IT IS A RED CARD!

Hi Everyone

I got back home last night about 9pm. It was late and I was tired so I apologize for not sending this out last night.

They did the surgery yesterday and were able to do it with a epidural which was a great thing rather than a general.

Unfortunately the red card goes to the stone. They used a telescopic probe with a lazer and followed the path from my bladder to where my kidney use to be. They used the lazer to cut beyond that part as far as they dared and if they had gone any further they ran the risk of hitting a major blood vessel which would have made it into a very complex surgery.

I was able to watch the procedure and that scallywag of a stone hid from the telescope, I am not sure who was more disappointed, the dr or I.  There are several options left and the surgeon is taking all the films to their meeting to discuss what options are left, so they may try keyhole or a laposcropy, the last option will be to do a major exploratory surgery.

I really apprciated everyone's prayers, good thoughts and positive vibes, they made the last couple of days bearable.

Will keep everyone posted on what happens next so.... watch this space lol

love

Loretta

Waiting to go home

Just one cannula to remove and we are out of here......until next time.

At least our boys had fun

Three Hours....

Loretta is back on the ward now and is wide awake as she has been throughout surgery.

Good news she tells me is she thinks they are going to let her go home in a few hours.

Bad news - they failed to find the damn stone!

Somebody Waiting

I am not the only one being allowed to wait in Loretta's side room

And so it begins.....

At approximately 11am (UK time) on the morning of Halloween, Loretta is on her way to the operating theatre. So the wait once again begins - the rough estimate for the surgery length was an hour and a half. This morning they were talking about giving her a spinal anesthetic rather than a general one. Whether or not this affects surgery or recovery time remains to be seen. I am sitting in the car out of the way for a while.

Darkness Falls

Just been and had a meal off the hospital grounds. Outside now in a little garden whilst nurses prepare yet another bed. Loretta getting her own side room now - that put a little smile on her face

Ward 28

Just wrote the ward number down there for my reference let alone anybody else's. Currently waiting in the day room in ward 20 for the actual bed to become available. Right this second blood pressure test going on.

Just Leaving

One hour drive coming up

Phone Call from the hospital

Monday lunchtime - just received a call telling us that although they still want Loretta to come to the hospital tomorrow, the surgery will actually take place on the original scheduled date the following day.

The "minion doc" that called said he had tried to contact us a couple of times last week, got voice mail but apparently did not leave a message (although our voice mail seems to sometimes be a bit screwed up)

The reasons behind coming in a day prior to the surgery are to get the blood sugar and insulin at optimum levels.

He even stated no rush in coming in tomorrow so we shall now head there early afternoon.

Testing

Just making sure that I can still post on this blog with what is about to happen over these next 48hrs - G

A Second Night

Well - Loretta is just about to spend her second night back in the hospital. As I had mentioned in the previous post she was highly opposed to stay in at all and it took her a fair while to succumb to the idea once again. I stayed with her all the way through the day until the early evening when she finally relented and I drove home to fetch her a host of things that she required for staying as we were unprepared for this. An hour after getting home  I drove back to find her quietly dozing and seeing as it was getting late I did not stay long.

Some of her staples were removed on Friday and the remainder have been taken out today. Early swab indications found no infection in the wound but this was to change with later swab tests hence her pain and discomfort and why the medical team were insistent on her staying. Whilst she was still trying her hardest to come home, I pointed out to her what would I be able to do with her at home if the wound opened there - an hours drive back to the hospital and her in agony. I guess when you are the actual patient and do not want to stay in the hospital a moment longer then common sense does not prevail.

She has had a bit of a tough time in there because of the noise and dealing with certain sicknesses of other patients around her. At least she has her netbook computer with her and with plenty of films and TV to watch using it and a pair of headphones she can block out much of what is going on. The other reason why she was so opposed to staying in was because it was the weekend and that is when it seems to be that more monitoring is going on than actual fixing. In her case though (although she is still having trouble accepting it) it is really the monitoring that she needs the most and although of course I would love to have her at home and love her getting herself better in an environment that she would be 100% more comfortable in - right now unfortunately for her she really does need to stay there until they can finally let her come back here again and this time hopefully make a true recovery.

