17 April 2019.
Big catch up.
OK kids, I've been diagnosed with cancer at the base of the tongue in my throat. Not a good thing, but every medico I've spoken to has been extremely positive and told me it is totally curable with treatment.
I'm not shopping for sympathy, but I'm not much of a talker about private stuff (much to Suzanne's dismay) so I'm writing this the keep family and friends up to date, and save you all a bunch of phone calls and emails. Maybe this will also help out someone who might go through the same thing somewhere down the track. It's always good to get the story from the horse's mouth, even if his tongue is a bit munted 😀.
Sorry about the lack of news boys and girls, but I've been pretty tired up for the last few weeks.
Tha Naso Gastric tube that had been inserted is not such a big deal. I've been placed in a ward for a few days to make sure I can cope and know what to do. No biggie. This will be my food source for the next three or four weeks, at least.
Yahoo! Home again. All good....for now...
I woke up Wednesday morning to go to hospital for my usual radiotherapy, and was burning up with a fever. The Chemo has reduced my immune system to nearly nothing, so I'm extremely susceptible to any sort of bug out there. I found one. I was delirious, and told I was quite abusive to Suzanne when she tried to take my temperate. Another apology Suzanne. The high temperature is really dangerous at the moment, so we skipped radio and Suzanne took me straight into emergency. I was all a bit of a blur for me as I was out of it.
Emergency immediately rushed me straight into an isolation cubicle (no waiting) and every one was masked, gowned, and gloved up. The first thing they did was try and reduce my temperature, then get my blood pressure up, it was feebly low. The next job was to see what bug I had, and if it was courageous. They really weren't impressed with what I was coughing up, but I'll spare you the description. Luckily it wasn't the flu. Apparently I was moved around to about four different rooms, had numerous blood samples taken, fed a heap of intravenous drugs and fluids, and X Rayed. I remember very little of this. Once again Suzanne ran the whole show.
After 10 hours in emergency, my fever finality broke about 5 pm and I was admitted to general ward, it took ages to find a bed.
Suzanne drove home exhausted. This holiday we're going to take had to be a bloody good one, she deserves it and more.
I was taken down to Radiotherapy on Thursday, in my hospital bed. All the girls were very concerned. When Jo on reception saw me she came over and held my hand, and was almost in tears. A quick word about Jo. All the girls and guys here are absolutely bloody awesome, Jo is special though. She's was our first point of contact at Radio and is a very upbeat, happy person. Jo and I hit it off immediately and enjoy a joke every time I go in, and she always comments on my "colourful shirts". No big deal you say. Well it is a big deal when you go in there and feel like a bag of crap I'll tell ya. Jo's smile and banter as a welcome makes me feel 100 times better. So, thank you Jo, from me, and also from the hundreds of other patients you see all the time. You make a huge difference to us.
By Friday I was feeling pretty good so I walked down to Radiotherapy. The reception was much better when I walked in under my own steam.
As I mentioned, I'm suck in a ward at the moment, they won't let me go until my stats are good. Here's a run down of or public medical system, in this ward. The nurses here are (mostly) absolutely amazing and perform brilliantly under duress.
Most of the blood pressure monitors don't work, wasting nurses time running around trying to find one that does. Remember, they are taking my blood pressure every two hours day and night. Wake me up at 2 am, monitor doesn't work, go and find another one, come bake fifteen minutes later, wake me up, take my blood pressure.
The two bed moving tractors on this ward don't work, so the orderlies have to manually push the beds around. There are a couple of ramps on the way to Radio, so they have to have two orderlies in case things get out of control. More time wasted.
Most of the new, you beaut electronic thermometers don't work.
My issue with the one nurse is she had a cold and kept sniffing. At one stage she wiped her nose nose with her hand, in a glove, while she was changing my feeding tube. Right now my immune system is almost non existent, which is why I ended up back in here. This isn't a Chemo ward, but really?
At least the view is better than most.
Wow, my room share mates this visit have been, um, interesting. It's a two bed room, so you think you'd be pretty safe eh?
