Walking on my own

23 October 2011 Sunday, Day 11

They removed all the tubes attached to me – cannulas 插管 and catheter. The nasal cannula was removed earlier when I soon left the ICU. There were three cannulas linking my left arm and a machine.  When I moved my arm, the very touchy 敏感 machine would continuously give out a “beep” sound until a nurse came to reset it.  I used this as a buzzer 钟铃 when I needed a nurse.  (There was a buzzer close to the bed; however, with limited vision and reach, I constantly had problem locating it.)  However, this was annoying in the middle of the night – it woke everyone up.

The gone cannulas left bruised marks on my left arm but the movement of my arm was no longer restricted. I could reach things farther away but only on the left hand side as my right arm was in a full cast.  The removal of the catheter gave me more reasons to get up and walk.  I walked in the corridor three times today, all on my own, supervised only by the walking frame.

Being “freed” and rather than having a tower wash in bed, the nurse suggested that I could have a shower. The shower was just for the lower body as the brace on the upper body cannot get wet.  Sensing warm water trickling 涓流 down my legs was a nice feeling.  

Today I had my meals for the first time out of bed and sitting up on a chair. I was also given a more normal diet.  Bye, bye pureed food. It was a piece of chicken steak and tasted quite good.  However, with only one hand functioning, I had to ask a nurse to cut it up into smaller pieces.  

A Chinese friend from Launceston came with a huge container of soup prepared by another female Chinese friend.  The strong Chinese herbal smell reminded me of mom’s soup.  She also made me my favourite soy drink.