So all good news last week right?
Alex finished treatment on Monday, no major nasties out of the treatment aside from a few burns which were not as bad as they could have been and a nice way to start the week. Until Tuesday…
After dinner on Tuesday I thought I’d eaten my dinner too quickly to allow Jo enough time to get out to the gym in the evening. Pretty uncomfortable, but it felt for all the world like savage indigestion. As it settled down overnight I really didn’t think too much more of it until Wednesday afternoon when the same pain returned but significantly worse. So much so that I didn’t attend SES training that night, which is something of a rarity for me to skip training so Jo knew I was in pain.
Thursday morning was no better, so off to the Dr’s office I went. Walked in and described the pain, the area it radiated from etc and got told lie down. The abridged version was once she peeled me off the ceiling having poked the general area that my appendix was, I was told to head off to hospital ASAP as my appendix was inflamed and given my reaction I was likely to have surgery to remove it that afternoon.
So after a couple of messages and calls organising a ride to hospital (Thanks again Mum!) I was off to Wakefield St. Checked in and triage underway through the Emergency Department. A poke, a prod and a couple of needles later (I HATE needles!!) I was drugged out of my brain but only in mild pain.
Part of the procedure to ensure that the appendix is inflamed, requiring removal is a CT which happened early afternoon. They gave me the contrast dye, I had a massive hot flush over my body which wasn’t pleasant at all and went through the machine. Within seconds of the dye going in I felt odd though, very odd. Then came nausea, closely followed by vomiting (I hadn’t eaten anything for the best part of 20 hours so that wasn’t nice either, not that vomiting ever is), then itchy skin and what appeared to be hives starting to boil up in my skin. Oh goodie, an allergic reaction to the dye – In case there wasn’t already enough to worry about over the last few weeks and particularly today.
Sooo after an injection of Hydra Quarterzone, a separate anti-histamine tablet and being on an oxygen mask for a while I was starting to feel a bit better. But the pain was back so I got another needle, urgh!
They found a bed for me as I was going to have to stay overnight post surgery, following the reaction to the contrast dye the surgery was delayed a little just for safety sake as well. So I got shuttled off to the ward to wait patiently.
The nurses were lovely, they kept trotting in and checking on me (I know it’s their job, but you can be nice about it or mechanical – they were nice) to ensure I was comfortable and teasing me about not being able to have anything to eat or drink.
The highlight (probably the only one) of the day, was a very hazy conversation with Jo on Viber which included a lovely voice message from Alex which said “I love you Daddy, you be a big brave boy like me. I love you”. Despite the discomfort, it amused me enough to make me chuckle and think what an amazing and beautiful boy I have.
The surgeon arrived around 1800 to have a quick chat and let me know what was going to happen, then he disappeared to get ready for surgery as he had another patient waiting to have their appendix out that night also. So back to waiting again, I was really pleased (despite my blurry haze) to have a drop-in visitor come by for a chat which passed the time really quickly while waiting to head into surgery. Thanks for the company El! 😀
The surgery nurses arrived around 1930 and wheeled me off to the holding bay to wait for my surgery. Chatting away, the anaesthetist was like a little ninja who shortly after arrival told me that they were just about ready and then attached something to my canular and squirted it in. Didn’t hurt, didn’t seem to do much at first so I figured it may have just been a flush. Until another nurse arrived and asked to do some forms with me and the response was “You better make it quick, he’s just had whopping dose of medaz” referring to a sedative which is more a mental sedative, it’s kind of like being drunk but without the booze bill, the nausea if you overdo it and no risk of hangover. I can tell you now from first hand experience, it’s GOOD SHIT! The room started to go blurry, I heard the words “Night, Night Phil” and the next thing I knew I was in recovery. 😀
It’s a very odd reality coming out of anaesthesia for me; I was the holding bay, then recovery, then back to the ward and it felt like I only blinked my eyes between the three locations. The nurses seemed very happy with me as I was both hungry and thirsty overnight, meaning I could be detached from the drip and have one of the IV lines out.
It may have been a cold piece of toast, rice bubbles and a coffee but the brekky the next morning was wonderful. Following a quick visit from the surgeon who asked me to stay in until after lunch, I was reasonably comfortable other than the gas (they use to inflate your belly during surgery) that has pooled in my shoulder causing stabbing pains.
My Dad came to get me and drop me home (Thanks Dad!) after I was released some $900 odd later. Got home and chilled out for the afternoon. It was lovely to see Jo and the kids, Alex came and gave me a very gentle snuggle in the evening which was great.
The last few days have been rough, for me physically as I’m struggling for energy to get out of my own way let alone help with anything around the house and the constant discomfort (now downgraded from pain) from the surgery. For Jo its been rough both physically and mentally, she’s dealing with 3 dependants who need her attention and usually at the same time. I can’t thank her enough for being as awesome about this as she has been, she’s a truly amazing woman – Thanks honey.
I hope in the next 24 hours or so I’ll improve enough to fend for myself 100% which will be nice and maybe even enough to help out a bit with the kids, but i’m not allowed to lift anything more than 10kg for at least 2 weeks post surgery; having lifted Jenny yesterday, that was enough of a reason why – it hurt but I’ll get there.
Back to reality next week, back to work while we wait for the Dec 4 scan that will give us the results of Alex’s radiation therapy.
Thanks everyone who called, messaged, emailed etc through the last 5 days or so with love and support. It means a lot, sometimes it feels like we can’t take a trick but hey; after this if you can’t laugh, when can you right?
