’t feel it was secure and anyway it was not clean. I protested that by forcing me to use that toilet, they were putting me at higher risk. They could not deny 否認, apologised and said that this is hospital policy. Because my roommate had used that toilet and we shared a room, I had to be isolated as well.

In despair 絕望, I asked: “can I go home?”  

Miraculously 神奇地, they said they could give me a weekend leave but I had to return to the hospital on Monday. They repeatedly said if I feel unwell, go back to the hospital immediately.

How this hospital controls infection is indeed a soul searching question. A doctor came and asked if I had diarrhoea 肚瀉. I said, “no.” and he said, “you can go home”.  

Meanwhile, my roommate returned.  The nurse told her the same news and she also asked if she could go home.  Not in her case.  She was upset, understandably, and she wanted to go out.  The nurse told her to wear an apron 圍裙 and a face mask 面罩 and not to touch anything when she goes out.  However, there is no policing 糾察 whether these are strictly adhered to 遵守.  

So I was officially home. I called mom in Hong Kong and made up a story why I had not called her for a while.  I maintain that it is best for her if she never knows. I spent about three hours replying emails and Facebook messages and even browsed Hong Kong news online.  Happily went to bed after midnight. I still had some pain but I didn’t need painkiller and managed to sleep through to the morning.