The first guest was a lovely old lady, who was unfortunately very hard of hearing, which means that all day and all night all the nurses yelled at her. No sleep.
Out next guest was a drug fucked bloke who just wanted to confess he was a drug addict, and let everyone know "Its all a scam". I never did find out what "It" was. At one stage he had five people bailed up at the door (including a useless security guard) wielding his medication pole. I disconnected all my med tubes, put my shoes on, and stood behind him and quietly suggested he put the pole down. I'd had a gut full and was ready. He ended up putting the pole down and falling on the floor. Half an hour later he was throwing his trays around the room. No sleep. Off to The Psych Ward for him.
Guest number three was a real teat. I though I was grumpy. This grumpy old bastard was just a stubborn old prick who should know how to behave better. He wouldn't take his meds, he wanted water, which he wasn't allowed to have, he wanted female nurses. He loudly moaned and groaned about absolutely everything. You're 88 years old mate, grow the fuck up. Again this morning with the female nurse. I'd had enough. I walked over to his side of the curtain (I'll use my lack of sleep as an excuse for not being my usual , charming self) and told him so. I don't think we'll be swapping Christmas cards. I had to remind him again once. The nurses walked over and gave me a smile and a thumbs up. They are trying to help and they don't need that sort of harassment.
Today I noticed I have no hair growing on my chin. I haven't shaved for about a week and I've grown a bit of a mo, and some mutton chop side burns, but no chin hair. Oh well, I could never could grow a decent beard anyway. Suzanne tells me there are patches missing from the back of my head as well. Oh well.
No more Chemo, and only seven rounds of Radio to go. Not long now and recovery can begin.
Desires in order of preference:
1. My throat to stop being so painful.
2. My taste to comeback.
3. Be able to maintain my wight by eating, and lose the feeding tube.
4. Go for a ride.
Big catch up.
OK kids, I've been diagnosed with cancer at the base of the tongue in my throat. Not a good thing, but every medico I've spoken to has been extremely positive and told me it is totally curable with treatment.
I'm not shopping for sympathy, but I'm not much of a talker about private stuff (much to Suzanne's dismay) so I'm writing this the keep family and friends up to date, and save you all a bunch of phone calls and emails. Maybe this will also help out someone who might go through the same thing somewhere down the track. It's always good to get the story from the horse's mouth, even if his tongue is a bit munted 😀.
Sorry about the lack of news boys and girls, but I've been pretty tired up for the last few weeks.
Tha Naso Gastric tube that had been inserted is not such a big deal. I've been placed in a ward for a few days to make sure I can cope and know what to do. No biggie. This will be my food source for the next three or four weeks, at least.
Yahoo! Home again. All good....for now...
I woke up Wednesday morning to go to hospital for my usual radiotherapy, and was burning up with a fever. The Chemo has reduced my immune system to nearly nothing, so I'm extremely susceptible to any sort of bug out there. I found one. I was delirious, and told I was quite abusive to Suzanne when she tried to take my temperate. Another apology Suzanne. The high temperature is really dangerous at the moment, so we skipped radio and Suzanne took me straight into emergency. I was all a bit of a blur for me as I was out of it.
Emergency immediately rushed me straight into an isolation cubicle (no waiting) and every one was masked, gowned, and gloved up. The first thing they did was try and reduce my temperature, then get my blood pressure up, it was feebly low. The next job was to see what bug I had, and if it was courageous. They really weren't impressed with what I was coughing up, but I'll spare you the description. Luckily it wasn't the flu. Apparently I was moved around to about four different rooms, had numerous blood samples taken, fed a heap of intravenous drugs and fluids, and X Rayed. I remember very little of this. Once again Suzanne ran the whole show.
After 10 hours in emergency, my fever finality broke about 5 pm and I was admitted to general ward, it took ages to find a bed.
Suzanne drove home exhausted. This holiday we're going to take had to be a bloody good one, she deserves it and more.
