Preparations
I got up this morning with the expectation that all
arrangements would be made for me to definitely leave the hospital earlier than
14:00hrs.
Indeed, it is quite an involved task of passing my
prescriptions down to my local chemist; they then have to source rare and expensive
drugs or ration the drugs so they can go round for eventualities beyond the
unexpected.
The issue of home help became fraught when I was
told the price to pay depended on my income. I have not declared an income
since April, and after my holiday in May, shingles in June/July, the beginnings
of this in August through to now, I would have been off the market for just
under 6 months without registering as unemployed.
Other plans
I had put some property on the market to generate
finance for a 6-week course in India as well as meet the incidentals, it would
appear there is a need for more aggressive selling and some market favours –
looking around solves few problems, one has to look up to have this whole thing
sorted out.
Meanwhile, a daily nurse was arranged to tend my feet and it is possible that one can get a nurse in another city to tend to me if I go away to recuperate elsewhere.
The food trolley girls tried to frustrate us with
the requirement that we fill in the dinner menu, I thought it was that one last
hold they had on us to torture us; the memories of expectorate un-delicacies.
Go!
Finally, at just after 11:00 I was told I could
leave at any time, which was difficult to sort out because I had bags of stuff,
4 in all, but the nurses helped get me to the taxi rank where I caught a taxi
home.
Before I left, I had one last look at the bed that
had been my unexpected, uninvited, sudden world of 18 days. I cried about how
my freedom could so easily be taken away; how my vulnerability could be so
exposed, how one could be at the mercy of strangers in positions that demand
lots of kindness, compassion and care.
How a normally very independent man can leave his
home without expectation of being bedded for that long can only be summed up in
the phrase – That is life.
I also lifted my hands to thank God that my ordeal
was over before I said good-bye to the patient the 3 of us occupants left
behind – the 84-year-old lady.
As I met with the exit coordinator I walked by our
friend who calls out for the nurses with whom I shared a room for the first
week, I said hello to him and said a little prayer as I touched him.
Home
In the end, I was home before 12:30 and honestly, I
have never felt so exhausted. The SMS text messages to my many friends read: “Hello
Friends, By the grace of God, the help of doctors & nurses and medicines. I
am back home. Thank you for your visits, support & love. Akin”
I then went the chemist to collect my drugs and the
preparation took about 30 minutes, when I eliminated two of the drugs I did not
need, I found duplicates of other drugs that I already have – those can level
out over time.
The two most important drugs run into thousands of
Euros, I was too weak to swoon, but I simply said, they’ll get paid, the just
shall live by faith.
Thin
I did a bit of shopping that took some strength out
of me, but my hosts from next week have arranged to do my main shopping and
bring some food.
My belt needs an extra tightening hole, my trousers
can hardly stay up, I have to roll the hip over to keep them from dropping
straight down, my weight is less than what I weighed 28 years ago and that was
65kg from a regular 80 or so kilograms.
But the road to full recovery has begun and with
God’s help, mercy and love, it will be ridden to its fullness that my youth
will be renewed like the eagle’s.
Ope mi koi to – is the best phrase in Yoruba I can
use to thank all those who supported me in prayer, visits, blog comments, phone
calls, food, presents, cards, flowers, comforts, smiles and many other ways so
significant to me. It means my gratitude has hardly been fully expressed, it
goes on to say, I would always be thankful.
Thank you for your love and wishes, may you all be
lifted up to good things beyond your wildest expectations. God bless you all.
Thank God! I am home.
Find below links to my hospital blogs in descending
order.
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