17 November 2011 (Thursday), Day 36

The hospital moved me back to my old bed and room after all patients in the two rooms were discharged and the rooms cleaned.

Two elderly ladies were admitted to the next room and the nurse sealed the toilet door in our room. We were not allowed to use the shared toilet which did not worry me at all.

My new roommate is a young mother of two. She is quite knowledgeable about the hospital system and I learned a fair bit from her how to survive better here.

The consulting doctor came and told me they planned to discharge me next week.

I did not have a good sleep that night. I woke up at 1am, asked for some painkiller hoping to go back to sleep but failed. From 3am onwards, the old lady kept screaming “nurse” till 5am. No hope of getting a decent sleep.

16 November 2011 (Wednesday), Day 35

Even though there was a room assigned to me, it was a long day camping in the Day Room. The room was only cleared and ready for me to move in at about 5pm. This was a single room. Guess who was next door? The same old lady who screamed “nurse” every 5 seconds. Fortunately she did not scream that night.

Again, the toilet has to be shared between two rooms and I had learned not to use it to stay away from the risk of having possible infection and thus isolation. Afterall, this toilet was not clean.

15 November 2011 (Tuesday), Day 34

After another night at home, I was supposed to go to the occupational therapy kitchen first thing in the morning to learn how to work in the kitchen safely with just one hand. I would in particular like to learn how to use a knife. However when I got there, they said I could not go.

So I went to the ward, planning to start my day camping routine. As it turned out, the gastro outbreak in the ward got worse. The front doors of the ward were closed and there were big signs saying “Please do not visit patients unless absolutely necessary”. It seemed that all patients from our ward were not welcomed elsewhere in the hospital. The physio assistant did not come any more to take me out for a walk in the park.

In the afternoon, they told me there would be a bed for me the next day. So this would be my last night of parole and then bye bye home.

14 November 2011 (Monday), Day 33

As expected, the room was still not cleared when I returned to the hospital from my weekend parole. If I walked into the room, I would have to be isolated right away and god knows for how long. We struck a deal that I would find a seat in the Day Room and stay there during the day and go home for the night. This continued until the ward found me a clean room and bed.

The occupational therapist had showed me how to lie down on and get out of a flat bed safely and without straining the back. That was good advice. Otherwise I may need to hire a hospital bed and squeeze it into our bedroom for this interim period.

The day camping and night parole style of life was actually quite demanding. I could not rest during the day and when I got home in the evening, I was busy getting onto the internet, replying emails, updating Facebook, browsing Hong Kong news, etc.

13 November 2011 (Sunday), Day 32

I talked to Candy on Skype. This was the first time she saw me in person after the accident. I showed her my waxed like right hand and she found it scary. That was only the palm though; my right arm was still in full cast. She is also the first person in the family to see me in person after the accident. Thanks to modern technology which brings all of us closer.

Mark did all the cooking today and most of the house work.

At night, I packed my things to prepare for the return to the hospital on Monday.

12 November 2011 (Saturday), Day 31

Mark was gone early in the morning for a shooting competition.

I got up at 9am and was greeted by two lovely dogs. I made breakfast out of instant noodles. The first ever meal I cooked solely by my left hand. I tried to use chopsticks with my left hand. Probably because I was too hungry, I swopped chopsticks for a fork.

At lunch, I cooked instant noodles again but this time, it was a bit more sophisticated – with 2 frankfurters. I was quite pleased with my left hand. It was capable of doing everything I had to do so far except using chopsticks. So I told myself I had to finish my lunch using chopsticks and I did!

A pleasant surprise that Ma Hong dropped by after lunch. We concluded that when I return to the hospital on Monday and the room is not cleared of the bug, I will refuse to go into the room. I will need to find a seat in the common area and camp there. I am sure the one who persists will win.

I had problem connecting to the internet since morning. When Ma Hong was gone, I ventured downstairs to reset the modem. It was a bit risky as the hand rails are yet to be properly fitted. Resetting the modem did not work and it could be a cable issue which was outside my capacity – as I cannot bend or turn my head. I had to wait for Mark to return home to fix it.

Mark went shooting in Smithton. There he told the shooters that Cecilia was on parole and was home for the weekend. They commended him that he had me well trained, leaving me alone at home.

11 November 2011 (Friday), Day 30

Towards dawn, 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 as they can be unlocked from the outside without fuss. 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.

Breakfast came as usual at 8am. The kitchen must have their own idea of what I should eat or perhaps they thought I ordered too little for my meals. This morning, they again gave me a packet of corn flake even though I clearly crossed the item out in the menu, not wanting to waste food. Last night, they gave me ice cream and a pudding for dinner though I had not asked for dessert. I made Mark finish the ice cream but he refused the pudding. I feel bad when food goes wasted. We were always hungry when we were small.

My roommate asked for insulin before her morning dessert. Probably, she is diabetic.

