I wake very sleepy so snooze and snooze some more. When I finally feel like attacking the mammoth task of getting up I notice a discoloured wet patch on my PJs. And on the bedsheet. It looks like fluid leaking from my drainage tube. I decide to have a half-shower to clean the fluid off my body and sort the bed out later. 

My drain tube completely falls out while I’m in the shower. I call Susannah for help. I need a dressing to cover the drain site and also need her to pat dry my back around the wound line as I can’t see or reach it. Luckily nurse Chs is due within the hour so my timing for a drainage malfunction couldn’t be better.

Nurse Chs cleans me up, removes the stitches remaining at the drainage site and calls Nurse Ly at Dr Kt’s office to see what we should do. Ly says she will call me back so Chs finishes up and leaves, taking my dysfunctional friend with her. I’m secretly hoping that they will decide not to replace the drain as I’m feeling pretty free untethered.

Susannah goes back to her workstation in the sunroom. I follow a few minutes later to find her in tears. She’s struggling. My drain falling out has just pushed her over the edge. It’s all too much. There isn’t anything I can do aside from hold her. I tell her she should take time off work as she’s way too stressed. To give her some space I make a coffee and head up to Mum’s to check on the washing.

When I come back down Susannah is on the phone to A, her Team Leader. A tells her to take the rest of the week off and to check in on Monday. That’s a start. What do we do from here though? How can I help? 

My love, my rock, is crumbling.