Warnings

Our hero was discharged from hospital at the end of the last post, sporting a wound stretching from his (my) navel to his (my) ribs. I also have my shiny new Stoma and Urostomy.

The wound still has twenty-five or so staples left in, holding the sides of the wound together while it heals. A similar number had been removed by the ward staff before I was discharged from the hospital. I made an appointment with the practice nurse to remove the rest of the staples, but the next available appointment was on the Thursday (three days after my discharge).

Day two out of hospital and a letter arrives from my work, informing me that the period of full pay was coming to an end and I am due to start on SSP from the beginning of the next month (about 5 days time).

This means an immediate period of frantic activity, cancelling direct debits and other outgoings to reduce our overall monthly spending. Sky were funny (but helpful) and gave us a discount, as well as a credit, to enable us to keep our account open - Bannatynes, on the other hand, were extremely unhelpful and unsympathetic (boo)

Thursday came along and I went to the surgery for the nurse to remove the final staples. Everything went well. The staples came out with very little difficulty, and I spent some time discussing my situation with the GP.

I walked back home and carried on with my frantic phone calls. Helen arrived home and came up to see me and the scar now that the staples had finally been removed. She took one look at it and freaked out (I don't think that is too strong a description).

The wound had opened back up and there was a hole about two inches by one inch. I could not feel a thing, but Helen was seriously traumatised.

I ended up in the Western Infirmary again (after three hours in A & E at St Johns). I finally got to bed around 3 am, after visits from, first, one nurse then the doctor then a second nurse (this one to patch it up, finally, fortunately).

The registrar came to visit me the next morning and duly inspected the, by now, infamous wound. He pronounced it minor - a blip, in fact - and I could be discharged without further work, as long as the district nurses attended every day to dress the wound.

Our very good friend Becci Hale was also a doctor on the ward at that time and arranged for some private transport for me home. Twenty minutes later one of the nurses appeared and informed me that the transport was ready - unfortunatly, I was not. I hurriedly got dressed and was taken down to the hospital main entrance. I was taken home by a very nice volunteer driver named Pat. I arrived home at around 11 am, just over twelve hours after leaving.

This episode was a warning. I needed to take it much slower. In fact I was not able to do nearly as much as I was before the staples were removed, and the wound was much more painful. I decided that I would take the full amount of painkillers available.

The last two weeks have been a VERY gradual improvement. I have been out of the house three times (once to the GP, once to Sainsburys and once for lunch with a friend from work). I have also managed to walk round the block once, but then needed to rest for the rest of the evening.

The would is healing very slowly. The District Nurses have been coming in every day for two weeks, and have just decided that it can be reduced to every two days, as the wound is now better. It is likely however to be another three weeks before it is completely healed, and even then it will continue healing underneath for several more months.

The Stoma seems to be working fine, and still getting smaller. I have been ordering new underwear, now that am entitled to it on prescription.

I have been back to the consultant (Mr Marriappan). The bladder and lymph nodes have been analysed and there is no cancer outside the bladder. There were microspots on the surface of the bladder, making this a stage IIIa tumour which seems to have around a 75% chance of survival.

I have to say though, as a Christian, I believe that percentage chances are immaterial. My future is in God's hand. If He wants me to be cancer free then it will never recur, no matter what the odds are. On the other hand, if he wants to bring me home (to Heaven) sooner rather than later, nothing on Gods Earth, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgeons can stop it - it is either a 100% or 0% chance.

God bless

Graham