After the daily physio, the doctor told me that I should go to the Orthopaedic 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 protection for the wrist. He told me to see the plaster technician, who is legendary 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 cast for Mark on his split heel many years ago.

“Are you the plaster king?”

“Yes, I am.”

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

“Please give me a light cast.”

“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 was quick and neat. In no time, I had a clean and slim full cast (though still heavy). I asked him to autograph on the cast. He humbly 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.

Mark 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 in situ. 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. 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, 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, I asked “can I go home?”

Miraculously, 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. 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 and a face mask and not to touch anything when she goes out. However, there is no policing whether these are strictly adhered to.

So I was officially home. I called mom 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. Mark set up the computer in the guest bedroom for my easy access. 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.

10 November 2011 (Thursday), Day 29

When I got up in the morning, I had a headache, my heart was pounding and I felt terrible. My roommate started screaming the night before from 6pm till 5am this morning. She had trouble breathing and a group of doctors and nurses swamped the room.

As I had not had a good sleep for two days, the doctors prescribed some strong pain killers which made me drowsy. I was extremely tired that I lost my appetite for dinner. Lying in bed thinking I would have an early night, the screaming started. She complained she could not breathe and she could not swallow. Nurses came in and out to check her. They eventually called the doctors. A big team came and the nurses had to remove the furniture in the room to accommodate all. They brought all her files and even a mobile x-ray machine. As it turned out, she was admitted for about 2 months (not a year as she had said). She was not very clear in her mind. When asked, her answers were almost always “I don’t know”. By the time the medical staff were gone, it was 10pm. Then the usual male patient started yelling “go away”. I felt terribly sorry for the nurses. It was a nightmare to them too.

By about midnight, the painkiller waned and I woke up to ask for more. The nurse was very kind to also check how my roommate was doing and that woke her up. Then there were another five hours of screaming. There was some tranquillity between half past five and half past six till the morning staff reported duty and started another busy day.

I could not finish my breakfast and I felt stifled staying in the room. I went to the Day Room early to start my physio. The staff there noticed something wrong with me. I was in tears, the first time since the accident, and told her I needed some sleep. The nurses in the ward knew I had a horrible night and they were all sympathetic. After physio, I went outside and sat in the sun for half an hour to get my sanity back. Nature can really heal.

I was allowed to use the hospital computer in the common area and I posted a Facebook message about the accident. This was the first time I could get on to the internet after the accident.

The consulting doctor came every Thursday and asked me how I was going. I told him I had sleep deprivation. He was sympathetic and gave me good news that he would expedite my return home, hopefully in less than 2 weeks. Previously they thought they would discharge me after the cast on my right hand was removed. As the situation in the ward and the room deteriorated, the best option was to fix my house soonest possible and I would go home one-handed.

Credit to the nurses, they did a big move, re-allocating rooms to the patients in the ward and my roommate was moved to a single room. The moving of patients and big cleaning of the rooms went on for hours until almost 5pm. I could not stay in my room and found myself a chair in the Day Room to doze off.

After the big clean up of the rooms, they removed the MRSA label from my room and interestingly it was at this point that they got some swaps from me for MRSA testing. I must say I have problem understanding their sequence of work when it comes to infection control.

At 10pm, I had another roommate. She is huge, twice my size at least and a bit shorter. She could really snore and I think she probably lives on a farm. When she sleeps, the animals sing with her. The room became a barn filled with sounds from hogs, chooks, cows and various others. And, she sleep-talks too. I was so tired that I managed to have a few hours’ sleep and stayed awake for a good chunk of the night.

9 November 2011 (Wednesday), Day 28

Another night with little sleep and pain. The Panadol and Endone are less and less effective in managing the pain. Anyway, I had exceeded my daily Panadol intake and had to live with the pain.

I think I must look very sick this morning. Everyone passing by my room came in and asked if I was alright. No, not at all. The doctors were nice and they came to see me and discuss with me another pain management plan. They gave me a morphine shot and some stronger pain killers. Other than feeling a bit drowsy, the pain became more manageable.

The occupational therapist came and told me that a home visit had been fixed on Friday. The purpose of the home visit was to look at the set up of our house to see how I can live independently as much as possible and most importantly safely at home after discharge. This would be my first time home in a month. He also showed me the best way to get out of a flat, normal bed. He asked me to roll to the side and push with my arms to get myself upright. I tried twice but the room was spinning like merry go rounds. I preferred pulling myself up using the monkey bar but he said rolling and getting up using my arms is better and the safest. I had to practise more.

Grace was transferred from Hobart to a private hospital in Sydney today. I was happy that she was now closer to her sister.

My roommate returned home and I had a new roommate. She told me that she had been in the hospital for a year. She has acute arthritis and cannot move. She even has problem pressing the bell for the nurse. She looked frail and had a tube running through her nose and throat down her stomach.

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 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.

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.

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 wonder 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 saw 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 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 about 40 minutes. I will be allowed to have a proper shower and shampoo once a week, which is a luxury.