I was taken down to Radiotherapy on Thursday, in my hospital bed. All the girls were very concerned. When Jo on reception saw me she came over and held my hand, and was almost in tears. A quick word about Jo. All the girls and guys here are absolutely bloody awesome, Jo is special though. She's was our first point of contact at Radio and is a very upbeat, happy person. Jo and I hit it off immediately and enjoy a joke every time I go in, and she always comments on my "colourful shirts". No big deal you say. Well it is a big deal when you go in there and feel like a bag of crap I'll tell ya. Jo's smile and banter as a welcome makes me feel 100 times better. So, thank you Jo, from me, and also from the hundreds of other patients you see all the time. You make a huge difference to us.
By Friday I was feeling pretty good so I walked down to Radiotherapy. The reception was much better when I walked in under my own steam.
As I mentioned, I'm suck in a ward at the moment, they won't let me go until my stats are good. Here's a run down of or public medical system, in this ward. The nurses here are (mostly) absolutely amazing and perform brilliantly under duress.
Most of the blood pressure monitors don't work, wasting nurses time running around trying to find one that does. Remember, they are taking my blood pressure every two hours day and night. Wake me up at 2 am, monitor doesn't work, go and find another one, come bake fifteen minutes later, wake me up, take my blood pressure.
The two bed moving tractors on this ward don't work, so the orderlies have to manually push the beds around. There are a couple of ramps on the way to Radio, so they have to have two orderlies in case things get out of control. More time wasted.
Most of the new, you beaut electronic thermometers don't work.
My issue with the one nurse is she had a cold and kept sniffing. At one stage she wiped her nose nose with her hand, in a glove, while she was changing my feeding tube. Right now my immune system is almost non existent, which is why I ended up back in here. This isn't a Chemo ward, but really?
At least the view is better than most.
Wow, my room share mates this visit have been, um, interesting. It's a two bed room, so you think you'd be pretty safe eh?
The first guest was a lovely old lady, who was unfortunately very hard of hearing, which means that all day and all night all the nurses yelled at her. No sleep.
Out next guest was a drug fucked bloke who just wanted to confess he was a drug addict, and let everyone know "Its all a scam". I never did find out what "It" was. At one stage he had five people bailed up at the door (including a useless security guard) wielding his medication pole. I disconnected all my med tubes, put my shoes on, and stood behind him and quietly suggested he put the pole down. I'd had a gut full and was ready. He ended up putting the pole down and falling on the floor. Half an hour later he was throwing his trays around the room. No sleep. Off to The Psych Ward for him.
Guest number three was a real teat. I though I was grumpy. This grumpy old bastard was just a stubborn old prick who should know how to behave better. He wouldn't take his meds, he wanted water, which he wasn't allowed to have, he wanted female nurses. He loudly moaned and groaned about absolutely everything. You're 88 years old mate, grow the fuck up. Again this morning with the female nurse. I'd had enough. I walked over to his side of the curtain (I'll use my lack of sleep as an excuse for not being my usual , charming self) and told him so. I don't think we'll be swapping Christmas cards. I had to remind him again once. The nurses walked over and gave me a smile and a thumbs up. They are trying to help and they don't need that sort of harassment.
Today I noticed I have no hair growing on my chin. I haven't shaved for about a week and I've grown a bit of a mo, and some mutton chop side burns, but no chin hair. Oh well, I could never could grow a decent beard anyway. Suzanne tells me there are patches missing from the back of my head as well. Oh well.
No more Chemo, and only seven rounds of Radio to go. Not long now and recovery can begin.
Desires in order of preference:
1. My throat to stop being so painful.
2. My taste to comeback.
3. Be able to maintain my wight by eating, and lose the feeding tube.
4. Go for a ride.
Thanks Simon for your updates.. im so sorry you are dealing with this crap and fervently hope you get the best news at the end of your treatment.. your holiday sounds like a fabulous idea.. a gr8 way to distract yourselves in the planning of it... im sure Suz understand your grump but at the same time its gr8 that you acknowledge it, I'm sure that makes it easier for Suz..
ReplyDeleteTake care my friend.. you are both in my thoughts.. sending lots of big hugs your way..
Xoxo