Back In

Not sure if any of you are still watching for posts here but for the record it is Friday morning, back at the hospital for the staples to be removed but because the wound is badly infected it looks like Loretta could be back in here for another stay.
Right now they are trying to get her a bed and she remains adamant that she is not staying.
I amI telling her to listen as she spent way too long trying to get into this hospital in the first place to just walk out against strong medical advice.
But her stubbornness and deaf ears are in overdrive right now even though she had been in a lot of pain and discomfort since coming home with no signs of improvement.

Mystery Solved

We received a call today that my missing underwear --- lost in surgery and my missing hair clip are not planted as kidney replacements. We will pick them up on Friday when we go back and have the drain and staples removed.

Graham bought a new car - Kia Sedona while I was in the hospital.....just so it would be easier for me to get in and out of it.  Will be nice when there is enough healing that I wont have to fall out and into the car so I dont injure that area!

Thanks for all your well wishes etc. I really appreciate all your positive thoughts and prayers. Will probably message again after Friday's great staple removal!

Home Again

Hi everyone  I am home from the hospital about 20 minutes ago, feeling quite tired but I have enjoyed your comments and notes of love and support - that means so very much to me. Will respond more in the next few days and keep you posted till staples etc are all removed.

xo to you all

Loretta

Handing Over

Well everybody:-

Its Tuesday lunch time and I have just brought Loretta home!

So this will be my last post right here as I will hand over to the Great Lady to finish off this whole thing and then leave this open for a week or two just in case anybody missed anything that has been written and commented on here.

Thanks again to everybody for your great support - and now it will be over to my wife/patient who is now back at home :)

Speedy Recovery

Late Sunday night here and time for an update -

It has been a weekend of continued good progress :)
Loretta was downgraded to ICU grade 3 on Saturday and tonight she was moved out of ICU completely onto a regular ward. She is still asking if she can go to the coffee shop and all I can say is "soon".

She rang in a woozy state at about 8.30am this morning believing it was lunch time but that is just the medication still kicking in. But in that conversation she added that she had spoken to the doc who had told her that all being well she may well be able to come home as early as this Wednesday.

I asked her about that again when I saw her and just wanted her to confirm that he had not said a week on Wednesday but she was adamant in her own mind so I hope it is not just a case of wishful dreaming because if it is correct that would be pretty amazing and well before I could have ever imagined - it might be because she just misses the cat but in any case home is where the healing is really going to take her to another level all being good and well rather than staring at four walls.

Quickest Air Mail

First of all I would just like to say thank you for all the messages of support through this period. I have read them all and although I do not really have the time to respond to them directly please know that I will be passing them on to Loretta - I have already told of her many.

To do this well, I will need to print them all as I cannot have my phone on in ICU so if you have not made a comment as of yet now is the time to do so (although it is really never too late as I will continue to pass on all the messages as they come in). It is difficult for her being so far away from good family and so many friends at a time such as this so everything is much appreciated. If you do not wish to leave a comment here on the blog please feel free to email me or use Loretta's email as I have access to both. You can also message via Facebook.

In today's visit there was no repeat of yesterdays events but that's not to say she has had some more difficult moments when I was not there. She told me that she had dozed on and off through the night and because of the pain they have added a morphine pump to her anti-biotics. She had asked for glasses and a book today although right now I do not expect her to get very far reading it before falling asleep again but it is something to occupy her mind when she is with it.

She told me that just about all of the nurses and doctors have been fantastic - very kind, polite and supportive and much more that she had expected going on experiences from other hospitals. It is unfortunate that right now being in ICU she cannot have too many personal items around her as the ward is not really designed for that and there is a big sign up outside warning visitors and patients of that as I guess things have gone missing before - we could not even find her hair brush that I had left with her yesterday.

A funny little story to do with this revolves around of all things her underwear! When she had gone into the operating theatre she had left her underwear on underneath her theatre gown. She revealed to me today that since she came around in ICU she had realised that the underwear has since gone and has no idea where it went to! The following are HER words and not mine:- "Maybe one of the surgeons is a bit kinky and has a thing about patients underwear and keeps them as a memento!"  Her sense of humour is never going to leave her although in this case it is a bit scary too!

