Sitting Up & Taking Nourishment.

This is the second day I have visited Roger to find he is sitting up and smiling. Very good news, although he still looks thin and delicate. The main thing is that he is eating well, so will soon put on weight.

He's still connected to the morphine machine, but by the end of today they hope to get him off that, and on to oral painkillers. He is still having antibiotics intra venously. As soon as that finishes I will feed him daily Yakult.

The surgical team visited this morning and are pleased with his progress.

You Won't Believe This!

You won't believe this......I couldn't!

I went in to see Roger this afternoon (first time since his operation yesterday) and he was in alot of pain from his very swollen undercarriage. No morphine had been given since he came up last night, because it has to be written up by a doctor,, and when she arrived she was totally ineffectual couldn't make a decision & left without doing anything. Roger was generally underwhelmed with her.

He was v unhappy and then Mr F (his surgeon) appeared. He said "I'm not really working today, but just popped in to quickly check on my patients. How are you Mr. Singer?" Roger told him that he was in alot of pain, not from the wound, but from the swelling. Mr. F had a look & said "That will have to be lanced. I'll get on to theatre now and organise it for this afternoon. In the meantime I'll write you up for some morphine."

I said to the surgeon "Roger was in alot of pain yesterday from his undercarriage and he was on Oramorph when he went down to theatre yesterday, could you tell me why it wasn't lanced then?" He said "I'm sorry but we weren't aware of that!"

How could he not be aware of it!! He knows what was happening to Roger, so how could he just mend the leak, and do sod all about the faeces already in the system?? I find that incredible!

There's no question that he's a very caring and experienced surgeon and very approachable, so I just don't know the answer. What I do know is Roger had yet another 'general' at goodness knows how much extra expense to the health service, not to mention personal trauma to himself.

I had to leave soon after that, but hopefully it's all done and he's back on the ward now. I trust I will find him happier tomorrow when I visit.

Friday 28th Oct.2011

The surgeon rang me an hour ago to say that the 'matter' that is leaking into Roger's system and giving him such pain, is faeces leaking through from the original hole, which has opened up again.
He cannot now wait for a second opinion from St. Marks Hospital, as they're taking 6 to 8 weeks to see people. Therefore he intends to do an emergency operation this afternoon to cure the leak and to reinstate the colostomy bag.

I will go in this afternoon to see Roger and stay with him until he goes to theatre,which won't be until late, because he has eaten breakfast, so they must wait.

There's nothing more I can say right now. We just have to await the outcome.

In Again!

I was going to wait until Wednesday before I started chivvying the hospital, but it became clear by lunchtime Tuesday that Roger was in pain and very despondent. I made a snap decision to ring the surgeon's secretary and see if the referral letter had indeed been sent, and was it marked urgent?

His secretary didn't know what I was talking about. It seems that they'd told Roger what they were going to do, but had neglected to tell the secretary. Jolly good job I rang!! No letter had been sent.

I told her that Roger had been sent home to wait for an appointment at St. Mark's, but he could not sit down or walk far, and could only lie on the bed or sofa, and he couldn't go on like that. She said she would speak to the surgeon. She very quickly got back to me and said that the surgeon had said that if Roger is that bad he must come back in, because it would be weeks before we would hear from St. Mark's. Why did they send him home last Saturday then?? He went in again on Tuesday evening, but so far hasn't progressed from Clinical Decisions Unit. When I left him at 5.00 this evening, the surgeon had still not been down to see him. Hopefully he will be down later on this evening. More anon..............

Out Again!

I was eventually discharged on Saturday Morning en-route to St Marks - but when?! I can't sit, only stand or lay. We'll start chasing a bed on Wednesday!

I don't think we've advanced very far from admission - the infection is under control but we are no further forward in terms of sorting out the underlying problem.

What Happens Next!

Today Mr. Farouk's registrar came to speak to Roger. It seems that they want to refer him to St. Mark's Hospital in Harrow, where they are experts in colorectal matters.

I've googled them and they look favourable. It is both a national and international centre for colorectal surgery. Mr Farouk will request an urgent admission, but he doesn't know how busy they are there at present.

In the meantime Roger is to come home and wait. He hopes that it will be fairly speedy, as at present he can't sit, and he can't walk far either.

So...........home tomorrow to pick himself up, dust himself down.........and start all over again!

MRI Scan Result

The result is out. It clearly shows that there is a 'collection of gases & fluid' of an area of 3cm in the perineum, between the symphysis pubis and the base of the penis. It is thought to be traveling down through the base of the penis through the space left behind where Roger's urethra used to be (it was removed in the cancer op of 2009) down towards the scrotum. To complicate matters there is also a tear/hole further down, and as I understand it, is possibly escaping out through the hole & leaking into the colon.

