ConDem Fox Hunting

Mum's Angiogram Results:...

The good news is the main artery they built when they did the bypass is functioning well and has a good blood flow.

The not so good news is that the other two are blocked. Because the main one is working they have decided that they won't operate because her odds of surviving anaesthetic are so low, so she will have to take meds to keep her blood thinned to help avoid clotting in the lungs.

They are now having to start weaning her off the oxygen, mobilising her again and try and get her back on dialysis.

They will need to keep a check on her lung function to make sure she's not retaining fluid but the upshot is that she will always be breathless - her breathing may not improve much from what it currently is, her mobility will not improve and she remains at risk of having a heart attack at any time.

On the plus side, the last four or five haven't managed to finish her off! So she will have breathing issues but will at least be able to get back home and carry on for now.

Wintercraft

Shopping in ASDA is usually a pretty good way to numb my brain cells into boredom and requires a compulsory detour around the book section to get them going again. This week I happened to spot a very interesting looking book by an author I'd never heard of. I almost didn't buy it because of the recent spate of teen vampire / werewolf / witch books flooding the market but the synopsis looked good and I am glad I did.


Wintercraft by Jenna Burtenshaw was a brilliant read. Complete escapism and totally blows books like Twilight and The Vampire Diaries out of the water. This lady can write! I didn't spend half the book sub-editing in my head and spotting grammatical and spelling errors, which was very refreshing.

When Kate Winters' uncle is taken by the Wardens of war-torn Albion, just as her parents were ten years earlier, she is determined to rescue him.

But Kate is being hunted by a far more dangerous enemy. Silas Dane - a killer with a haunted past - has recognised Kate as one of the Skilled who have the rare ability to see through the veil between life and death. He's determined that she'll help end his own personal nightmare; unfortunately, he isn't the only one with plans for her...

As the Night of Souls approaches, a secret hidden deep beneath a graveyard city holds the key to the fate of Kate, those she loves and even Albion itself... the lost book of Wintercraft.

Move over Harry Potter! Who needs a wand anyway?!


If you get time, check it out.


Hopefully there will be more where that came from as I now want to know what happens next with a few of the main characters. Undoubtedly it will be snapped up and made into a film at some point.

Hospitals, Gallstones and Cardiac Insults!

The last couple of weeks have been insanely stressful and tiring. Keith went to have his gallbladder op on Thursday 13th May and so started my almost daily trips to hospital. 

Keith had his op in Springfield Hospital, Chelmsford. A small hospital in the middle of nowhere. His op went well, although not quite the keyhole surgery that was planned due to complications, namely his gallbladder being embedded in his liver! Still, he now has a lovely zip-shaped scar on his tummy. He went down to theatre at 4pm and Linda and I nipped out to Frankie & Benny's in Chelmsford for dinner. We had a good meal and got back to the hospital by 5.30 as we'd been told Keith would only be in surgery for about two hours and we wanted to make sure we were there when he got back. As it turned out, we needn't have rushed. Keith wasn't wheeled back up to his room until around 8.30pm, by which time I was climbing the walls!

Keith was still very drowsy and not particularly lucid, having been given a lot of anaesthetic so Linda and I decided to stay at the hospital with him overnight. It was a very long night. Keith didn't come round fully until about 3am. At about 4am I went to straighten his bedclothes to find a rather large puddle of blood where his wound and dressings were leaking and running down his side! Fortunately Keith wasn't aware (he is more than a bit squeemish!). After a bit of repackaging by the nurse (who was also called Keith), Linda and I finally managed to squeeze in a couple of hours catnapping in the chairs. 

We had expected Keith to be discharged home but the surgeon decided he should have a second night in their care. After dropping Linda at Keith's, grabbing a quick shower and bite to eat, I came back to the hospital to spend Friday night catnapping in a chair beside Keith's bed.

At 5.45am I got a phone call from Aaron saying that they were calling an ambulance for my mum as her chest infection had got worse and she was having difficulty breathing. Fortunately my sister, Leanne, was able to go with her so I didn't have to tear myself in half to be in both places at once. 

Keith was discharged on Saturday evening and I took him home with the intention of calling my sister and racing back to London if necessary. My body had other plans though and exhaustion took over. I stayed awake long enough to eat then promptly zonked out on the sofa.

Racing back to London happened at 8am on Sunday morning after a call to my sister to find out that my Mum's heart had been affected by her diabetes and she was struggling to breathe. First stop, Mum's house to grab some of her things. Next stop Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich to see Mum. She was switching between a nebuliser and an oxygen tube. She looked very ill and the decision was soon made to transfer her to Kings College Hospital in London as the QE didn't have the dialysis equipment needed. Leanne went with her to Kings to get her settled and I went home for a sleepless night.

Monday I went to work. The joys of being a locum mean if I don't work, I don't get paid. I am lucky that I have a very good manager who agreed for me to go home early to get to the hospital each night. 

Monday evening, Ed drove me to the hospital where Leanne met us before we went into the room. Its not often my sister is visibly upset; she's a nurse and very practical, however she dragged me off to a side room to talk to me before I went in and explained how bad the situation was.

Mum was on haemofiltration, a more gentle form of dialysis which takes 24 hours to complete a cycle. Mum's body is not strong enough to cope with normal dialysis. Mum has pulmonary oedema (fluid on her lungs), pulmonary embolism (blood clots on her lungs) and the diabetes has affected her heart muscle. 

We were stopped by the doctor on our way to see Mum and taken back to the side room to talk. Never a good sign. Anyway, the doctor explained that my Mum had suffered a massive coronary insult (cue inappropriate laughter from me, wondering if her heart had been calling her names - stress does funny things to me!), in short, a massive heart attack. The oxygen in her blood was dangerously low, despite the oxygen mask and the fluid on her lungs was stopping her from being able to breathe properly. 


The doctor advised that they need to do an angiogram to see whether or not they would have to redo her triple heart bypass. Bad news in itself as Mum was not well enough to have it done plus the fact that she has a very low change of surviving an anaesthetic.

Crap all round really.

So after tears followed by pulling ourselves together, Leanne went back to see Mum and left me with the task of phoning people. 


Honestly, we thought that was it. We thought we were going to lose her.

A week later and she is still in Kings. Somewhat improved. They've drained a lot of fluid from her but on Sunday night had to give her a blood transfusion as her haemaglobin levels were so low.

Today they are doing the angiogram. We wait with bated breath for the results.

Watch this space.

Change of plan

Ooops! Keith fucked up! Didn't prebook tickets for the gig tonight and now they've sold out. FAIL!

On the plus side the change of plans means we are now all sodding off to Chelmsford to see Iron Man 2.

Update.....

Fucking Awesome!

I managed to get hold of the builder.

He forgot so isn't coming today.

I am fucked off!