My oh my ... it's been a long time ... but here I am back in blog world.
I have been catching up on blogs this morning. I can't actually believe that I am up so early in the morning at the start of week 3 of my holidays .... but I was woken up at 08:10 by the practice manager of a surgery that I am visiting next week and now can't get back to sleep! I am lazily typing this as I lie here in bed hahaha
I finally plucked the courage to have a wee problem fixed. Had I realised that it would mean me going for private healthcare and travelling to London for surgery ... I may have decided not to bother.
We do have a fabulous NHS service in this country - despite some flaws - but after deciding that I needed to get this done, I didn't want to wait for a consultant appointment and then wait a very long time for surgery appointment .... so Internet searching came into its own and off I went looking for the best surgeon I could find.
Now that the procedure is booked and flights paid for I am not looking forward to next Monday at all!
Men are typically not good dealing with medical things and because this is a problem of a "male only type" I don't relish the thought of a surgeons scalpel chopping away .. down below lol
My surgeon will meet with me to do an examination and consultation to discuss all the options open to me and then ... thankfully ... straight into theatre without the need to wait and worry and change my mind! Thankfully, it's not a long procedure and unlike the NHS, this guy is going to do the procedure under local anaesthetic rather than a general.
Am I looking forward to Monday? No!!!! Am I looking forward to the results? Well, after 2 weeks of bathing 3 times a day and pressure dressings and then a further 2 weeks of "light use" hahaha I wish there was even light duties at the moment lmao .. then yes I will be happier!
Showing posts with label medical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label medical. Show all posts
Monday, 14 July 2008
Sunday, 22 July 2007
Feeling kinda grumpy, kinda down in the dumpy!
Why? Why can things never go smoothly when it comes to my life? - oops, a little over dramatic there LOL
Back in the distant past, well okay ... a few months ago, my dad went through a pretty horrific time and was in hospital for a number of weeks and for a wee time, on a ventillator in intensive care, things were touch and go!
He's been out of the hospital for a good few weeks now and is recovering at home from his ops with the help of family, friends and the district nurses - all of whom have been angels xxx.
He has been building his strength back up for the final operation to reverse a stoma op and fix a tear in his small intestine - he's had an open wound and drains since leaving the hospital ... these have caused him some discomfort and a lot of hassle.
On Friday he and my mum drove to the hospital to speak to his surgeon about the final stage of the operation and were smacked in the face with some really bad news! Unknown to my dad (the docs hadn't told him) he has an aneurysm close to his heart that must be operated on before it perforates and kills him! No operation to reverse the stoma op he had can be done before the aneurysm is treated.
I was not reallly clued up on what an aneurysm actually was but the phrase "...perforates and kills him ..." kind of made me think it is serious. I had to find out more so have, probably very stupidly, gone to the internet in search of information.
An aneurysm is the swelling of an artery wall, a bit like a balloon. If it continues to grow it obviously becomes more unstable and can rupture, causing the unthinkable or start to press againt internal organs or the spine. I stopped reading the information on the NHS site as I got to .. "the risk of death from surgery is sometimes greater than the risk of the aneurysm itself."
I don't mind admitting on here, as I know my family don't read this, I am fucking petrified! He has a CAT scan to determine the size of the aneurysm in the next couple of weeks. Usually under a certain size it is not operated upon, but due to the need for surgery i.e. dad having a gaping open wound needing repaired, not operating is not really an option!
After his last stint of time in the hospital I had a check up at the docs and had the all clear from anything un-toward, but I think the doc and I are about to get re-acquainted pretty soon. I hate the docs and don't ever go unless I really have to. I think on this occasion I may need to have another more thorough check-up. Although in saying that I have had a niggling and annoying "thing" wrong with me for years and it needs surgery, but I haven't spoken to my doc a) because I hate the docs and hospitals, b) beacuse I am not having someone putting me to sleep - that is VERY unnatural and c) male pride and embarrassment.
