About a week for the first time - three Janine newspaper interviews need some time. But I suppose that the shooting took place sometimes at  September/October according to their clothes- jackets during the day, coats at the evening, 6. month of pregnancy need not be still too obvious.
John just says he have not seen Sherlock for one month, nothing about the time between the wedding and now.

I do not think that Sherlock needed second surgery, that he had really internal bleeding when he called ambulancy. He just needed morphin and wanted be sure to get it, to get to hospital. So he spent October in hospital then some time at home.

The idea of Christmas together must have come from Sherlock, he needed to be with Mycroft. He was able to manipulate his mother, just to tell her that injured he realized that he needed family and would like to be more together at least during Christmas.  That may be why she said : " We are doing this because Sherlock is back from hospital ."  Does not necessarily mean that he is back from hospital only a couple of days.

A drip or drain, not sure...

Yes; the veins in arms don't really work for pumping large amounts of fluids into someone in a hurry so they use much larger lines, usually called central lines. It's possible to shut off the central line without removing it entirely; I'm assuming that is what Sherlock did.

besleybean wrote:

But he took the whole apparatus with him, didn't he?

He would have to disconnect at some point to get his clothes on, I think. Of course, we could add another charge to the John list; wantonly abandoning NHS property in Leinster Gardens
 

clareiow wrote:

It looks like another cannula. My husband had one of those in his neck because it gets the drugs into the system far quicker. My hubby's one practically went down to his heart. Given Sherlock flatlined, they might have it there as a precaution.

Small plot hole there though as they are NOT easy to get out and I very much doubt Sherlock would have been able to take it out himself.

Yes, I had one of those, too. But it was not hard to get out, they just pulled and out it came..?
 

Ah okay, I have been lucky then..

Wouldn´t you see the central line if he just shut it off? Mine had like five different inflows (is this the correct english term?) and was the size of a Snickers bar..
 

Zatoichi wrote:

Ah okay, I have been lucky then..

Wouldn´t you see the central line if he just shut it off? Mine had like five different inflows (is this the correct english term?) and was the size of a Snickers bar..
 

 
They vary; it depends on the nature of the problem that the patient has. It also depends on the personal preferences of the people caring for the patient; there is a lot of variation for no apparent reason, in much the same way that surgeons can do the same operation in very different ways.

Five does seem a bit over the top; I'm very glad you recovered from it!

Zatoichi wrote:

Yes, I had one of those, too. But it was not hard to get out, they just pulled and out it came..?

There are easy to pull out but there a few technical bits to bare in mind. Otherwise you can end up with a lot of bleeding or an air emboli. John would know how to take it out safely but I doubt he would.

From what I remember Sherlock is warying a cout +/- scarf in most of the scenes so it would be quite easy to conseal a central line underneath. It may have also been removed earlier on that day before he made a runner from the hospital. We don't tend to keep those in longer than needed.

Willow wrote:

besleybean wrote:

But he took the whole apparatus with him, didn't he?

He would have to disconnect at some point to get his clothes on, I think. Of course, we could add another charge to the John list; wantonly abandoning NHS property in Leinster Gardens
 

 
He should really know better. Those pumps are like gold dust on the wards. Maybe Mycroft can pick up the bill for that.

SherlocklivesinOH wrote:

Back to the original question: length of time in the hospital - by Christmas, Lord Smallwood has committed suicide. 

So it would seem like Sherlock did nothing further on the Smallwoods' behalf - which would imply he was somehow "out of action." (Perhaps this is why Lady S doesn't feel/show any gratitude - she doesn't feel SHE was saved. We we don't ever "meet" Lord Smallwood, but it was probably, "Once I'm out of the way the person I love will be safe," kind of thing - think of the parallel.)

 
I think the point here is that Sherlock had been in hospital right up to Christmas, as his mother noted. He was unable to do anything more for Lady Smallwood because he didn't have the time to do anything more for her; she knows that he was shot in CAM's office, which would certainly seem to her evidence that he had been shot whilst acting for her.

It does seem to me that her expression, and the line she speaks about the MI6 mission not being merciful, conveys a great deal of feeling; she doesn't want Sherlock to die once again, as she would see it, for her.

But in reference to the six month estimate, even Sherlock says that Mycroft is never wrong.