Despite the pains and problems persisting, it was nice to see her sitting upright and smiling today and I just hope that this all means that the signs are really good for a speedy recovery. We were told by one of the nurses that there was also a good chance that she would be downgraded to Level 3 of ICU tomorrow.

So for now it is still a waiting game and we both know that there is still a long road ahead of us to a full recovery but it really is just taking it one step at a time and as each day passes she becomes stronger and beats this thing and finally puts what have been a torrid 18 months to rest.

Day 3 Beaten to it!

Just in the process of calling the hospital for a morning report when the phone rings and it is Loretta calling me!

She sounded very groggy and tired but I could understand her and she was calling me with a list of a whole host of things she wants me to bring in today. I asked her how her night had been and she said "up and down" and would explain more when I see her later. She is still in the same part of ICU but I guess it was me getting worried again when she said she was 50/50 on improvement/problems since last night.

I guess I had better start collecting up all of these things that she wants and then I will be seeing her in a short while.

End of Day 2

Well - we are not quite out of the woods just yet and things may not go to plan all of the time and there may well be set backs - but all in all the worse is over (I hope!)

As an example of this having returned into ICU this afternoon Loretta was in some discomfort. In fact she got herself into such a state because she just could not comfortable and was still having some breathing difficulties. She rolled over on her side and it was a good job that I was on that side of the bed otherwise she may well have rolled right out. In the next five minutes or so the discomfort just got worse and she still just did not know what to do with herself - but the nurses acted quickly. They upped her sedation immediately and put her into slide position to get her to the top of the bed so that they could then operate the bed and put her into an almost upright position as the bed virtually became a chair.

As quickly as the panic started it vanished once Loretta was more upright and she said to me that she just did not know what to do when it happened. On their rounds the doctors did mention the respiratory problems that she had suffered yesterday and at this stage I discovered a bit more as to how the ICU works. There are three different sections on the ward with the ones needing most attention in Level 1. Loretta was moved from Level 1 to 2 this morning so that is a good thing and earlier when I mentioned that she had been "up" - she had really been up and they managed to get her doing a little walk across the ward and stopped her when she was getting tired.

Being in ICU means that she has her own personal nurse that just stays at the bottom of her bed monitoring her 24/7 and keeping an eye on every single reading on all of the machines throughout.

With her going into extra sedation mode after the scare I told her that I would get going as I did not want her trying to stay awake for me - she needs as much rest as possible and it is good to know that she could not be in a much better place right now to get over this as quickly as possible. Leicester Hospital may not be the most local hospital for us but they are the specialists for these kind of operations.

So tomorrow I shall do pretty much the same as today and start taking in a few things in for her that she asked for today - its just that you cannot have much with you on ICU and they can supply you with just about anything that you may require. I have seen that already with lippy and a hair brush although she insisted on having her own which I just happened to have with me :)

She is talking

The previous was a short blog because I was not sure if this was working as the Internet appears to be coming and going in here.
Anyway I have just come out of ICU to get Loretta a Pepsi as she is now able to eat and drink again. It is also nice to see the horrible tubes gone from her mouth and now all she has are those little nostril oxygen tube things.
Nice to hear her voice again although it is still quite quiet right now. She told me that the doc had told her that the kidney was large and as hard as a rock. It had also embedded itself further into her other internal parts around that area but despite a difficult operation the team had managed to remove the kidney without having to remove anything else which was great news.
The two main problems had been where the kidney had wedged itself in so close to the bowels and then the breathing difficulties that she experienced on coming round in the recovery room.
I am about to go back in and I will have to turn this phone off for the time being but I will post again if there is something significant whilst I am here, otherwise I will update when I arrive home tonight.

Live on day 2

Arrived back here a while ago and the first job was to get through the seemingly strict security to enter ICU

Day 2

Slept a little longer than I meant to but of course the first thing to do was to ring the hospital for an update.
The breathing tube was removed this morning at about 9am and apart from a little oxygen she is now able to breathe unassisted again and is talking. The staff nurse also told me that they were just about to get her "up" - not sure if that means sitting up or actually right out of the bed.

