Saturday 12 December 2009

Firming things up.

Wednesday 2nd Dec '09.
We drove to Basingstoke to meet with the team looking after me again. This time Mum & Dad came too as I wanted them to hear everything that had to be said. The appointment was later in the day so we got the girls off to school and had a fairly quiet morning.
The drive to Basingstoke was good and the traffic was kind.Tracey was nervous, even though we knew what was going to be said it was still difficult for her to hear. I felt OK, prepared for what I was going to hear but was tired from the recent sleepless nights.
We met with Sue and Tom again and looked at the latest CT scan. There was no real significant change to the images. The mucus pretty much surrounded my liver, appeared in pockets on my stomach and around the lining of the abdomen. There was also a possibility of some in my pelvis around my back passage but it was not clear and only when I was opened up would the true extent be uncovered. My bloods had shown that the tumor markers were elevated and this really confirmed that it was PMP that we were dealing with.
Tom told me that they planned to do the MOAS (mother of all surgeries as its known to PMPers) in late January or early February 2010. The fact that I was still symptom free was a good thing and meant there was no need to rush me in. We were to try and have a good Christmas and New Year and then concentrate on the operation after.
He told me that my prospects on paper were good. I have age on my side and have always kept myself fit and eaten well. However most people will suffer some kind of complication after the operation, some of which can be life threatening. The mortality rate for the operation was around 1%.
The one thing that he did add was that he was hopeful that they might be able to save my Gall bladder as there did not appear to be too much desiese in that area.But again until I was opened up the true extent would not be known.
So we left the meeting with no more nasty surprises which was a good thing. The meeting was pretty up beat and Tom seemed fairly confident that the desiese could be removed.
As had become routine I had the usual stop at the blood clinic to have further blood tests done. Six lots of blood were taken.

We made our way home, it was dark and raining. Tracey sat next to me in the back of the car quietly sobbing. I held her hand.

We came home and eat dinner. Chloe arrived in late full of herself after her Christmas carol concert at the Colston Hall and this cheered us up no end. Apparently her freinds mum had taken a home movie of the whole thing and would do us a copy so we could watch it back.

I had taken the following two days off as holidays to do some Christmas shopping and it was a good job I had. The following day I was a mess. I handnt slept again and was feeling low. We did manage some shopping but I managed to leave a bag behind in the shop and was generally a zombie.
We had made an appointment with my GP for that evening to discuss things. I wanted to get vaccinated with both the Flu and Swine Flu jabs so I didnt get caught out with either after the op as I would need all the help I could get with the recovery.
At the appointment I ran through what had been happening. It was the first time I had spoken to my GP about it and it was probably well overdue. The stress combined with the lack of sleep in recent days meant that I was very fragile and I had a few tears. He agreed to give me something to help me sleep on the days that I was struggling. I think these will be important in the week immediatly before the operation.

I went home, had an early night and slept well. The next morning I was a compleatly different person. Back to my old self. Tracey and I went into Bristol and finished off the Christmas shopping. I felt good again.

The following week my good mood was improved more when my plaster was removed from my arm. I hadnt realised how much it was getting me down and it felt like a real weight was lifted when it came off.
The following day I went for my first run in 8 weeks. It felt great, I took it easy. Just a nice flat 4 miler to get started. It is now imperative that I stay injury free and get as fit as possible for the MOAS.

So this brings me up to date as of now (16th December '09) all entries now will be as things happen and real time.
So now we are waiting for the date for the MOAS. Once we get the letter the countdown begins. We are planning a great family Christmas. I have been told that I cant go caving for between 6-8 weeks until my wrist heals properly so instead of the usual christmas caving trip to OFD or Agen Allwedd we are planning to go walking instead. I cant wait.......

2 comments:

  1. Thanks Dave for your frankness and honesty. Have a fab Christmas and lovely New Year, look forward to seeing you in 2010.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ongoing examinations have proposed that the medication's dynamic fixing, Tadalafil, may have some adequacy in deferring climax. Nonetheless, Cialis is anything but an authorized treatment for untimely discharge and ought not to be utilized accordingly.

    ReplyDelete