Last of my Shielding, hopefully (week 1 of 2).......

 

Saturday 8th August

Major surgery Friday 7th and sent home Saturday, very quick eh? The ward was unbearably hot so really pleased to get in the car with air con. Hubby is taking really good care of me as always. Two weeks further shielding but in this heat I'm not moving far from this fan. 

Forgot to mention last week that I'd made a bean bag tablet stand to sit on my lap, which is ideal now when I keep nodding off. 

Surfing through Amazon Prime we came across this Gourmet Detective which looks like our sort of joint thing to watch. Light but with a story. It's not a series but a collection of films, each about 80mins long. We enjoyed the first one with plenty of humour. 

Grrrr I thought I was getting the hang of this new blogger editing, but this one will just not behave! Every time I open this page it gives it to me in raw HTML and I have to change it to compose mode. Now after adding in the first pic it decided all the text would be centred and refuses to let me left align it again. I'm not in the mood just now to do anything about it. 

Sunday and Monday I felt I was making gradual progress, but Tuesday was a really yukky day for me. Tuesday was also my birthday. Lovely getting so many cards in the post, and some special ones ordered online from those family members not venturing into shops yet. There were phone calls emails and more messages of good wishes on social media than I could count. 

Plus three deliveries of flowers.

These from friendHM which fit nicely in the vase she bought me last Christmas. 

These from friendM and they came with chocolates. 

Took three of my large vases! 

And my favourite are from Daughter&co who not only chose beautiful flowers but managed to find some that come already in a jug..... she knows me so well 😍

Another film recommended to us by our Son.

A good old fashioned who-done-it 🙂

The rest of my week has been feeling battered and bruised and really suffering with the heatwave. Hubby waiting on my every need. But I am making progress and better than doing too much too soon and this weekend will be cooler...... we knew it would as soon as we ordered another cooling unit which arrived Friday hahaha. 

Take good care of yourselves.

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NHS Fast-tracking........

This is a medical update so you'll be relieved there's no photos 😉

15/11/17 Operation to remove cancer tumour from my lonely left kidney

18/5/18 Six month follow up CT Scan, all clear 😆

16/11/18 One year follow up CT Scan

21/11/18 Phone call from Specialist Urology Nurse Charlotte. Kidney is all fine however the scan showed an abnormal mass in my bladder and they need to have a much deeper look. She will take it to the Multidisciplinary Meeting on Monday and let me know what they decide.

26/11/18 Hospital meeting, Charlotte phoned as promised almost straight after. She explained all the details and options very clearly and is so sympathetically understanding. The decision they came to was surgery by general anesthetic to investigate and remove whatever they find. A full hystology report will be needed to decide if it's cancer and what grade and if any further treatment is needed.

27/11/18 Appointment with consultant Mr Brierly but he was busy so was seen by Patrick O a registrar I think. Nurse Charlotte was also there.

30/11/18 Hospital for pre-op assessment. First nurse took weight and height on a wall measure that was definitely falling off the wall. She spent a lot of time trying to decide if she was taller than me or not and had to ask another nurse to decide, she was a little taller.

3/12/18 Surgery! Was hoping to be a day patient but prepared for an overnight, however, that turned into staying Monday to Friday. I was told hystology report comes back within two weeks and surgery gets repeated all over again in six weeks!
So grateful this was found purely by accident only because of a follow up scan! Just like last time! I was obviously fast-tracked but told I took up a cancellation space but also heard the words aggressive so may have been deliberate. Whatever the reason it gave me less time to worry and now that bit is behind me.

For now I'm home with no after effects and enjoying the Christmas festivities (had to cancel all the fun arranged for last week) and we'll not think about what happens next until we need to.
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Can positive be negative?..........

Normal life throws all sorts at each of us, hopefully a fair mix of good and bad stuff. For so many of these things we don't have control as to what happens but we often have choices for how we deal with them.

This seems especially true for medical issues and I've always tried to be educated and informed about whatever effects me personally but definitely choose not to worry about what may or may not happen as I feel it is wasting my "enjoyment of life now time" because I'm worrying about something that may happen in the future.

