t1.org.uk

In the battle to find out just what caused the blood clots last year a few thing are in the pipeline, one of which has come round this being the removal of a benign tumour in my stomach area.

I arrived on the ward for 11am on the 11 March and waited in the day room for a bed to become available. It did about 5 mins before I was taken to theatre so I gowned up and was consented in the overnight room.

The thought of the epidural was worse than the pain, not hard as there was no pain just a lot of pushing and tingling sensations this did not stop me going cold and clammy and need oxygen to keep me from throwing up. However the anesthetist was great and just chatted to me about skiing to keep my mind away from what was happening.

The next thing I remember was waking up in the middle of a dream ,where I was skiing, by a man saying my name over and over again and 3 hours had passed. The same guy kept spraying me from an aerosol can and asking if I was cold which I was not and talking about a block.

Thirty minutes later I was back on the ward in the capable hands of the nursing staff. I felt that good I called up my mum to see if she wanted to come see me as it was visiting time.

The block became apparent through the night it is the area that is targeted by the epidural the edges of which are tested with the cold spray.

Time flew by and it was soon Friday night which I was so looking forward to as Lai came home. The only slight down side was that just before Lai arrived I had the anesthetist on the ward to sort out why by block seemed to be moving away from the site of the wound. Was still great to see her.

Saturday arrived as did Lai’s brothers and Mum which was fantastic, they had made a special trip from london that morning. I think that is only the second time in 10 years that Lai’s mum has been to Cheltenham.

Sunday morning was when the pain started as the epidural was switched off and the effects wore off. Painkillers go so far but the long and short of it is I have a super glued hole in my tummy and that is going to hurt.

A day later and the consultant explained that they went in with a camera but could not find the growth so opened me up found, removed and sent it off for testing. As long as I was eating and drinking I could continue the recovery at home.

Just waiting for the release procedure now.

It’s been a while, with quite a lot going on.
To summarise the last 6 months I have:

• Had a smash and grab from the car.
• Been misdiagnosed with a fractured rib.
• Been admitted to hospital twice.
• Been correctly diagnosed with multiple blood clots on both lungs (Pulmonary emboli).
• Been diagnosed with a currently benign GIST tumour.
• Spent 3 months recovering @ home.
• Been on Warfarin for 6 months.
• Been on Amitriptyline for 2 months. (for its nerve suppressant pain killing properties not depression)
• Had a course of acupuncture for the pain that started it all off.

So quite a list, I have just finished the warfarin and am waiting for the 18th Jan to come round to have a thrombophilia test to see if I am susceptible to clots after that I am not sure what my options are. This will however trigger the operation to remove the tumour must say I am not really looking forward to that.

Going back to the top of the list the smash and grab this resulted in a pooled voucher to spend in currys, so I did a shiny 32GB iPod Touch. It’s a great bit of kit that just gets better and better.

For some strange reason I decided that tonight was time for the first run since it all started, so that is in well over 6 months. I plugged the nike+ dongle into the iPod touch, this is the first run with it wow, only to be told that it does not need it as it is all built in, cool. Sure enough delve into the settings and turn it on and I was ready to rock. Set off with Tala in tow for the normal loop round pitville lake, 4.26km in total and it was no special time but I did it!

Off to bed now

Doctor Sarah Holden came round Thursday morning and we had the best doc chat so far. She showed me a picture of the tummy polyp it’s like a limpet, and explained exactly what the process of sorting it would be. She answered my whole list of questions the I had compiled and confirmed that all we were waiting for was the INR to be in range before going home. Then the oddest thing happened, they needed the bed so I had the staff chasing the phlebotomists, pharmacists and the leg ultrasound for me, believe me this does not happen! 12:30 was the ultrasound of the legs, all clear of clots, and by 13:00 I was out.

It is strange in the real world cars go fast! But it is oh so good. Home is a fab place, all your own stuff. Tala came back at 5 and Lai was on the 9 o’clock coach picked up some take out and all set for a fab long weekend.

Then it was sleep time, had taken most of the pain killers got a couple of devices to elevate me so that I am not lying flat and off to sleep hmmm that lasted a few hours but by 3am I was in as much pain as I was before I was admitted to hospital and popping pills, rubbish! Finished the night on the sofa, so not fixed yet

Been to my doc this morning for my INR test, more blood! Nothing was handed over from the hospital did I expect anything else? But luckily I had everything written down and knew what I was taking so now all set for the start of the next 6 month process.

