48-3

Unfortunately, 48-3 was not the score in the USC vs Notre Dame game on Saturday. (USC did actually win, but I would have been happier if we had beat the Fighting Irish by 45 points instead of 7 points. ) 3 is the number of times I will have had to visit the hospital in 48 hours. Granted, my third visit tomorrow morning is a long standing ENT post-surgery follow up appointment.

Perhaps you read last night's post. If so, you might have gathered that I was a little...... well... frustrated. My line stopped working before my afternoon dose yesterday,  so my in laws dropped me and Alastair off at the hospital on our way back into town.  After waiting an hour, Doctor Young And In Charge came in and got a cannula in on her second try. The line flushed beautifully and she said it was in a deep vein, so she was confident that it might last 48 hours.

We left the hospital around 11 pm  and jumped in a cab to get get home. I immediately went to hook up my meds and was surprised when I couldn't get the line to work. After all, it had just been working 30 minutes ago. I used every trick in the book to make the line work but eventually had to admit defeat. Turns out the line had clotted. Not an unheard of problem, but not that common either.  Not after 30 minutes anyway.

I remained composed for a few minutes while I  considered the ridiculousness of it all but then broke down.  I have had lines fail after a half day, but failing after a half hour, you had to be kidding me! And to think we spent almost 20 quid on a taxi to get home quick. Part of me was waiting for a giant animated salt container to jump out and attack me, try to shake some of its contents into my wounds, both physical and mental.

I am pleased to report that the animated salt container never materialized.

But less than 12 hours after leaving the hospital, I was forced to return there again today. Doctor I Have Been Putting Lines In For 5 Years, whom I had not met before, put in a cannula after two failed long line attempts. He was nice enough and with a wink and a smile said he would be sure to tell Dr Young And In Charge that her line hadn't even lasted 48 minutes, much less hours 48 hours.