Week 8 - ♪♫♪ Last night a GP saved my life…! ♪♫♪ by Helen

Nine months of 9k Week 8 – Location: B&Q and Brighton Beach – obviously.

Catching up on our missed 9ks saw us completing two of them this week *wilt* so two still to do next week!

Lacking inspiration on Monday morning we 9k'd to Leatherhead B&Q for more hallway paint and an extendable roller; livin' the dream. It seemed like a practical mission until I realised we’d have to carry them home.  A 5L tin weighing us down and the long handle of the roller fed through the stroller undercarriage, it took the form of a dangerous weapon rather than a baby’s transport system. 

On a more interesting note, we went to Brighton on Thursday for no particular reason other than I’d never been, Rich was on annual leave and we had nothing to do.  So 9k in Brighton was quite clearly the obvious option. Our route took us from the Churchill shopping centre, along the Kings Road and down the famous Pier where  I won a fabulously tacky key ring on the “Tipping Point” arcade game.  Highlight!  Fish & chips on the beach under two giant disco balls (really), back up to town via the maze of The Lanes, then back to Churchill Square. Lovely weather, lovely day, stupid idea to do it in heels.

 

 

Nine months of HG Week 8 – ♪♫♪  Last night a GP saved my life…! ♪♫♪

Following week 7’s futile attempt to get some help from the local hospital, I emailed (nausea = strictly no speaking!) my GP the day after leaving hospital. Here is a snippet of the desperation to be prescribed the expensive drug Ondansetron; the next and final step on the treatment pathway before steroids…

“I was wondering if there is any chance, if I can't get it on the NHS, that I could pay for a private prescription as I've been bed-bound for 3 weeks now with minimal relief from the drugs I've been prescribed. I would like to avoid going into hospital again but am struggling to keep fluids up and am feeling already quite dehydrated again. I am even struggling to make it down to the bathroom to clean my teeth or visit the loo (not that I need to much at the moment!).”

So desperate were we for a solution that we were willing to pay for the drug ourselves. In an astounding turn of events, my GP immediately replied with;

“Have issued both Metoclopramide and Ondansetron; try to use as little Ondansetron as possible, not because of cost necessarily, but because it is contraindicated in pregnancy and so should be used as a last resort.”

We were way past last resort – I would have done ANYTHING to have just a five minute break from the nausea.  I’m pretty sure I cried with relief at this point but the whole first trimester is very hazy so I can’t remember for sure.  Rich (husband/carer/temporary servant) picked up the prescription that day and I took my first dose of Ondansetron, blissfully unaware that I would be taking it three times a day, every day, until one hour before Caesarean surgery. 

Aaaaaand back to sleep…..!