I said at the end of my last health blog that I hoped that the anaesthetist in charge of my prostate operation would take the same sunny view of my blood clots and their effect on my operation as the doctor in charge of my colon cancer operation. I.e. their presence would not stop the operation going ahead. Short version, he did not.
Short version, I would have to wait three more months for the clots to clear naturally preferably six before the clots had gone and bleeding to death during the operation wasn’t likely to happen. I can honestly say this was a low point possibly the lowest point of this whole sad saga – so far.
The thought of months more with the delightful bypassing catheter was almost more than I could bear. No end in sight. The only date I had in my diary was what I took to be a pre-op meeting at Newcastle at the end of March and who knew what this would bring. It’s a long way to go to be told sorry we can’t do it while you have the clots.
In the meantime I’ve started my campaign of living with my catheter. This is multi-part strategy. First up trying to avoid the by-passing. Without this we could probably cope with it all and this would mean every day is a victory. (Two weeks after writing this I’ve had some success with this but I dare say this issue is not sorted yet).
Second see if you can enjoy life – set up rewards / treats. Visit the pub for food and drink twice a week; buy and read Lee Child / Jack Reacher books (all of which I’ve read before and indeed own somewhere. But they’re the only books that hit the spot) and three, have a visit from friends once a week. Oh and continue with one afternoon dog walk every day. Tick off the days one at a time.
That’s what I’m doing, been doing since I wrote the above about two weeks ago. As I said writing a small amount every now and again. Since I last opened my laptop things have happened or at least the promise of things even if they are what seems like, at this point, an awful long way in the future.
For example Newcastle at end of March. And this is only for a ‘meet your surgeon’ date. We did try to avoid what is likely to be an uncomfortable car trip up to the hospital itself for, not even the pre-op meeting and certainly not the operation, but we have to go apparently. All that is even further in the catheter clad future.
Before that I’ve got 4 scans lined up. These I assume, because the letters don’t say, are to check out my blood clots. These are important because unless they’re dissolving under their own volition, there won’t be any operations of any kind – prostate or cancer.
That will do for now I think. Needless to say I’ll keep you up to date with future developments which I hope will be effective and soon.