I was only discharged from my last stay at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital towards the end of October and now I’m back in again, this time with cellulitis in my right leg. Having been discharged in October my back and leg problems have only intensified and the water retention in my back, legs and girth have started becoming an issue again. It has become so bad that I have been all but housebound since the end of October, only venturing out in taxis to various hospital and clinic appointments. In the last week or so even that has become a problem and it has gotten to the stage where I can barely get in and out of a taxi without difficulty. I have also been having increasing problems with my balance in the last two weeks and have been falling over quite often. Last Monday, for instance, I had to go to the Post Office. I couldn’t get into the taxi without help and out without help, collapsing to the pavement on getting out. I then struggled to walk the short distance into the Post Office and was close to collapse as my knees began giving way while waiting in the queue to be served. A guy got me a chair so I could sit down and a kind woman offered to go to the counter for me. On getting out of the chair to leave the Post Office I fell onto my knees and outside on the pavement my knees gave way completely and I collapsed in a heap on the pavement. Again, passers-by came to my aid and I sat in a bus stop waiting for a taxi to hail.
The repeated falls have left me covered in cuts and bruises and it is probably one of these that has become infected. I went to the NHS walk-in centre this afternoon, fully expecting to be admitted to the Royal. They took one look at my leg and said that it was an IV leg – in other words I would need antibiotics via an IV line as oral tablets wouldn’t do the job on their own. This means that I would need to be admitted. The walk-in centre paid for a taxi to take me to the Royal and once there the taxi driver arranged a porter and wheelchair to take me inside. In the reception of the Acute Medical Unit (AMU) I fell over again when I was asked to walk a short distance to the consultation room. Unable to get back up off the floor the staff had to use a hoist to literally winch me off the floor. I was put on a trolley and have been in a side ward off the AMU waiting for a bed to become free. That could be a while yet as there are several people ahead of me and I’ve already been here some six hours or so.
Two doctors I have seen have already said that I should have started dialysis for my kidneys by now. The Renal clinic has been holding off starting it for over a year now but with the water retention problem the hospital doctors believe I should be on dialysis. I am also going to have to accept that I will need carers once I am discharged as living alone and being unable to get out and the constant risk of falling over and not being able to get up again is becoming increasingly grave. I will also need someone to come to dress my legs as I can no longer get down to do it myself. In fact, at the moment I can’t even manage to put on socks and shoes and came to the hospital today with just slippers on over bare feet.
I don’t know how long I’m going to be in this time. One doctor thought the cellulitis looked relatively superficial and should respond well to treatment but if it spreads to the bone – as happened back in 2014 – and becomes more serious I could be in for several weeks. This would, obviously, mean I would be in over Christmas.
I am writing this post on a Windows tablet that I bought specifically to use at the Royal when I am on the four-hour, three-times-a-week, dialysis sessions. It is the first time I’ve used it in hospital, normally I bring an old Android tablet. The Windows tablet has a detachable keyboard so I can use it as both a tablet and a small laptop, enabling me to blog from it.
STEPHEN NULTY 