LATE FEBRUARY 2010 London
BLOG 22: More big decisions
What’s coming is that he has been unwell while I’ve been away. That is to say, more unwell than usual. Not just the pain in his back when walking. We know what that is: spinal stenosis, caused by some bones in the spine becoming a bit ‘overgrown’ (happens to some people when they get older) and displaced - causing narrowing space for nerves to pass through – exacerbated by movement, especially walking. No, this is a general feeling of weakness, and sickness. He’s been to the GP and has a pending appointment with a kidney specialist (nephrologist) at the local hospital. He is clearly not well. But the kidneys may not be the real problem, nor the spinal stenosis.
Lurking underneath all this is the possibility of sepsis (poisoning of the body) caused by a breakdown of previous major surgery. We’ve already been down that path, and it’s a rocky one – nearly as rocky as some of the roads near our proposed building site in Calis. Over a year ago we consulted the top specialist, a professor of surgery, the man who did the previous surgery which was some 15 years ago. That was a very major operation, and the results have been fairly ok – up until about a year ago when problems began to arise. We both recall that conversation a year ago. Bold questions, generally asked by me (OH absorbing and considering the answers):
Can something be done?
Yes.
What?
Repeat surgery to undo the previous – this time resulting in an external stoma bag.
(This was something OH had wanted to avoid, naturally – but all options were now on the table.)
But. . . the professor is hesitating
But what?
The operation is very big, and difficult (with a murmured aside: ‘I wouldn’t like to do it’)
OH and I glance at each other, askance . Did we hear correctly? The great man, the top man in his field from what we’ve heard, said he did not fancy doing the operation because it was too difficult!
Why so difficult?
We won’t know until we go in.
(again we glance at each other. ‘Go in’? Go in where? Oh, he means enter the body. With his knife. That’s great. What does he expect to find – or not find? Diseased organs? Alien creatures popping out? This is like getting blood out of a stone – oops, bad analogy.)
What exactly do you mean?
There could be a lot of scar tissue, and adhesions. That makes operating with such a delicate procedure very difficult – and time consuming. It can be difficult to locate certain organs – and, er, the main artery.
(We’re getting there.)
But possible? To fix him, that is!
The prof and I both look at OH, the subject of all this. He is goggle eyed. He finally speaks up and asks the big question:
What are my chances of survival?
There is a long pause. Doctors never want to answer that question. They hedge their bets. This prof is no different.
He says:
We’d set aside the day for the procedure, with a full team: specialist surgeons for nephrology, a urologist, pouch surgeon, nursing team, heart man. . .I would head the team.
Yes, says OH, and repeats the question.
The consultant draws a breath:
Considering your age, and previous surgical history . . .
Yes, spit it out, we want to say-
50-50
Then he becomes all matter-of-fact:
if you decide you do want to go ahead, let us know within a few days, as we will need to schedule the operation many months ahead, in order to get the full team together.
……………
That was over a year ago. We considered long and hard after that consultation. And decided to go for it: the big operation. It was scheduled to take place in September 2009. We convinced ourselves it was the right thing to do, and OH would pull through and –
And then, as the time for the op approached, we got increasingly cold feet. Hell, wasn’t a poor quality of life better than no life at all (if he was in the not-so-fortunate 50%)? Yes! So, with just three weeks to go, we phoned up the hospital and pulled out. They were none too pleased – and that’s an understatement. It seems we messed up an entire team’s schedule and a top team at that.
Instead, we went on holiday to OluDeniz in Turkey in October 2009 – wind back to the start of this blog.
So here we are again, nearly five months after our OluDeniz trip. Turkey is again on our horizon. And so is the operation.
If we decide to go for it, this time there will be no pulling out. OH’s symptoms are becoming worse and will continue to do so. Added to that, he’s not getting any younger which is also a factor.
Turkey problems take a back seat while we re-evaluate the situation . . .
……………………….
. . . to be continued . . .usually posted on Thursday