That is what is happening! To find out what is to be done about it, we have to wait until tomorrow (hopefully) when the surgeon will be around to speak to Roger. I hope the timing is such that I can be there too!

We are getting there albeit very slowly.

Will endeavour to keep you posted!

Tuesday Update.

Roger had his MRI scan this morning. It took 40 mins. and the whole process was noisy. The pictures were good he was told, although the results weren't in when I left to come home this afternoon.

Now! You know when something happens, and you wish you'd acted differently at the time, 'cos with hindsight it's all soooooo clear? Well! I'm having one of those moments now. Just before I left the building tonight to come home and eat, a young doctor appeared at the foot of Roger's bed and said she had just come to update us. Mr Farouk (the surgeon who did the reversal) wants to pop down and see Roger when he's finished in his endoscopy clinic this afternoon. The results of the MRI scan aren't in yet, but he wants to get a second opinion from a surgeon at Kings College Hpl.

Mr. Farouk is quite willing to see Roger as an o.p in his clinics, but he feels that once he's off the antibiotics and is stabilised as far as the urine infection is concerned, then Roger can go home.
What do you make of that?

If the results aren't in yet, why is he seeking a second opinion? He doesn't know what it is yet.
Or has he decided that whatever it is, it's not in his field of expertise. Is he hoping to get the 'Kings' surgeon to do whatever is necessary? If so, is the guy going to come to the RBH or do they expect me to get Roger to 'Kings' and will it take another 2 years wait?

In the meantime Roger seems to have turned from Lion to Lamb. Where he was once saying 'I'm not yo-yo ing back & forth, I'm staying here till something's done." He's now saying "Well! I might as well wait at home as be here."

It wasn't until I was eating my dinner, that I thought, you stupid devil, you quite clearly should've hung on there until Mr Farouk came down. Is he trying to pass the buck I wonder?
I just hope the results are out now and it's a simple procedure and something is done quickly.

We'll see what tomorrow brings!

It Was All Going According To Plan!

It was all going according to plan, but you know what they say.......The best laid plans of mice and men!

No sooner had Roger announced that it was official.....he was on the road to recovery, than it all kicked off on Tuesday night with him being violently ill, and culminated in a doctor arriving in the dead of night from Westcall, the out of hours service, to give him an anti-sickness jab to stop him vomiting.

This stopped him being sick for 8 hours or so, but, as hard as I battled to rehydrate him and keep his medication down, it was an impossible task. He also developed something scary called the rigors, which is violent shaking from head to toe.

The next night was some or all of the same, plus a very high temperature 39.7 and it became obvious that we were left with no choice, but to call an ambulance in the early hours.

He spent the first 2 nights on CDU (Clinical Decisions Unit) and now he's on Redlands ward, where, despite giving him intravenous drugs and paracetamol, his temperature is still through the roof alot of the time, and he still feels sick & isn't really eating (not as we know it!) and they don't really know what's causing it at the moment.

I got up this morning and went for a run. It makes me feel so positive both physically and mentally, and I need that strength if I'm to cope with Roger and everything else at the moment. Stuck washing on before I shot out of the door, came back, had a shower, hung out the washing and had breakfast.

Then! set about trying to cancel the holiday booked for Monday at Center Parcs. It was laughable (in an hysterical sort of way) press this button, press that button, at one stage I almost pressed the wrong button and very nearly ended up booking a spa & facial. Eventually got through to a human, who gave me the telephone number of the insurance co. She told me they would give me a claim number and I must get back to them with this number and then they could proceed.

This I did. I then had to go through the whole charade again of getting through to Center Parcs. Of course you never get the same operator twice, and this one, Sarah, told me that as Mr. Singer originally booked the holiday......he must be the one to ring them in person and request a "Non Arrivals Form". I pointed out that Mr. Singer was languishing in a hospital bed as I spoke, and that that was the reason for cancelling the holiday, but Sarah was having none of it! I said "This is ridiculous! Just supposing, heaven forbid, that he didn't come out, that he in fact, died in hospital?" She said " We would look at that event when it arose."
After that I had to lie in a darkened room for a while, to recover.

This afternoon I found Roger about the same, and waiting to go for an ultrasound to see what this uncomfortable region is in the perineum. They told us that it was indeed fluid, as we suspected, but they couldn't say what it is or where it is coming from. Roger thinks this is the key to all his recent problems, and I'm inclined to agree. Next, to help them find out more about the fluid, he must have a MRI scan, which will be on Tuesday as far as we know. Will keep you all posted!

Getting There

Dressings are indeed down to every other day and the mystery pain has diminished so I'll be back on my bike next week.

I had my bi-annual scan yesterday - but won't know the result till I meet my Urologist in December.

We're going to grab a few days away - at last! only Center Parcs but it will be a break.