So what next? Need to keep on top of the pain and sort out sleeping, but things are definately looking up.

My doc dr Khan came round at 2 ish wednesday and gave me loads of answers not direct answers to the tum questions but an assureance that everything is in place to answer them after I leave hospital. He also put my mind at rest that the sudden onset of pain that had that wiped the morning out was to be expected for the next 2 to 4 weeks and left with the plan of get the INR in theraputic range and continue recovery at home, hopefully friday. This left me feeling like I had all the answers and looking forward to going home.

Then 4 pm turned up and the bed manager arrived to say I was moving wards to hazelton and hence doc?? 4.30 and it had all happened. (hazelton is literally round the corner from oakley) still have not seen a doc yet so no idea if the plan has changed or if this move has been on the cards for ages and only just happened. I have just had the first nights sleep over 4 hours in 2 weeks will let you know what the doc says when I know.

Well still in Cheltenham General Hospital, in terms of pain killers I took diclofenac and kicked the Tramadol last night.  Have to say I feel better for it no itching and less pain has to be good.  But (there is that word again) the pharmacist is a an uber unhappy chappie (a girlie actually) as diclofenac is a real no no to be taken with walferin, it increases the risk of stomach bleed.  So stuck between that rock and a hard place again.

On to the nutter,  one of the patients turned nasty last night. A guy from sheffield visiting Cheltenham could be homeless not sure but he ended up here.  At midnight he walked the ward trying to provoke all the patients then security turned up, well 4 overweight blokes, and he got someone to banter with then! Doctor calmed him down @ about 12:45 but I think it all went off after that as the next time woke the heavies were back and he was being wheeled back in in a chair.

Lets hope they kick him out today, or me but not for the same reasons.

Phlebotomist has been round to take blood this morning including a tube for the test that was asked for by the doc doing the endoscopy yesterday, so those results should be back today.

May move wards today

I have had the endoscopy now and think all went well.   I am being put on walferin again tonight to thin the blood.  So best case scenario is that I am out of here in 2-3 days time once in therapeutic range.

I have been prescribed diclofenac for my pain as this is better than tramadol that I have been on but does not always agree with walferin.  Pharmacy not happy doctor wins

Hopefully that is it

But, there always is one,  the doc that I am under has requested that I be taken over by the respiratory team to move forward.  They are currently waiting for a bed.  Why would they move me if I am on my way out?

The guy doing the endoscopy said that I needed an ultrasound of my food pipe (sure the food pipe bit is dumbed down for me) and another blood test, but nobody can tell me why or what for, none of this looked urgent.   Looking it all up on the puter however including the name of the blood test I am just scaring myself so I need to stop.

Lets just go with 2 – 3 days sort out walferin and home ye-ha!

Hi all

3 weeks ago I went to Chelsea and Westminster hospital with lower right hand chest pains, after an ECG showed up that it was not heart related I was sent back to the waiting room for 3 hours.  When I was seen it took them 10 minutes to ask  me loads of questions including “have you been coughing” to conclude, without further tests, that I had fractured a rib coughing.

Never actually believed them but what can you do?  After a while I stopped the pain killers and carried on with my life, 2 weeks later I was watching the apprentice the interviews and at the start of the program I was thinking I have a twinge again and by the end I was in real pain.  2:00am I gave in and headed for A&E, 2 hours later and a mix up with lost notes and the like I was admitted to Cheltenham General Hospital

By the end of the day they had found my drugs chart, had umpteen blood tests, 1 ultrasound, 2 CT scans, suspected gaul stones and was finally diagnosed with pulmonary emboli.

So this is multiple clots on both lungs, and was a shock to everyone involved doctors, nurses, patient, relatives and friends. Action required thin the blood to dissolve them naturally.  Start with 18000 units of fragmin a day, a usual dose is 2500 – 5000 units, and start the process of working out the required warfarin level to maintain the blood thickness.

A couple of days passed and I had moved wards from the surgeons to the medics, and a doctor arrived, I was fully drugged up, and according to him fine. Cut the pain killers completely, sort out the warfarin level and home tomorrow. 

Hmmm 4am rolled round as did the night doctor with me screaming the place down, left side pain this time. Calmed with some oral morphine and some more tramadol I was left sleeping. 