Not sure if I've explained that clearly enough. As some of you may know I was diagnosed with cancer for the second time in August with surgery not happening till mid-November with no other treatment in between. Everyone kept saying how brave I was being for carrying on as normal, I didn't feel brave. I didn't mind talking about it but certainly didn't want it to be the main conversation or people making a fuss when there was nothing happening to make a fuss about. I did hate the thought of surgery and the painful recovery but there was nothing I could do about it, I needed the tumour removed so "grin and bear it" as they say.

Surgery went well, with all medical staff repeatedly telling me that it was a really major procedure and I would be in a lot of pain for a long recovery. I chose to focus on the fact that now retired it didn't matter how long it took, and how very lucky I am to have the best hubby/carer/domestic goddess by my side.

I've really appreciated all the support from family and friends. Being swamped with flowers, cards and gifts, constant messages and feeling so loved. It's very humbling. I'm a very lucky lady indeed.

Six weeks on now and I had the post-op followup at the hospital. The registrar's first words were "you are looking so well" and he was really pleased with the scar and my recovery. Histology report was that it was definitely a cancerous tumour and they confirmed that it was removed in full yaay! I'll be referred back to Ipswich Hospital for ongoing monitoring, so nobody wants to see me till my next CT Scan in six months time.

Obviously I've spread the news to family and friends and the replies back were all on the lines of......amazing news.......you can now really have a happy new year.......what a relief.......that's excellent news.......I expect you are both over the moon.......I'm so relieved you must be too......I'm so pleased, you must all feel so relieved......it's been such a worrying time for you.........now you must think ahead without that hanging over you!

In fact one friend wrote "you have borne this so bravely, a real strong woman, I'm very proud of you"! Certainly don't feel brave as there was no other way for me to deal with this. Thankfully Hubby and our children act the same, or at least they do around me.

So now I'm actually feeling a little cheated. To feel great relief implies I've felt great worry, which I haven't. I didn't allow it to be hanging over me when we holidayed in Spain in September and Crete in October. It was good going into hospital relaxed and tanned, just a shame the surgeons got to see the white bits hahaha.

Actually I'm not even sure why I've felt the need to write this down at all. Yes I'm really pleased the uninvited guest is gone and we can all get back to normal (whatever normal is) and maybe it's just the end of another year that's made me publicly acknowledge how lucky I am.

Wishing good health and happiness to you all for the year ahead.

Scarred for life.......

Thankfully I'm here to write "scarred for life", it could so easily have been different!

Although I've never really been content with my shape (perhaps one day I'll grow to 7ft 10in and be the ideal weight) I do try to see the permanent marks as signs of my history....my body blog I guess.

You'll be relieved to know there's no photos hahaha.

I'm not sure if I was pre-school age or infants but remember being quite small when out with my sisters I ran straight into a lamppost, they all laughed as apparently I just sat back stunned like a clown while blood poured down my face. It was nothing serious but I do still have a small scar on my forehead. I must have chipped the bone because in later years I grew a bit of a lump which I was told was bone that had been over enthusiastic when repairing itself. It's high and on the side so always covered by my fringe. Now had it been in the middle I'd have shown it off, unicorns are magical right?

There's a scar across my right knee, barely visible now really.  When I was still in junior school we were playing the game where one person turns round and round while we all run to catch their hand and the next runner latched onto number two, next to three etc, well I was never a fast runner so often joined the line when it was already long so having to run very fast or be dragged round. This day I slipped and was dragged and ended up with lots of gravel in my knee and remember the sight of a doctor with long forceps poking around to get the bits out. Ouch!

No outside scar from having my tonsils and adenoids removed when I was 10, but just before that hospital stay and in that same year my appendix burst and an urgent removal caused a scar but saved me from being poisoned to death.

Our two beautiful babies were both born by Caesarean Section when I was 26 and 28. One scar over the other that will actually twinge even now if my children are hurting in any way!

