Today's trip to see Mum in the hospital. (29/8/2024)

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My Mum was transferred to the Samuel Johnson hospital in Lichfield last night. We thought it was today, but it was last night. So this afternoon we went to see her. We set off about 2:20pm. When we parked in the hospital car park Syd put up his blue badge so he didn't have to pay for parking. We walked to the front doors of the hospital which were automatic doors and walked up to the reception desk. There was a little man there amd and Syd said we were there to see Mrs Jillian Elton in the Anna Sewell Ward. The guy saw that we both had walking sticks, so he said, You'll be needing the lifts. Come with me, I'll show you the way. So the guy came with us in the lift. When we were in the corridor he said, Go straight down to where that pink sign is and go to your right. The Anna Ward is just there. So we went all the way down the corridor and to the right and there was a door that said 'Anna Sewell Ward' on it. Syd tried to open the door. He pushed it and he pulled it but it didn't budge. I noticed a sign that said, PLEASE RING BELL AND WAIT FOR ASSISTANCE! There was something there that looked like your normal house doorbell, so I pressed it. A nurse came and opened the door and let us in. Syd said We're here to see Mrs Jillian Elton. The nurse looked on a list of patients and she said, Are you sure she's in here? And Syd said yes. Have we lost her? She came in last night. And the nurse said, Oh, ofcause, she's a new patient. Come with me. And she led us round the corner to a small room with just 4 beds in it. Only 3 of the beds were occupied. The nurse got a couple of chairs for us to sit on. My Mum was very surprised but pleased to see us. At last! she said! Syd went to greet Mum and I gave her the get well soon card that had arrived this morning, from Dawn from Church. We went to sit on the chairs and Mum opened the card. She liked it very much. We had a nice chat. I told her what I'd been getting from the shops and what I've had to throw away because it was going off! I told her I'd made some couscous tofu salad on Tuesday to have on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday! I told my Mum what she's been missing on EastEnders aswell! My Mum says she's still got the kidney stones, but she's not in pain anymore. She said they're going to leave them for now and see how she goes, but if it becomes painful again they might do an operation to remove them. My Mum asked us to take her some clean clothes and a clean nightie. So I'll do that tomorrow when we go again. Mum has got a therapy bed. Every so often it makes a funny noise and moves like a wave. It's to stop the patients from getting bed sores. We saw it doing it several times. It was very weird! It seems that both the other ladies in the room were called Margaret. The lady opposite Mum had a male and a female nurse come in to bathe her. They put the curtains round. Afterwards the lady asked the male nurse to put the bed down because it was too high. The other Margaret next to my Mum seemed a bit confused. When we first came in she had a couple of relatives visiting. They were very nice ladies and they were Welsh. I didn't notice until they'd gone and my Mum mentioned it! The lady next to Mum had a couple of cute toy dogs on the bed which I admired. The lady next to Mum kept moving her water jug and mug around and my Mum was scared she was going to spill something. She had one of those mugs like babies have with a lid and a spout thing so she wouldn't spill her water! My Mum kept wetting herself. Sometimes the nurse comes and takes her to the toilet and changes her pad and wipes her down. A nurse took her to the toilet once while we were there. Syd mentioned he couldn't remember anything from Monday, and Mum seemed surprised by that. I'll explain to her what happened from my point of view when she comes home. She told Syd to make sure everyone knows she's now in the Samuel Johnson hospital in Lichfield because she doesn't want people going all the way to Burton to visit her and then find out she's not there! We left at about 3:40pm ish. We couldn't get out the door again and I found a button that said Press here to exit. I pressed it but then didn't know what to do. A nurse came and said, press it and then opened the door. We found our way back to the lift and then went back to the car park and went home. What have you been getting up to today? I hope you are well. Have a nice day.