4am rolled around saw Rachael again (first name terms with the night doc now) both sides screaming, good job you can not remember pain! OK lets throw everything at it “pain team” the works doubled the tramadol insisting that they are taken bang on 6 hour intervals regardless of sleep pattern, and throw 30ml of oral morphine on demand hourly if necessary.

Then another Doctor arrived to tell me that from one of the many scans I had had they can see a 17mm unidentified something in my tummy could be a fold or a polip not sure, but they are sure that they wanted to investigate it further.  One problem here is that they can not do this whilst I am on walferin. So Fragin injections to continue walferin to stop with an endoscopy booked for Monday (with the proviso that I am pain free enough to swallow a camera and that a hospital emergency does not crop up)

Lai arrived with a letter from the hospital informing me that I have an outpatient leg scan to look for more clots this is for the next Thursday that indicates that I should be home by then She also topped me up with fresh fruit again

So just over a week into being in hospital and the pain killers have been sorted out so that 4am is bearable again, and I have a plan:

1. Sort out this mysterious “thing” that they have found in my tummy.
2. Start the walferin level process again.
3. Ultrasound scan of my legs to see if there are any more clots on the way,
4  Go home for rest until the clots have dissolved and the pain has passed.

Looking forward I need to stay on the walferin for 6 months then start the tests to see if I am susceptible to clotting and go from there in relation to the longer term.

All seems so simple when there is a plan.

Finally a quote the Chest Surgeon “This embolism is not the problem one its the next one that is”! don’t want to see that one this one is painful enough.

Tim

Following on from falling off a ladder, I gave in to the professional. I have also now worked out that there was far more work involved than I had the time to do!

So from the start the chimney was in dire straights really, I had been out on the roof a couple of times to retrieve “stuff” this being the last occasion:

Then we met Jeremy from Portobello Property Services, well we had met him a few times as he lives @ 25GWT,  a price was agreed and the scaffold wagon pulled up

and in a flash were were game on:

Starting from the top the roof needed sorting, there was no lead on the parapet wall, just the old sand and cement fillet that was also on its last legs so roofers arrived:

As did the surveyor due to the comment that I needed a new roof, sharp intake of breath, but nahh it will last for ages, phew.

Then pretty soon the ridge was sorted:

and parapet all leaded:

I left one morning after lending out my Kango hammer to come back to pillars bare:

end wall fully re-rendered

(great use for the news of the world to dry it out a bit).  The chimney back to brick with a scratch coat:

and not far behind that was the paper treatment for the pillars:

and the chimney sorted:

Whilst all this was going on the skin was coming along after much raking and filling:

the paint then hit the walls:

Given time and the chimney was ready to paint:

And the porch under attack:

And then just cos I had scaffold This is GWT from above:

Watch this space as it is all due to be finished soon!

This was at the top of the Scaffold this monrnig:

http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=a9cd17ea-b6fb-4f47-aa81-eb7edfc6e2e5&i=0:0:0&z=229.65070627857605&g=0&p=-6.29989e-015:2.43389e-014&m=false&c=-0.066335:0.0564508:0.00100053&d=-1.10408:1.21686:1.32045

Tim

Well they say bad luck comes in threes and this time is nothing different

Managed to get food poising 1 day before a 12 course Chinese banquet and could not eat any of it

Fell off a ladder 2 days before going on holiday (to Marrakesh) and punctured both shins on a ladder accessory, this scuppered my entry to the Cheltenham Tri for Sun 28th also.

Night before leaving for Hols a scrote comes onto the drive and just wrenched the top of the car door out with brute force. This now turns out to be a fault claim against me ??

But all that said we were on Hols A week in Marrakesh, that felt like 2 at least.  The riad was the best bit run by an English guy Peter the place as fab and the service could not be better.  The souks they took some getting used to but after a few days and a hammam all was good.  The traffic however that was bonkers. Felt like everything from cart, donkey, moped, car, van, lorry was all there just to run us over and pavements did not exist! (only had 2 near death experiences in 7 days)

Day trip out to the atlas mountains gave us a taste of what a trek would consist of. Think we have “done” Marrakesh now and would only go back as a stop over to the Atlas Mountains or the Sahara.

Need to calm down now and “process” the photos.

Tim