Not so much a day out, more an afternoons tour of the hospital as today I have three appointments.
First up is an ECG. Making sure that my ticker is still ticking. No specific time for this, I just had to turn up and present myself at reception. I arrived at about 11:45 and was seen just after 12:00, which gave me time to find the venue for the next appointment.
This session, at 13:00, is with the Stoma Nurse. Although a stoma isn’t planned, this appointment is to talk me through the what ifs. Also to mark where the stoma could/should be if the surgeons deem one is necessary. Although the colonoscopy and subsequent CT Colonography show the tumour hasn’t spread my internal physiology could present other problems. The surgeons won’t know until they get inside and start rooting around.
So the stoma nurse explained all the why’s and wherefores of how a stoma is formed. She then had me lay on an examination couch while she felt my abdominal muscles and ultimately marked the primary site for a stoma on my right hand side but also marked a secondary site on the left side. Viewed from the front I now have a face on my belly with my navel as the nose. I was toying with the idea of drawing on some ears but various folks have deemed that a bad idea.
Having had the spots drawn on I was then shown how a colostomy bag should be affixed to my belly. She demonstrated how to fix the bag on, how to seal it and also how to empty it. And then it was my turn. To prove that I had been listening I had to apply a bag over one of the spots on my belly. Having passed that test I was told to keep the bag on for the rest of the day. “To see if I had a reaction to the adhesive”. To be honest I actuall forgot I had it on, until I went to bed, by which time I was to tired to mess with it. So I slept with it still on. The following day I found out how good that adhesive was. It was not an easy job getting it off.
The final part of my stoma education took the form of a kind of homework. I was given a number of bags to practice with. A couple of them had some kind of tablet in them to which I was supposed to add water. The tablets, when mixed with water, form a sludge of the same consistency as wallpaper paste. This was intended for me to practice emptying a bag. Needless to say, I failed in this task. And it is too late now.
After an hour or so in stoma class I was sent up to E Level to meet with a doctor for my formal preop interview. She went through many of the same questions that had been asked at each of my previous appointments. In this day and age, with the technology available, you would think that all staff in the hospital would have access to all of this information. Still, all the questions and drawing some more blood, and taking my blood pressure, took another hour.
I was eventually released to go home at just on 17:00.
An interesting point is that none of the folks that we visited knew when my operation was to take place !!! This, despite the fact that I had been informed the previous week.
So, my procedure is due to take place 31st March, 2025
WrAnTz 