On the back of my left hand I've a couple of hot glue gun scars when going back to work part time at a factory to fit in with school hours. I was early 30s.

I seem to easily develop lumps after nasty insect bites have gone, they are scar tissue. There are three on my legs that I can mostly ignore, however there was a large lump on the back of my left upper arm which always looked red and angry so it was removed by my GP in the surgery and (as warned) it has left a reasonable size scar but it's also stopped me worrying about it. Very rarely I don't seem to have kept my own record of this so can't tell you how old I was.

Around my 60th birthday a very large tumour was discovered having taken up residence in my right kidney. Thankfully it was completely contained and removal of the tumour wrapped in my kidney was enough to cure me of cancer. A major op done by keyhole surgery so I'm left with three puncture and one small incision scars.

Now at 64 I've just removed the dressing a week after yet another major surgical procedure, this time to remove a small tumour from my lonely left kidney. The surgeon couldn't do this keyhole as open surgery meant they could be quicker and more accurately remove the whole tumour while leaving me with as much live kidney as possible. So another five inch scar. Hopefully I'll feel fully recovered soon.

So yes I'm proud to be able to write about them all, because the alternative could have given you very little to read about.
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My Hubby my hero......

Thought it time for an update to the ongoing headache problem, still keeping fingers crossed as I'm not totally recovered but definitely getting there :-)

After the hospital and a couple of less painful days we thought the introduction of the extra blood pressure pill was doing the trick but the pains in my head became worse again over easter weekend and I had to spend most of it in bed, not managing to make my planned easter cake, cancelling Daughter and the children coming over Sunday, cancelling our garden egg hunt, cancelling our family roast dinner making me feel really sad.  Daughter came over and collected their easter eggs together with dinner ingredients to cook at home and returned after they'd eaten with cooked food for us :-)

Hubby, as always, was brilliant, up and down the stairs making sure I was ok and letting me know when I could take another dose of painkillers. He'd decided/calculated that as the hospital had said my problem was bp related and started early February it must be a direct response to my medication change at the end of January, so Tuesday morning he was out of bed early to get straight on the phone and get an emergency appointment for a GP. Before leaving home Hubby said don't take the pill I think is the problem, we'll see what the doctor says. My usual GP is on holiday so we saw one I'd not seen before, he looked at all my notes and immediately said "I think it's migraine so take these pills and I'll phone you in a week" when Hubby tried to tell him his theory he said "No I think the bp medication change is pure coincidence as high bp doesn't cause headaches, we only treat it now to prevent what it may cause in ten years time" So we left with migraine tablets!

When we got home Hubby said because of what the doctor said it was ok to take that pill, however because I was taking it later than usual if his theory was right then instead of the intense pain coming around midday as it had done then expect it around mid-afternoon! Our neighbours popped in to check up on me and have an afternoon cuppa and 3:30pm I could feel the pain returning, that man is amazing! I took the first of four migraine pills at two hourly intervals as prescribed but they did nothing so with the help of Hubby looking it up and Daughter checking with her qualified friends I took painkillers too and got a little sleep till the early hours.

Not sure how but Hubby was on the phone first thing Wednesday morning and got another GP appointment, no mean feat at our surgery these days. Different doctor again and he listened to Hubby's theory and agreed that we should give the offending pills a gap for one week while keeping a good record of bp readings, if it hadn't risen in a week we can discuss again what to do next. He said that he appreciated Hubby's research as headaches were not a common side effect of that drug so that was why it was probably missed, Hubby's instant response was "Well that's because my wife's not common!" gave us all a giggle.....love that man!

All this time I've had constant caring support from so many family and friends, all making regular contact and searching for answers and offering suggestions like see a dentist it may be a tooth or have I got a carbon monoxide alarm in the house, or coming over to give me hugs,

So another two days and although a background headache none of that dreadful pain and no need for pain relief, thankfully Hubby seems to have cured me and I was being eternally grateful until middle of the night Friday and again early hours of Sunday horrid pain needing paracetamol but actually not quite as bad as it had been so think we are getting there. Another tricky part of the same problem is the new glasses  collected just over a week ago are not quite right but until my head is sorted I  can't actually describe what's wrong so that needs sorting too! Really hope I'm pain free soon as I've a very busy diary for the week ahead and would hate to have to cancel any of it and I'm truly bored of talking about this.
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The Hospital Drama......

