The 3rd Vac Change, was the same drill, the ambulance ride, the stopover at Casualty for the shot of pain killer. Then wheeled down to Dr. Shahid’s OP. The only difference was this time I brought along my Jacket for the cold AC, just in case I get parked right under it. They all were kind to switch it off for me, but I felt its too much to ask for just one person in the room, so put on my jacket at the time of vac change.😊Everything went well as usual. Dr. Harin came in and looked at the granulation, the area under the 3rd pin was covered by new tissue! This meant skin grafting is good to go! They removed the vac and this time my leg was gift-wrapped without the foam and tubes. So admission was in order and I was wheeled back to casualty for an antigen test, as was the admission protocol.

F block – Room 442

This time the room we were given was in the old block of the hospital room 442. So I guess I won’t be meeting the good staff from T block, this time. As I got wheeled into the room, reminded me of having visited this block a few years back when a relative was admitted to the same block. That time I was a visitor to see a patient, today I am the patient! Funny how that works! 😄 How many times have we visited the sick at a hospital and left with the realization that one day we could be a patient in the same place??!

The room had old written all over it. But not in a messed up way. More in the design aspect. There was a built-in rack made of concrete. The layout of the room is more or less the same, the patient bed, the bystander bed. The floor was mosaic. The patient’s bed didn’t have a crank mechanism to raise and lower the upper body. But a manual one. It had a stand that one could lock in the grooves depending on the amount of height you wanted.

I was laying down for a good deal of time and wanted to raise the head part and sit up straight. So my family manually raised the head part of the head and locked in the support to one of the grooves that were comfortable for me. No sooner did I rest my body weight on the bed. The support gave way and the next thing I know is my body is going back and my right leg the injured one is going up in the air and then comes crashing down onto the bed!! 😬 I couldn’t help but scream out in pain!!! Rajettan and a few other bystanders rushed into the room. They asked if we needed any help. Other than the fact that they could have made the pain go away. There was not much they could do. But it was nice of them to ask. I lay against the wall on side of the bed, biting down the pain with my eyes shut. Luckily the pain subsided and so did my wish to sit up 😊

One of the nurses came by to take my details, there were so many questions that I had to reply to. I kinda wished I was back at T block for the nurses know me there. One particular nurse had the mannerisms of one of the trainees, or students. You could tell from the way they ask you questions and from the way they respond to your questions. I couldn’t help but ask her, about her experience and she said “ newly joined, 2 days” bingo! I knew it!! 😄

We were told that the old block was actually the children’s ward. When a room becomes available in the T block, I will be shifted there. Good, I thought to myself, because after the experience with the bed raise, I didn’t want to sit upon this bed. Besides all of Dr. Shahid’s patients were put up at T block. I was a little surprised to see Dr. Shahid walk into the room a little after, just to see this one patient of his. We discussed the plan for the next day, and what time the surgery is going to take place.

I suppose it was after 7 pm that I was wheeled along the corridors of the old block and through another elevator onto the T block the new block! On to room 873!