Finally
After two hospitals in under twelve hours, the beads are now out.
Got to DRI at 9am this morning. Lovely doctor peered into each ear and announced that he wasn’t going to do it, as one was quite far in, and would prefer it if the senior registrar stepped in. Registrar chap would be in at 9.30 and would see me after he’d done the rounds of the Head and Neck unit, which wouldn’t take long.
We went for a wander, charmed a few folks, ran up and down endless corridors,and returned to the ward to wait a while longer. RJ decided that taking a chair for a walk was hugely entertaining, and he amused a couple of eldery gentlemen in the beds next to where we were waiting. Finally, at 10.45 we were seen. Bear in mind that neither of us had had any breakfast, or even a drink!
It wasn’t pleasant. After explaining that he really didn’t want to give RJ a general anaesthetic, and it would be a week or so before it happened anyway, he got the matron to wrap RJ in a blanket and hold him fast. Shortly after, the lovely doctor had to hold his ankles. Then I had to hold his forehead. And then the registrar could finally insert the speculum and use a long thin bit of metal with a tiny loop not much bigger than an O to hook the bead out. A green one and a blue one.
He’s got to have some ear drops in for three days, to stop the bleeding forming a clot that will need removing and he’s a bit sore around the edges. But he devoured the toast the nice nurse gave him, and drank my tea in favour of the nasty orange chemical squash stuff they offered him. He’s had a snooze, his ear drops (that was a lark) and some tomato soup and suddenly, he’s as bright as a button again. Thank goodness.
