The Waiting Game.......

The time is whizzing by far too quickly and the closer that “July or August” looms history starts to repeat itself. Already plans are underway at work to again cover me whilst I’m away and I find myself trying to get the major plans for the year all done before I take leave. I don’t want to leave the team too much to do in the period that I’m off. If all goes to plan then I hope that my recovery from the next op will be a little quicker so rather than bring someone in to baby sit my job for six months we have instead opted to share the load as much as possible with one of my colleagues overseeing the difficult stuff.

At home we are in a state of limbo once again and unable to make plans for some time ahead. We have no holiday planned prior to my stay in hospital but will instead try and do day trips and enjoy time together. We are trying to “Keep calm and carry on” but in the quiet times the mind has a habit of returning to the dark recesses and pulling open the PMP drawer. I know that Tracey worries. She always puts on a brave face but I know differently. She has commented that she only ever seems to see one Magpie whenever we are out and that does indeed seem to be the case.

If I am honest I’m a little more unnerved by the thought of the surgery this time around than I have been previously. I have no reason to be, I am well and keeping fit and have recovered so well in the past that I should have little to worry about. But the re diagnosis has chipped away at the mental resolve a little and I find myself worrying about things like complications and infections. The things that are harder for the medical team to control. I have no reason for this and trust implicitly the excellent team at Basingstoke but never the less it’s there.

I also gave the family a scare last weekend. It was a normal Sunday morning and I was cooking the lunch when I was hit by severe chest pains. After around twenty minutes or so and with no let up Tracey finally decided to call an ambulance as by this time I was led flat on my back and in a lot of pain. The ambulance crew soon arrived and took control. I was given Entinox to relieve the pain which actually did the opposite. Other observations were taken and it was found that my blood sugar levels were quite low (2.9). A bit odd as I had eaten a good breakfast? It was decided that I should visit A & E and get checked out. As I made my way to the ambulance the pain eased and I became more comfortable. In the ambulance I was given an E.C.G and all was normal.

Tracey and I travelled to Frenchay A & E whilst the girls stayed at home with mum and dad who had again dropped everything and come to our aid. At the A & E department observations were again taken and I was given a chest X-ray. The pain pretty much disappeared and I was feeling much better again. The doctor came by and told me that the observations were all fine now, my blood sugar levels had returned to normal. The only thing that they had found however was that my white blood cell count was high and possibly down to an infection “possibly plauratic” hence the chest pain. With no spleen they didn’t want to take any chances and I was prescribed some antibiotics and told to do a follow up appointment with my GP. Gladly all has been well since.

With this weekend being a bank holiday and having an extra day off we decided to make the most of a break in the very wet weather of recent and headed to Avebury in Witshire to show the girls the world famous Neolithic standing stone circles, Silbury hill and make use of the National trust cards and visited Avebury Manor. We also had a meal at the pub in Avebury reputed to be the most haunted pub in England! We had a great day.

        Avebury stone circle and reputedly the most haunted  pub in England-The Red Lion

                                Avebury Manor

Inside the Manor

                          The lady of the Manor!

I continue to keep fit and have been running regularly and have entered the Bristol 10k on the 20th April as part of a team from work raising money for a local children’s charity.

So as the upcoming surgery looms ever closer and things start to happen I envisage my updates becoming more frequent. The next step is for a CT scan planned in June. After that I guess a date will be agreed and the countdown will begin. I plan to tackle it in the same way as my MOAS and do countdown updates with our thoughts and feelings as the big day gets closer.

I have recently been in contact with fellow PMP sufferer Dawn Green who is also due for surgery in August. Who knows we could be there at the same time!