I've not really been on for a while. Actually, lets be honest - not since last year. Those with whom I've been in touch, on the rare occasions I've crawled out of my little hermitage, will already know that things have been quite awful for the last nine months, however..... a week in a holiday camp of a hospital & one kidney op later and.....
I'M ON TOP OF THE BLOODY WORLD!!
And it's your turn to get 'tiggered' by the big hairy one! lol
I should be back for bit longer tonight but just wanted to take a few well-opportuned minutes to make a long overdue appearance and say 'Hi'.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have a few more rooftops to shout about this from.
Ciao for now darlings!
Dom
I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano, A stage, where every one must play his part; And mine a sad one.
Its been so long since i spoke to you, hell you probably dont even remember me but it is great to see you back and to see things so much better for you.
With it having been so long, and with so many apparently new names, I did wonder if there would be anyone left who would recognise me! lol
Didn't get on last night in the end - my g/f somehow managed to give the dining room, my desk and, you've guessed it, my comp a good watering with a hosepipe (best not to ask) so instead of coming online I had to sit and strip everything down to make sure it wasn't damaged. Then, with everything back together I popped on earlier and typed out a nice long update, only to have a power-cut as I was typing out the last line!!
A bit of a pain but it did give me time to go and have a nice long catch-up with a good friend while we sat in the sun with several cups of tea and stripped & cleaned my guns.
I will be back to have another go again soon but have to disappear in a mo to get my beloved from work and then have to go 'see a man about a dog'.
Hmmmm... for someone who's supposed to be sitting on their backside doing nowt for two weeks I do seem rather busy again....
Catch you all later
Dom
I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano, A stage, where every one must play his part; And mine a sad one.
YAY!!!!
*pounces*
Missed you...there has been a hairy-biker-shaped-hole here without you ;o)
Glad to hear you are mending
BUT...
go sit down!!!!!!
love ya
xxx
hi! welcome back! having just come back myself there are lots of new names but the familiar ones are still here too - i remember you.
glad you're feeling better.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break
that its heart may stand in the sun,
so must you know pain.
There are only two ways in which one can live their life. One is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is.
Hmmmm..... Well, they do say "better late than never...", I guess. I do have a reasonable excuse though - landed myself back in hospital. Ho hum...
Right, this update type thing;
I have to be a bit careful of what I say as there's going to be a pretty serious bit of litigation as a result of what's been going on.
As some of you may know, I've been carrying around a pretty horrendous number of kidney stones for longer than than I really want to think about, all thanks to a total lack of treatment for a number of years. To add insult to injury (quite literally), despite a radiographer saying "I can see ATLEAST 24 between both sides but there are frankly too many to be able to count them", getting 1-2 serious infections every month, my having been unable to work for 18 months and being on the brink of losing my job, my then consultant wrote to the company medical insurance company (at the time due to make a payout of almost £50,000) and told them that I was in perfect health. Goodbye insurance payout. Goodbye job.
After much ado and a steady decline in my condition I FINALLY managed to get a referral to a new consultant. He also happens to be one of the very top guys in the UK - during one of my emergency admissions he was actually lecturing in Geneva and a junior doctor told me that all of the text books they learn from are written by the consultants attached to the department. All of which is a nice bonus! :)
Anyway, just as I was due in clinic last July, I was staying at my sister's and was rushed into Calderdale General with an extremely severe infection and the first stages of blood poisoning.
A week later I was in clinic to have the first of two barrages of scans and tests - two sets were needed over a period of time to compare and accurately assess the situation and required treatment. Because of the intensity of the CT scans involved, said period of time had to be 3 months.
Roll on to October and, one week before I was due to have the second round of scans, I was rushed in by ambulance to a local ****-hole of a hospital with what I knew was a blocked kidney. The pain was beyond anything and a max dose of morphine IV didn't even touch it. After pursuading the A&E doctor that sending me home with paracetamol would be a bad idea I then had to threaten to call a solicitor if they didn't get me into x-ray. Lo and behold, as soon as they'd taken one image I was sent immediately into CT and then into the emergency surgical ward, apparently only a few hours away from complete renal failure.
This was when it all started to go REALLY tits-up.
Three stones had moved and were blocking the left ureter (the tube from the kidney to the bladder), two of approx 8mm each at the bottom and one of what they said was 11mm at the top. Not only did the surgeon not remove any of the stones, he instead rammed a plastic tube called a 'stent' past them, or so he said: The bottom two WERE left in place but the top one he just pushed back into the kidney, where it became invisible to normal x-ray. The internal diameter of the ureter is 6-8mm, the stent is 6mm and the stones were 8mm, so if you do the maths you can see that I was in quite a bit of pain. I later found out that the stones were in so tightly that they almost perforated the ureter and were eventually crushed! As if all that wasn't enough, he also managed to rupture the urethra and damage the prostate! Oh, and then failed to send any notes or info to either my consultant or GP. All of which has caused this to be dragged out until recently, with numerous hospital admissions and me nearly meeting the reaper a further two times.