Honestly you couldn't make all this stuff up. I'm used to watching medical dramas on TV and knowing that they've had to exaggerate stuff to make it dramatic and exciting but this time it was for real.

Firstly I will shout loudly that I think our NHS is wonderful, Ipswich Hospital has never let me down and all the staff work really hard under lots of pressures (mainly just not enough of them).

I mentioned early February that I had a headache, just before I had that horrid flu/virus/bug thing for a couple of weeks too and the cough turned into a chest infection, they all cleared but the headache remained (it's been six weeks now)! My GP and I were working on it and I had a CT Scan booked for two weeks time.

Well I'll miss out the boring part and go straight to..... I went into A&E at 8pm Tuesday with the worst head so far and NHS Direct told Hubby to take me straight in!

The Medical Bit....
Basically they've tested everything, head ct scan, lots and lots of bloods, bp hundreds of times, ecg, chest xray, urine tested for proteins, reflexes and back of the eyes! All results good/normal apart from very high bp which they think is the cause as I had a prescription change at the end of January and headaches started early February. So they are on the case and introduced another bp pill and I'm being referred to the dietician.

Very good news as at first they were talking about brain bleeds and tumours which they've thankfully ruled out, also with the tests one consultant suggested doing a lumbar puncture which I don't think is a pleasant procedure but phew they changed their mind on that. .......all enough to raise the bp even higher!

The full series all in one night.....
Episode 1
We arrived at A&E about 8pm to a very full waiting room, the signs said 3.5 hours waiting time but thankfully we were seen by a doctor about 10:30pm (no triage first). After a full examination we were told I needed to stay in overnight so I sent Hubby home for stuff  (hate hospital gowns) when I was sent for a Head CT Scan at 11:30pm, had a lovely nurse with me who was very chatty.

Episode 2
It was just after midnight when I was taken to the assessment ward, there were no beds only trollies and the nurse put a sheet and pillow on the one in bay 2 and I was told a doctor would come round to see me then I'd be moved into a ward,  so I sat in a chair. I mentioned to the nurse that I'd had nothing to eat or drink since lunch and been sick during the afternoon, the lady in the next bed overheard and said she was really hungry too so the lovely nurse brought us both tea and toast :-) Hubby arrived back and found me and left a bag of stuff, bless him!  The ward had minimal lighting and the staff were walking around quietly to encourage sleep but I'm wide awake sitting in a chair.

Sadly there was a woman just out of my sight who sounded very old and frail saying the whole time "help me, help me please, I need help" each time a nurse went over (very often) she was asked not to remove her oxygen mask and how can they help, but she never gave a proper answer so she must have been very confused, her name is Iris. Another bed nearby had a woman sleeping but every 15 mins the nurse turned her lights on and took ages to wake her and did all her obs.

About 2am the woman in the bed to my right got up and went to the toilet right beside me, then obviously had a problem and pulled the red cord. It was impressive how many members of staff arrived instantly and all piled into that little room, I could hear everything and they worked as one team! She seemed ok once they had her back in bed and the ward settled down again, a little quieter too as Iris had been moved out.

Episode 3
4am and I'd still not seen a doctor when a porter arrived and moved me to the observation ward, so there I got undressed and into bed hoping to get a little sleep. That's when I discovered where Iris had been moved to, opposite my bed, and still removing her oxygen mask and calling out all the time.

In the next bed to my right lights went on and lots of noisy help for that elderly frail lady who had pulled out her cannula and was covered in blood, they changed everything and sorted her and all was calm for a very short time until she broke her catheter which took a lot more noisy help and clearing up and the poor patient called Jean was not being helpful as she was obviously confused, all this time they had pulled my curtain half way for her modesty I think.

