I woke about 7.30, just before the night nurse came in to say Mr. Royle had arrived, the man himself came in about 15 minutes later towing a steel trolley with and with a nurse towing the ethanox cylinder. I was a little apprehensive, but the sorest part was only the stitches being cut to allow the pack to come out. I just lay back (and didn't think of England) and inhaled long and hard on the ethanox and tried hard to ignore what he was doing. It was over and done with in seconds, the dilator being inserted was a very weird feeling and quite ticklish (I decided giggling would not look good:). Mr. Royle headed off and after a couple of minutes of getting used to the dilator I took it out.

I then had my breakfast (real breakfast, swoon!) and after that it was time for bathing. My first attempt at standing was very disorienting, so the nurse told me to lie down again while she checked my blood pressure. I just felt very very dizzy, after a couple of minutes we tried again. It wasn't much better but at least I managed to get onto my feet and I made it as far as the bath.

It was wonderful being able to have a bath again instead of a bed-bath and at long last being able to wash my hair. I had to douche for the first time, but I was more than a little scared that I'd do it wrong and injure myself so I pulled the nurse call and double checked the instructions (like where it was meant to go :) I also got my instructions on how to empty my catheter bag (although I can now get up and wander about the place, I'm more than a bit scared I'd drop the bag and rip the catheter out or something)

Then it was time to get out of the bath and for my first dilation, at least since I'm now the only grs patient here I get to keep the screen (which is meant to keep anyone for blundering into the room while I'm "indisposed"). There was the same ticklish feeling from the dilation again but no pain and no problems getting even the larger of the two dilators in. I felt exhausted after all that exertion so it was back into bed for a bit of a rest.

Mam and Dad rang to say they'd booked the flights and there coming Friday and noon and we'd be flying home Saturday afternoon/evening. I spent the rest of the day in bed, only getting up to go to the loo or to have another bath and dilate. (The reason for bathing first is to try and relax the muscles, even with that I find that they tend to tense up when I dilate so it is just a matter of trying and getting as relaxed as possible.)

I didn't have to wear the stockings today (even though I should really) because the second pair took a while to dry. Dad rang back that night to say he was having trouble finding the Brighton web-site, so I talked him through it (even though I was quite tired at that stage and didn't really feel like it). Afterwards, bath, dilate and bed at 11.30