My week at Hotel Alfred-o

After surgery on Tuesday night, I ended up spending a week at the Alfred in a few different areas. I’d spent a bit of time at the Alfred before with my collarbone in 2014 but this stay was a bit different. I couldn’t walk and didn’t fully understand the extent of my injuries until the end of the week.

Days 1 - 3: Cardiac
Because of my broken sternum and my heart showing some signs of trauma I was moved to the cardiac ward for the first few days. From Day 1 the nurses were so supportive and helpful, I have so much respect for them and the work they do. I was relieved to lose the neck collar after 24 hours and the pain meds seemed to be working well. Days 2-3….not so good. I was emotional, still a bit shocked and unable to control the nausea. I felt like I was motion sick despite not moving and sleeping was the best option. I didn’t understand what had happened to my back and hip, with some conflicting information from the trauma team vs the orthopaedic team. I had one attempt at a physio session and I’m confident I called them every name under the sun. I wasn’t used to being hurt, my mind wasn’t up to speed with my body and I just couldn’t get my head around what it all meant. Fast forward to day 4, still feeling nauseous but we’d managed to control it with less drugs and lots of sick bags.

Days 4-7: Trauma
I was ready to move to the trauma ward on Day 4, so we put on my best hospital gown and down we went. My time in trauma was better, although the constant feeling that I should be up and active kept making me frustrated. I was finally able to ‘roll’ in bed (me holding the side of the bed and the nurses pushing me from my back/hip/legs to get to one side), which made life easier and it felt great to be making some form of movement. Being flat on my back for 7 days wasn’t easy but the little wins made it a bit more manageable. I found it hard waking up in the morning and would almost forget what had happened until I went to move and it all came flooding back. The first few days were definitely the hardest but it’s something that I still struggle a little with. Like everything, it will get easier.

Aside from the injuries, there were a few other things going on during the week. The following can’t go without mention…

Old friends and family

Vistors, everywhere. I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better group of family and friends to help me throughout the week. The sheer volume of texts was so much that I had to break up my time in the day to respond otherwise it became too hard to keep track.

Everyone was incredibly generous with their time and thoughts, always offering to do something for me or try to cheer me up. Nikki’s dog gif’s, Rob’s memes, my work team sending a huge hamper of goodies…and the flowers. My room became so full of flowers we had to start shifting some around the room and some were donated to the nurses area because we ran out of space. It’s hard to say just how much it meant to me but I hope I can pay it forward in the future.

My Melbourne family (past and present Lead Out cycling friends) completely overwhelmed me on the last day with a get well video - I continue to watch it and have so much gratitude to Mick for pulling it together.

New friends

I met a few interesting people at the Alfred…

• A guy I met in trauma who hadn’t had the easiest ride in life - he was caught up in a shooting the previous week and proved to be an interesting character in the ward. Sometimes he had good intentions (loved helping the oldies) but often his fuse was a bit too short. One night he went on a bit of a rampage around the hospital ward making a few inappropriate comments and made the poor nurse’s life absolute hell. Also had a tendency to help his friends organise ‘sorting out’ people in their life who they weren’t happy with. Quite a character.
• Ghita: My trauma ward buddy and the best company I could have had when either of us were having a bad night. We laughed, cried and made jokes at our poor attempts to perform basic bodily functions. She’s a toughie, having had back surgery and dealing with her diabetes plus the challenges that come with having nerve damage after surgery.
• Dr Karl: Pretty easy on the eyes. Enough said.

Food

Sandwiches…chicken mayo, ham cheese, cheese…repeat.

The claw

Thanks to the surgeon for going completely overboard with my finger dressing - it provided a bundle of laughs for the week :)