Thank you Tomaree Community Hospital

This week for a bit of an adventure I found myself admitted into Tomaree Community Hospital as a patient.

To use the term “patient” probably doesn’t do it justice because from the moment I entered I was treated like I was part of a family. The admission papers sealed the deal. Nothing was too much trouble for them and every team member from every shift took a genuine interest in my well-being.

Knowing my fondness for a good coffee Nurse Meg made sure that when the mobile coffee van arrived, she happily went out and got my much-needed latte and delivered it to my bed.

I am well-known to the reception staff because of the splashback I installed last year and the glass image which comes with a memorial plaque that I have there in memory of my Mum. They continually popped in to see how I was going and lift my spirits.

The Doctors were great. Again, talking to you as a friend rather than just another patient, and their reassuring manner was all I needed to know I was in a good place.

Like any Hospital, there is always a struggle to provide everything to make the patients comfortable, but Tomaree Community Hospital really went out of their way to make me feel like I was a part of their small tight-knit family. TCH really is a credit to our community.

Now the backstory….

I had recently started a new medication that was designed to lower my impossibly high blood pressure and was on the lookout for side-effects. Within days I started to feel lethargic and walking was becoming difficult. There was little reduction in the blood pressure however, there was a significant increase in my resting heart rate. As the medication was designed to remove water out of my system I wasn’t surprised that I was starting to become dehydrated - however, I did underestimate the amount of dehydration I had experienced and continued to put it down to side-effects.

An hour before my admission, my legs felt as if they were made of clay and every step felt like it was the last one I could take. Standing up was literally impossible and my heart rate was suggesting I had just done several climbs of Tomaree at full-pace, rather than the walk to the fridge to get some more water that I had just done.

As we do these days I decided it was time to consult Dr Google who informed me that I was either hallucinating or had just caught a rare disease that is quite prevalent when trekking through the wilds of Nepal.

By this time the toxins that I unknowingly had flowing through my bloodstream had caused considerable brain fog and I was in a place I had never been before. I suspected I may be in the process of dying, however, I still had that niggling doubt that it was just side-effects that would eventually pass.

Enough was enough and I decided to call Sheree at the Discount Drug Store in Nelson Bay and ask if I could stop taking the medication due to the side-effects. Sheree asked me to list off the side effects and after delivering my laundry-list of symptoms, Sheree suggested that I would probably want to go straight to the Poly-Clinic as these seemed to be a bit more than side-effects.

I took the advice and went to Tomaree Community Hospital and was admitted straight away with blood poisoning caused by dehydration. I was literally hours away from kidney failure however, a few days of antibiotics delivered through IV brought me back to health.

Once again, I have discovered another new and interesting way to cheat death and with the kind support of the members of our small community, I am able to be here and talk about it.

It’s a lot more than the fresh air and beautiful scenery that makes the Bay such a great place to live.