Smoxx

18/01/2010 15:50

Finally the day for Brachytherapy draws near…

Been here 3hrs at the hospital
Sitting silently – reading
The ward I was to go onto is closed in isolation
Virus attack!
So I have been seated in a waiting room
For “a bed to become free”…
Somewhere else…

Watching the bustling around
Of nurses and staff – a continual hum of chattering noise
The occasional other visitor in here
Leaving after short stays…

This waiting room could double as a ward
Has all the wall fittings – light, oxygen, vacuum, emergency button and radio
6 stations – but chairs and tables rather than beds
A wheelchair with a rolled mattress
Furniture randomly assembled
Messy…but clean

Can’t get wifi here –intermittent signal
Phone works – so Im not completely cut off

4th day of my liquid/fruit only diet…
Hunger pangs have subsided since yesterday
Evian and blueberry juice for refreshment
Feels a good idea to cleanse myself out
As a supplement to this hospital procedure

Now I could start to get bored….:(…

18/01/2010 18:55

Finally they found me a bed!
Mere ward – just along the corridor

This is an 800 bed hospital – and with endless coming and going
The “bed allocation managers’ “job must be a nightmare

Friendly nurse got me some soup
Energy drinks to come later
As no solid food for another day or two.. …
>And an enema to look forwards to later this evening<

A young Muslim junior doctor took my blood

And checked my records
Yes it really IS me…
The paperwork here is endless

This place is BUSY to the max
Non-stop bustling nurses and auxiliaries
Beeping monitors
Making of beds
Clinking of equipment
And various “noises” from other beds
Here in my 6-bed ward
(Seems Im the “youngster” …gulp)

18/01/2010 20:52
Enemas happen
Not so bad – less unpleasant than colonic irrigation
Not sure I would want to be a nurse though….

So Im pyjamarised now
Feeling like a “local”
Curtains drawn round my bed
Homely…
Enjoying my reading
(Autobiography of a Yogi)
The hospital has an unavoidable routine
I’ll hit the sack soon
Next enema at 6am
I gotta be really cleaned out for tomorrow
The BIG day

20/01/2010 10:54
Woah!
Yesterday was definitely NOT a blog update day
I was full on from 6.30a till 6.30p

I was woken for the enema and nil by mouth
My 5 days fast meant there was not much to “enemate”
Then the docs came by at 8
The Anaesthetist – a hip, cool guy dry humour
Then the surgeon – he who inserteth the rods
Then away we go at 9

I walk over to anaesthetics
Get cross examined as to who I am – again
(Forgotten to tag me… armbands are us – one on each for good measure)
Then up on the table
Catheter inserted into my lower spine
For the spinal tap (& I thought they were a rock band…)
Then a jab of “Gin&Tonic” – to chill me out
After 5 minutes I was Veeery chilled…
And numb from the waist down
An interesting experience..
As my mind told me I could feel it all
But the mind couldn’t move anything…!

Then lifted onto a wheelie bed and into Theatre
Full of people – 10 or more– bustling around
There I was wired up, fluid drip, ECG tags
And suddenly I saw my feet moving – man-handled into a frame – as if by magic
No sensation whatsoever
This took 20 minutes whilst 15 rods (plastic tubes) were inserted into the Prostate
Under ultrasound imaging – the probe well up my rear – but nothing felt (=good!)
Also a catheter into my bladder for drainage purposes (more on this later…)

Then to Recovery for 20 minutes – and the first of maybe 50 vital sign checks
Blood pressure (every 10 minutes from then on, pulse and oxygen
Apparently LBP can be a problem with spinal freezing…
(And what do they do with all this data?!)

Next the porters came and wheeled me to the other end of the hospital
Oncology radiotherapy department…

Into a big room for the procedure
A fun team of 6 ladies – jovial and friendly
Keeping me entertained for over an hour whilst the treatment was”planned”

This involved relating a photo of the positioning of each rod to the irradiation dose to be applied
Into each tod is inserted a radioactive pellet on a wire
This is moved from position to position (up to 20 positions per rod)
So 300 spots irradiated in total – each for just a few seconds
And managed by a computer controlled machine
Hi-tech to the max! (– and bear in mind the Prostate is just 5cm in diameter)

So the planning takes time and involved the doctors poring over a computer monitor
After all this the rods were connected to the machine and everyone left the room
Whilst I went radioactive – it took just “12 and half “minutes
Then I was unhooked and wheeled back to the ward to “rest”
For 45 minutes…(It was 1pm…)

Then the whole thing was repeated
Back to anaesthetics for a top up of the spinal tap
Then recovery for 30 minutes
Then the Brachytherapy room again
The planning had to be repeated from scratch
“In case something has moved”
This finished by 4.30 but then I had to wait an hour as there needed to be
5h between radioactive treatments – gulp – for the cells to “recover”

Luckily a full iPod and some good conversation with the staff kept me occupied…
(Im flat on my back and frozen throughout…enjoying the intricacies of hospital ceilings))
They were very concerned for my boredom – but actually it was fascinating to just be frozen and staring at a ceiling…until the headache arrived…
Quite severe – probably mainly due to chemicals in me and nil by mouth
So a wet towel was applied to my forehead – it helped

Finally the procedure Nr 2 happened – just 10.5 minutes this time
All the tubes and the frame to “hold it in place” assembly was removed
Quite a sight!
Farewell thanks applied…to the ladies
(What they saw and I didn’t – gulp)
I was wheeled back to the ward to recover…6.30p – phew
Totally exhausting doing nothing…

The evening was fine
Just some developing discomfort with the catheter
I t was draining OK but I felt like I couldn’t pee…
Not nice and painful
The nurse tried a few tricks which helped and finally I fell asleep for a few hours as the pain subsided
She wasn’t allowed to remove the device till the morning after doctor’s check ….

EXTRA BIT
Bladder catheter

This is a bifurcated tube pushed up the urethra into the bladder – maybe 20cm or so long
One side of the tube has a balloon on the end
Once inserted – this is filled with saline solution via a syringe
The balloon inflates and keeps the tube “locked” in the bladder – cleaver stuff!
The other side is the drainage side – attached to a bag I had to carry with me.
Something in all this caused the “can’t pee” irritation

After a fitful night I was awake at 5am and hoping the docs would come early
To announce me discharged and that the catheter could be removed
Which they did – subject to the check that I could pee unaided

Finally the nurse came by
Do you want to remove the catheter yourself?
Why not?!(I screamed inside…)
Actually pulling it out (after she had deflated the balloon!)
Was not as bad as I had expected – and the “relief “was worth it anyway
And – yippee – I could pee unaided
No blood, no diarrhoea, no soreness…..a specimen treatment it seems…
So all is good and Im outa here…

A 48-hours that felt like 10 days…