Can you see why the litigation? lol
After 6 weeks of trying, without joy, to get the notes for the emergency admission I was back in under my regular guys to have the stent and remains of the stones out. With it being too soon for another detailed CT scan, and with only normal x-rays to go by, only the stone fragments in the ureter could be seen. Stent out, everything looks clear and no more excruciating pain.
By January of this year, however, the ticking timebomb nestled in the kidney finally dropped down again. Another emergency admission to the same armpit A&E with a blocked kidney. Luckily I caught this one 4 days earlier than before because that's how long they kept me in and refused to do anything about transferring me to my specialist unit. The whole time I was unable to keep food or drink down and all they gave me was just under 3 litres of saline IV, so by the time my family interveined and transferred me I was nearing complete renal failure once more and severely dehydrated. I did, however, have copies of ALL notes and scans from both stays. Checking the latest scan, it appeared that stone originally diagnosed as 11mm had suddenly trebled in size to 30mm x 12mm. Just to further swell the catalogue of incompetence by the surgeon in October, a quick check of the original pre-op scan clearly showed the '11mm' stone to in fact have been 25mm x 11mm.
The next few months were spent in rather a lot of pain as everything was done to avoid open surgery. Another admission for a rather serious infection in May saw the top three guys in the department sitting down for an hour to review every scan and entry in my notes - just within ear-shot and rather amusing to watch as one of the senior staff nurses kept chiding and slapping them in passing for hogging the whole nurse's station! lol
The upshot of that was three and half hours of surgery, a few days with a tube sticking out of my back and......... NO PAIN!!! :) :) :) Also, to the jaw-dropping amasement of the nurses, no painkillers, but as I said to them, after what I'd been through the op was nothing more than a minor irritation!
That pretty much brings up to my slightly ecstatic original post. I had thought that, apart from the remaining 9 tiny stones in the right kidney, I was pretty much on the road to recovery. Although very tired by everything I felt the best I had done in a number of years and set about trying to rebuild my stamina. Then, two weeks ago and just as I was making progress, something rather stupid happened: I was sitting in my favourite armchair, waiting half an hour before waking my g/f for work, when I stretched my back a bit and felt a pinch in my left side. It didn't hurt so I thought nothing of it and carried on. When I got back from taking Lou to work I started to feel a bit crap and was suddenly bursting to go for a pee. I certainly wasn't prepared for what came out though and had to watch in horror as I passed pint after pint of what I later found was 97-99% pure blood. Estimates are that I lost 3-4 pints in the course of about 20 minutes. All I know is that it was enough to make me turn grey, affect both my sight and hearing as well as cause me to collapse face-first on the landing. I don't know or remember how I got down the stairs but the next thing I knew I was laying on the floor by my desk with the phone in my hand and, on the third attempt, finally managed to dial 999.
That was the first time I've been properly scared of anything for about 25 years and I don't mind admitting that I was absolutely shitting myself!! All I could think about was Louise though, and not being able to see her. Maybe that's what got me down the stairs to the phone. I don't know.
After having several litres of this and that pumped into my arm, the bleeding stopped, just as suddenly as it had started in the first place. It turned out that a sliver of scar tissue from the op had remained attached to the kidney and when I stretched it pulled the hole open internally, taking a pretty major blood vessel with it.
A couple more nights in hospital for obs (in one of the private rooms I might add - the nurses said I had enough 'frequent flyer miles' with them to have earned it. lol) and another barrage of tests and I was given the all clear to come home for a solid week of total bed-rest. Probably the only time in my life that I've followed doctor's orders to the letter!! lol
I'm back on my feet now and slowly starting the rebuild process again. Although I still feel pretty drained and get tired easily, every day seems to be a small improvement on the last and, all things considered, I feel great! :)
So, that's what's been going on. Probably a bit more detail than you needed but I guess I had a bit to get off my chest! lol
Big love
D
xx
I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano, A stage, where every one must play his part; And mine a sad one.
WOW! Dom... you have well and truly been through the wars my dear! I am SO glad you're finally improving thoguh. I can't Believe how mcuh pain you must have been in! Insane.
Are you suing the incompetents for what they did (didn't) do to you???
Sooooo glad you're better!
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
wow! i have just read through that and it sounds like you have had a terrible time!!! you probably dont remember me (used to be fantastace) as i dont think we have ever spoken, but i do recognise and remember you so i thought i would pop in and say welcome back
"When I want your opinion, I'll beat it out of you" - Dr Samuel Loomis
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.gif "sohappy")
.gif "waving")
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