Not long after the physio's left, the district nurse telephoned. She was coming with the lady who used to be the PEG nurse in Helston. Coincidentally, the PEG nurse in North Cornwall is on holiday and the nurse down here is covering for her, so she was able to come too. Chris's MND nurse had given us the number of the nurse in North Cornwall, so probably if I had phoned her we would have been put through to the nurse down here. I got thrown off that track after speaking to our GP. Anyway, we found her at last. She talked me through the cleaning etc, she said the plunging doesn't get done for a month, but showed me how to undo the PEG with a sample one. The nurse told me in hospital that we should turn the PEG everyday, but this nurse told us we shouldn't turn it for two weeks, so I was doing that wrong. They brought a load of syringes as they'd should be changed everyday and plenty of packs of gauze too. We can also contact the district nurse when ever we need her, which was reassuring. When the district nurse came in she knew Chris and he recognised her. When I asked later how he knew her he said he had gone out with her once years ago. What a small world, she was really nice.
I have written a polite letter of complaint to Chris's original gastroenterology consultant, in the hope that they will improve discharge for others. The PEG nurse said that it wasn't uncommon for people to be sent home from Treliske with a PEG and with no proper advice or care leaflets. That needs to change.
It's good to feel more relaxed today, I don't do stress very well.