The last time I was in a hospital (6 years ago when I couldn't eat and lost a stone in weight in a week ... about 7kg - as I only weigh 10 stone, that was a bit drastic. Even the smell of food made me run for the bathroom) I had to have an endoscopy (camera down my throat into my stomach and duodenum and a few biopsies - thankfully nothing but stress was the cause of my symptoms) I was so bothered about needles in the back of my hand and being put to sleep that I refused any anaesthetic and had it done in surgery with none - not really an experience I want to go through again ... but I wasn't trusting my sleep and re-awakening to someone else! - an irrational fear I know, but a fear none-the-less!!! Thankfully my surgeon at the time was willing to do this and he was fantastic .... the discomfort was minimal.
Here's hoping that all goes well for my 'old man' and that everything is a success and I better make an appointment to speak to my own doc! Oh the joy! And a wee tip ... don't use the internet to look up medical information unless you are really prepared for all the uncensored gory facts!!!
Back in the distant past, well okay ... a few months ago, my dad went through a pretty horrific time and was in hospital for a number of weeks and for a wee time, on a ventillator in intensive care, things were touch and go!
He's been out of the hospital for a good few weeks now and is recovering at home from his ops with the help of family, friends and the district nurses - all of whom have been angels xxx.
He has been building his strength back up for the final operation to reverse a stoma op and fix a tear in his small intestine - he's had an open wound and drains since leaving the hospital ... these have caused him some discomfort and a lot of hassle.
On Friday he and my mum drove to the hospital to speak to his surgeon about the final stage of the operation and were smacked in the face with some really bad news! Unknown to my dad (the docs hadn't told him) he has an aneurysm close to his heart that must be operated on before it perforates and kills him! No operation to reverse the stoma op he had can be done before the aneurysm is treated.
I was not reallly clued up on what an aneurysm actually was but the phrase "...perforates and kills him ..." kind of made me think it is serious. I had to find out more so have, probably very stupidly, gone to the internet in search of information.
An aneurysm is the swelling of an artery wall, a bit like a balloon. If it continues to grow it obviously becomes more unstable and can rupture, causing the unthinkable or start to press againt internal organs or the spine. I stopped reading the information on the NHS site as I got to .. "the risk of death from surgery is sometimes greater than the risk of the aneurysm itself."
I don't mind admitting on here, as I know my family don't read this, I am fucking petrified! He has a CAT scan to determine the size of the aneurysm in the next couple of weeks. Usually under a certain size it is not operated upon, but due to the need for surgery i.e. dad having a gaping open wound needing repaired, not operating is not really an option!
After his last stint of time in the hospital I had a check up at the docs and had the all clear from anything un-toward, but I think the doc and I are about to get re-acquainted pretty soon. I hate the docs and don't ever go unless I really have to. I think on this occasion I may need to have another more thorough check-up. Although in saying that I have had a niggling and annoying "thing" wrong with me for years and it needs surgery, but I haven't spoken to my doc a) because I hate the docs and hospitals, b) beacuse I am not having someone putting me to sleep - that is VERY unnatural and c) male pride and embarrassment.
The last time I was in a hospital (6 years ago when I couldn't eat and lost a stone in weight in a week ... about 7kg - as I only weigh 10 stone, that was a bit drastic. Even the smell of food made me run for the bathroom) I had to have an endoscopy (camera down my throat into my stomach and duodenum and a few biopsies - thankfully nothing but stress was the cause of my symptoms) I was so bothered about needles in the back of my hand and being put to sleep that I refused any anaesthetic and had it done in surgery with none - not really an experience I want to go through again ... but I wasn't trusting my sleep and re-awakening to someone else! - an irrational fear I know, but a fear none-the-less!!! Thankfully my surgeon at the time was willing to do this and he was fantastic .... the discomfort was minimal.
Here's hoping that all goes well for my 'old man' and that everything is a success and I better make an appointment to speak to my own doc! Oh the joy! And a wee tip ... don't use the internet to look up medical information unless you are really prepared for all the uncensored gory facts!!!
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