I guess calls to the intensive care unit are always short and sweet as it was in this case as these are busy people giving care 24/7 and don't want to be tied up talking too long to the likes of me. I was reminded what the strict visiting hours are so I shall be leaving in here in just over an hour and then I will be dependent on my phone again for the best part of the remainder of the day.

Hopefully now with Loretta able to talk and I hopefully get to see the day team today I will be able to get much more information than yesterday.

A Long Day

Finally arrived back home at midnight through gale force winds after a long day for both of us.

Managed to get in to see Loretta at around 9.30 this evening - I was the last one by far still waiting. She had warned me to expect to see her tangled in a weave of wires and tubes and she was not far wrong. She managed to give me a smile though and hold my hand.

Because there had been a changeover in staff going into the night time shift at the hospital, the doctor that I eventually saw could only read the notes from the team that had performed the procedure and typically they were written in a fashion that was difficult to make out what they said.

What we did deem though was the reason that she was in theatre longer than expected was because of complications to do with breathing at the end. That is why they have added extra tube breathing equipment going down her throat and were debating whether to leave it in over night or take it out. I think they had decided to leave it in because of how she was at the end of theatre.

Loretta managed to communicate by touch and then by finger writing letters - she was eventually given a pen and paper and managed to write the word "cough" so the team temporarily removed the tube so she could have a go at clearing her throat a bit. She also managed to ask me for her lippy as her lips were sore and dry.

So apart from that other details are still a little sketchy but hopefully I will have more info tomorrow - they ended up pretty much suggesting that I should leave so that she could rest with the time gone 11.

I will ring the ward tomorrow morning for an update and then head up there for visiting which is from 2-8.

Thanks for all the messages on the blog, Facebook and email.  

Waiting

Just been told it could be another hour before they let me in to see her as she is still with the doctors and "decisions still need to be made".
And that is all I know! The wait goes on.

Finally Out

Loretta appeared at about 6.30pm and was wheeled straight past me into ICU. I have been told that it will probably be a short while before I am allowed in to see her and find out what exactly happened. But the main thing right now is that she is breathing - and we go from there.
More updates when I have news.

Over 4 hours now

The wait goes on and on.

Another Hour....

Still sitting here looking up the corridor towards the theatres and waiting.....

2 Hours that felt like 2 weeks

Getting dark again already outside and the wait goes on here at the intensive care units waiting room for visitors - a rather quiet area of the hospital.

Just want this waiting over with and to know everything is ok.

Hopefully the battery on this can hold out a while longer too.

Into Theatre

Walked alongside her as far as I was allowed to go and then we parted and now the worry hits home to me

Countdown

1.05pm - After great pain a canular is now in (messy job and did not even do a good job cleaning up the blood) and we have been told to expect to be heading for theatre within the next hour.
The theatre gown is now on and Loretta is laying on the bed beside me struggling to get a little snooze in.

Bed Confirmed

1045am - having told us there was an increasing doubt regarding an available bed, we have just had it confirmed that there is. These places just love to mess with your head - first of all you are semi-mentally prepared, then think you are going home and just when you are accepting this a bed is ready!

10am

A nurse has just informed us that the likelihood of an available bed has decreased! Loretta might have to come home again. She is partly relieved but mostly pissed if this materialises.

First Post

Its Wednesday morning and neither of us feel like we had a lot of sleep.
We left the house at about 6.30am arriving at the hospital at the time assigned of 7.30am.
The trouble was then finding an open door! It was a bit frustrating not being able to gain entry through the door that we wanted to and then having to park at the far end and have a half mile hike to the ward.
Then you go through all of that and then meet a junior doctor followed by the anesthetiser within half an hour of arriving and then that's it - we both want to just sit here and fall asleep now as from what we have been told the surgery probably will not take place until this afternoon.
We also found out that there is still a chance of cancelation if there are no beds available in intensive care. Because it is not a life threatening condition then obviously if there was a last minute emergency we would both be heading home today and Loretta would just have to take all the nasty lemon surgery op prep drink again which I know would not please her.
She is understandably in full panic mode right now and is "scared" - we all would be.
It is nearly 9.30am and the wait continues.