About 5am and the doctor comes to see me, tells me what's what and prescribed a pill. I lie down again then very soon after just as I'd got comfy again a hand comes round the curtain and Jean fell on me! I hit the alarm button and held onto Jean who wanted to carry on her journey when she was obviously unable to stand. Jean was put back into bed but I then felt that I needed to keep an eye on her and twice more talked her back under her covers before she attempted more escapes!

Each time I've got comfy, this time around 5:30am the nurse gave me tablets.

6:15am and it woke a couple of others so would have woken me had I been asleep, there was lots of male shouting and swearing down the corridor, definitely sounded like a male patient being very aggressive to the staff, it went on for a while then sudden quiet so either security had removed him or the staff had resorted to the tranquiliser dart!

7am lights on and tea came round and yet another bp check.
It was declared morning, but typically both Iris and Jean stayed fast asleep lol
About 8 to 8:30ish and all the beds were being changed and people given help washing, but I did say I'd only got in my bed 3 hours before so they just tidied it when I went to the bathroom to wash myself.

Episode 4
8:40am I came back from the bathroom and was told to gather my stuff and hop back into bed as I was moving to another ward. Sent Hubby a text as he was coming early. Had to send someone back to find my shoes and socks left behind, one nurse collected them then another nurse reported back that she couldn't find them, hmmm seems a lack of communication there! Thankfully breakfast came round on the new ward, breakfast hadn't arrived in the old ward and I hoped I hadn't missed it as my belly was rumbling and if you've had no sleep you need food more than ever.

10am a consultant, three doctors and a nurse gathered round my bed. The consultant knelt beside me and explained everything really well, although he did scare me a bit suggesting some invasive tests he thinks I might need.
10am and Hubby also arrived but didn't know whether to come through the curtain or not so didn't and I repeated it all to him when the doctors left.

Can you see I had nothing better to do than clock watch, even the batteries in my phone were dying so I couldn't play in case I needed to ring Hubby (thankfully he brought my charger).

Episode 5
Stopped clock watching now I had company lol
Next pharmacist came round
Next was taken for chest xray
Next was the ECG which nurse said looked OK
Hubby went outside to put another parking ticket on the car and text our children as he had no signal on the ward, my lunch arrived so I text him to eat before coming back. What did we do before mobiles?

All done by lunchtime but I never saw another doctor and I kept mentioning to the nurse that I needed discharging.

Episode 6 finale
The rest of the afternoon was playing that classic married couples game with Hubby of "what shall we talk about next / you think of something to talk about / no you think / but it's your turn / no I started the last conversation".

5:30pm finally discharged yaay!


So eventful and very tiring (you must be exhausted just reading all this) and a lot of times funny and surreal, but all in all a worthwhile two days to get so many good results, as my GP and I were dealing with it but while it was bearable there didn't seem to be any rush. I'm actually glad it became urgent or my doctor sending me for each test one after the other could have taken forever!

So fingers crossed this new bp pill is the magic one, but if it is or not I'll keep you up to date, but no more dramas eh?
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Don't bother reading......

Really nothing much to report!

Last Wednesday/Thursday I had to wear the dreaded blood pressure monitor for 24 hours. It actually hurts each time as I've big arms so it blows up really tight and it pinged then buzzed and squeezed every half hour all through the day and every hour from 10pm to 8am then back to every half hour. I also found it really difficult to bend my arm with the cuff on so had to do most things one handed like brushing my hair and slept in my bra as I couldn't reach to undo it and Hubby was fast asleep when I went up. When I was finally released from it and the nurse downloaded the readings the average was pretty much normal.

So this is Easter weekend with two bank holidays but mine has been quite boring. Bank holidays mean nothing now we're retired. R is spending it with her dad. E who didn't feel well enough to go is at home with M. Daughter and O are being Tudors for the four days and Hubby is mostly playing with his new motorbike.......so no egg painting or garden egg hunt this year, I'm catching up with the ironing!

Tonight E is coming for a sleepover and tomorrow will be our monthly coffee morning so maybe there will be a bit more to blog about....but this one wasn't worth reading!
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