If there is one thing that stands out at my two hospitalizations over the past three months it’s how boring the nights were. Not the pain, not the food but the boring nights.
In the night of the 24th of November last year there was a particular treatures cold spell that froze over bridges end bicycle routs. But I didn’t know that when I set out for work on Tuesday the 25th.
Only Ten meters from my front door I slipped and fell and broke my left hip. Luckily I was discovered within minutes by a lady who called for an ambulance and I was rushed to hospital. An other lucky circumstance was that I hadn’t eaten that morning, so I could be operated on the same day.
That was where the luck ended.
From the moment I met the first nurse I started telling telling that I’m autistic. I’ve had enough experience in the last two years to know that autism has the tendency to complicate things. But sadly nobody at the hospital took any notice of it.
Two days after the operation I was given my first walker and was told that I should start learning to walk again. But I soon found that I couldn’t.
The first time I tried it I could manage to put a little bit of wait on my left leg but I kept tripping over the walker. The second time I couldn’t get my left leg to bear any weight. Which seemed strange because that didn’t seem that difficult the first time. The next day they came with crutches, which was even worse. I couldn’t get my left leg to bear weight and I couldn’t keep my balance.
After that the physiotherapist told me to practice with the walker on Saturday and Sunday. But I couldn’t. i just couldn’t walk with that thing.
Sunday night after a little panic attack I finally realized what was going wrong. This was a simple problem having to do with one of the symptoms of autism. Autistics can only learn one skill at the time.
Learning to walk and learning to use crutches are two different skills. There just too much information. My brain can’t process it all at one. Walking with crutches actually feels like walking with four legs and I have think about the place where I put every one of my four “feet”.
To learn to walk I need a rollator.
I got one on Monday. From then learning to walk became much easier and I could leave the hospital on Wednesday. Only four day after the hospital wanted to send me home.
One and a halve month later I was back in hospital. After a checkup the surgeon decided that something had gone wrong with my hip and had to be corrected. So last Friday morning 11 o’clock I was emited and by 1 o’clock operated upon.
Tomorow, Tuesday around 11 o’clock I will back home. Again 4 nights in hospital.
The problem is I don’t feel really sick. Yes my leg is operated upon and it hurts a bit. But for the most part that’s kept in check by the the pain medication.
For the way i feel I could actually leaf my bed and walk around except for the fact that I can’t walk.
So I spent the entire day in bed. Reading a little, watching television and talking to people. And then at 10 PM the staff comes by, turns the lights off and I’ supposed to fall a sleep. But of course I’m not at all sleepy.
So I spent the night waiting. Watching a little television but there is nothing on and reading. But reading isn’t much fun if you only do it to pass the time.
For this, my last night in hospital, I decided to write this article. It’s now 3.49 AM. I only have to wait four more hours before breakfast is served.
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