21st to 24th August 2024.
My cystoscopy on 21st revealed that there was a little more of the tumour left from last time. This has been removed and sent for analysis, the result of which will appear in about ten days time. There is now a possibility that BCG vaccination will not be the best course of further treatment.
This procedure had required general anaesthetic. There are several possible after effects of this: wooziness, difficulty of concentration, loss of appetite, constipation, and projectile vomiting. I experienced them all. The concentration problem in addition to the constant distractions going on around me meant that although I did manage to pass my eyes over the words – sometimes repeatedly – of the Dover Thrift Edition of collected Stories of Rudyard Kipling I will not be reviewing it.
The story of one night will illustrate the last two symptoms. Two carers helped me to the Patient Toilet and left me in hope (not in vain) for twenty minutes. During the interval they remade my bed with fresh linen. With catheter attached they helped me back to bed and began to tuck me in. Suddenly all I had been persuaded to eat that day was projected all over me and the bed, which they proceeded to remake.
I seem prone to blood clots blocking the passing of urine and its contents. This continued to be a painful problem until, the morning before the above event, my catheter was removed. Later it was replaced and I was told I would need to stay in another day. On the final morning the urologists said I could go home with a catheter, which I did. The day was a Saturday.
Now, at the weekends, only essential procedures are carried out and non-medical staff are at a bare minimum. Because my legs had spent these nights pressed to the end of my too short bed, my replacement knees had been kept so bent that I couldn’t walk without help. I would therefore need a wheelchair. These are normally available for hire with a £5 deposit at the hospital entrance. Today they were all locked up and there were no porters. Neither was there anyone at the closed reception to ask for information. When Jackie arrived on the ward I suggested she asked the nurse on duty to find one. She did find one that functioned like the dodgy supermarket trolley which cannot be steered. Jackie was told that after she had struggled to negotiate this, containing all my 15 stone and my bag, along the corridors, into the lift and along the paths outside to the car, she must return it to the ward.
I can assure you I will not let that happen again.
It was good to be home.