Tag: recovery

Bobs Bowel 4 – NHS Healthcare


After years of paying National Insurance there is no doubt I am getting my moneys worth from the NHS. After playing the poo sticks game I have had a Colonoscopy, CT Colonography, a session with a colo-rectal consultant and have been booked in to Surgery School.

My home phone seems like it is a hot line to the QA (Queen Alexandra Hospital).

Following the consult I received a text message informing me that a call had been booked by the Care Coordinator !!! No explanation of why. Obviously I could make a pretty goood guess. But I still had to confirm back to them that a call before midday on the 31st was acceptible. I also took the opportunity to ask what the call was about. The response was almost instantaneous. Lisa, the Care Coordinator from my GP Surgery, having seen various letters between the hospital and my GP, was making a courtesy call to see how I was doing with the ongoing investigations.

So Friday 31st arrived and it turns out that Lisa had very little information. I have since seen the letters that my GP was sent. Not very enlightening. So I brought Lisa up to speed, giving my history so far, up to and including my consult on Tuesday.

She in turn told me about the services that were available to me leading up to the surgery and what support they can provide after I return home. This includes councelling, assistance with obtaining benefits etc. After a very pleasant chat we agreed that she would call me on 28th February to see how I was going. Hopefully I will be home recuperating after the operation.

As I said my phone has been very busy. On Friday morning I missed a call from Julie, one of the colo-rectal nurses. She left a message inviting me to call her back. I returned her call and retaliated by leaving her a message in her voicemail. After one round of answer phone tennis she called me.

She asked if I had heard from the anaesthetist, which I had not. She told me that they had spotted that I was borderline anaemic and that I needed to be scheduled in for an iron infusion/transfusion!

Two weeks ago, the doctor that did my colonoscopy had told me about this. I had forgotten but I am glad that the anaesthetist is on the ball. Julie told me that I should probably expect to be contacted early next week, and that if I didn’t hear from them by Wednesday, to call her.

Later that day I received one of those neutral NHS appointment invitations. Informing me that an appointment has been made for 10:00 on Thursday 13th of February. What is this for? Is it for my iron infusion, or just a face to face with the anaesthetist? There is no information about what if anything I need to take with me. Nurse Julie told me I should arrange a lift for when I have the infusion just in case I’m not fit to drive after. There is nothing in this invite to clarify so I will have to call them on Monday.

One thing I will say for the NHS, once you are in the system they do look after you. So far, I have nothing but praise for the staff that I have been involved with. With the one exception, the CT Colonography, they have ensured that my experience thus far has been reasonably pleasant.

Bobs Bowel 3 – The Consultant & More


Tuesday 28th January, and my first meeting with the consultant. It was quite intense and a bit of a good news, bad news scenario.

First up the bad news, the results of the biopsies taken during the colonoscopy  confirm that the tumour is cancerous. I guess I was expecting that and was already resigned to the fact that surgery was required. Confirming the cancer was just detail.

On to the good news. The results of the CTC show that the cancer seems to be contained within the colon and hasn’t spread elsewhere. Apparently, there are a couple of polyps but nothing to be concerned about at this time. Some time after the surgery, I will likely have a colonoscopy, and the polyps will be dealt with then.

I was told that I should get a surgery date within the next three weeks. The surgery itself will be of the keyhole variety. The consultant ran through some of the issues / risks. Obviously, all surgery comes with risks. It is invasive, and the body wasn’t designed for easy access. In my case, proximity to the spleen was of concern.

Given that my tumour is causing a partial blockage, surgery is the only option. It is what it is.

Prior to that, it seems they have a lot of fun activities planned for me, so I will be visiting the Queen Alexandra Hospital …. a lot.

I have already been booked into surgery school.  This two hour classroom session is on Monday, 3rd January, to be held at the Oasis Centre. The purpose of the class is to prepare the patient, me, for the surgery and after. To tell about the process, the time on the high dependency ward, and preparation for going home and what to expect in the time following the procedure.

Another treat will be a session with the stoma nurse. Although it isn’t planned, the surgeons won’t know until they go in and may decide that a stoma is necessary. This may be temporary to allow my bowel to heal or, worst case scenario, permanent if they can’t repair the bowel. Apparently, all bowel surgery patients are taken through this possibility and the ramifications.

Finally, there will be a consultation with the anaesthetist. If they can glean enough information from my notes, then it should be just a telephone consult. Otherwise, a further trip to the QA will be required.

Once I have had the operation, I can expect to be in the hospital for about a week or so. Escape will be dependent on my how fast my bowel starts to function. I was told that some patients have gone home after three days, but typically, it is a five day stay.

The things I’m prepared to do to get out of cooking and housework.

And then it’s on to recovery, i.e. back to normality. Again, everyone’s different, but they were talking three to six months.

I’m coming to realise that this is a big operation. Nobody has actually vocalised this fact, but I’m picking up on the odd words that were dropped by the consultant and one of the colo-rectal nurses.

I have no idea if there will be any after treatment, i.e., chemo or radio therapy. This was not mentioned, and I forgot to ask, but perhaps that is a discussion for after the operation, when they know what they are dealing with.

In the meantime, I have been having a lot of discussions with Gerry about preparing for my time in the hospital and immediately after. These are non medical in nature.

Gerrys mobility is OK around the house, but she can’t stand for long. So preparing meals for herself could be problematic. There are a number of companies that make and deliver ready meals so we are considering getting some to put in the freezer. Gerry should be able to manage those.

Of course, after I return home, my capabilities are a bit of an unknown quantity at this time. There are likely to be restrictions on lifting and carrying. Simple things like lifting a kettle to make a cuppa may not be allowed.

I won’t be allowed to drive for a while, and although Gerry still has her licence, she hasn’t driven for a couple of years. So we are going to have to rely on family to provide taxi services for any appointments etc..

Sadly, this bloody tumour is causing a lot of disruption, impacting others’ lives too.

At the back end of February we have tickets for two concerts. The first is for Uriah Heep, a band that I started following in the 70’s. This concert is part of a 50th Anniversary and farewell tour. Missing that will be a bit of a blow.

The other concert is for Brit Floyd, a Pink Floyd tribute band. We got tickets to this show as a Christmas present for Summer,  our great-granddaughter. She is always saying how she likes Pink Floyd, so we thought a tribute band was the nearest she would get to the real thing.

We are already trying to arrange for others to take the tickets

Two further events are possibly in jeopardy.  The Goodwood Members Meeting in April, which usually entails a whole day on my feet. And then there is an Andre Rieu concert at Wembley in May. We will just have to see how my recovery goes.

That’s it for now.