Out of hours

While we were preparing dinner on Thursday John mentioned that his elbow was sore. I had a quick look at it but there wasn’t anything to indicate a knock or bruise. As we’d been Tesco shopping that morning we just put it down to him twisting it the wrong way either handling Wizzy or the shopping bags.

It had been a little uncomfortable for him during the night so I suggested he have another hour in bed. We hadn’t anything planned that day other than our usual Friday night take-away in the evening so nothing was spoiling.

When he finally rose at midday, he looked rough. His elbow was now swollen and slightly red yet there was still no bruise to indicate a knock, which was a little perplexing.

John felt a little better in the afternoon so just pottered around in his work room. I was busy working on my laptop and watching some DVD’s in the living room, when he came downstairs at his usual time to head out for the Friday night pizza, or in the case of this particular Friday, Chinese. 

Looking extremely grey he asked, “can you check to see if I have a temperature as I don’t feel so good. I’m hot, achy and shivery”.

I hunted out the thermometer from the medicine box but the reading said his temp was normal. I wasn’t convinced so said I’ll try again later after reading the instructions in case I wasn’t pressing the right buttons on it.

“I think you should go to bed”, I said.
“What will you have to eat”, he asked, seeing as there would be no Chinese take-away that night.
I reassured him I would find something and also a way of getting it from the kitchen to the living room – walking with two crutches does limit your carrying ability somewhat....

After getting him settled in bed I went into the kitchen to sort out some dinner. We always keep a couple of frozen pies in the freeze for emergencies so I would have that and some oven chips.  While they were cooking I racked my brain as to how I could get them into living room. 

I eventually came up with the idea of covering the plate with cling-film to stop them sliding off, then put the plate into one of the large recycle grocery shopping bags.  It was a tight squeeze as our new dinner plates are larger than the previous ones. I had intended on slipping the carry bag handles over my fingers whilst gripping Stickies, but the bag kept bashing into them and I was worried the plate would break.

Time to put plan B into action. Using the bag handles I was able to stretch out my arm, put the bag on the floor, walk the couple of inches to the bag then repeat the process until I got to the sofa in the living room. It was an extremely slow process but I got there in the end.

It was about 11.30pm when I retired to bed. John was still feeling pretty lousy so I took his temperature again. This time it did show that he was running a temperature. His elbow was now extremely sore and swollen, bright red and very warm to the touch.  

Earlier in the day John had googled elbow pain and everything was hinting at tennis elbow. Given his new symptoms I wasn’t convinced so whilst John was sleeping I got my Kindle Fire out and did some searching.

Whenever I kept putting in John’s symptoms it came up with the same answer – infection, see your GP immediately. It was the early hours on a Saturday morning. Our GP surgery doesn’t work weekends and the earliest appointment to see any GP was four weeks (on Friday morning I checked the status of the prescription I’d ordered online and out of curiosity looked up available GP appointments).

Having suffered at the hands of infection before (eight weeks in hospital and a stay in intensive care) I am a little cautious. Even though it was 1.15am I woke John and explained my concerns.

“What about ringing NHS direct”, I suggested, “they might be able to help”.
I know they’ve had a lot of bad press but the odd times I’ve used them they have been very good.
“It’s worth a try”, replied John.

A couple of press one for this, press two for that later I passed the phone to John. The advisor took the various details and advised John to take some paracetamol to bring down his temperature and arranged for an out-of-hours GP to give him a ring within the next six hours.

The GP rang at 6am and had a long chat with John. Not wanting to blow my own trumpet, I was right. John had an infection of the elbow joint so the GP would fax over to Lloyds the chemist a prescription for some antibiotics. 

Having read the blurb what went with the antibiotics I don’t think the GP was taking any chances. There are two strengths of this particular drug. John has the strongest one and has to take two of them four times a day for a week.

I’m pleased to report that John’s feeling a little better. His temperature is back to normal and the shivers and aches had gone. His elbow isn’t as swollen, sore or firefly hot as before. The redness though is still there, in fact its spread nearly to his hand.  John, however, was warned that would happen.

Whilst the symptoms of the infection have subsided, he’s been hit by the side-effects of the strong antibiotics, so is feeling a little spaced out. Bless him...

Marie

Black and blue

"You may get a little bruise", said the nurse....

Marie

Long time no hear

Sorry there hasn't been any blogs for a while but there hasn't really been anything to report.

As I mentioned in the previous post I was hoping to be discharged from hospital the following day. Everything was going great for me to leave then three hours before we were due to catch our train my wound started to bleed quite heavily. Agnes, my nurse, called Professor Cobb who came immediately. It was now 50/50 whether I would be able to go home that day.

The Prof asked what time our train was. 1.30pm, but as we required assistance getting on the train, we had to be at Kings Cross twenty five minutes before hand.

He had to dash into theatre so instructed Agnes to put a pressure dressing on my hip. He would then come back to see me around the time we would be due to leave to say either yes or no.

True to his word, still in full theatre scrubs, he came back at 12.45pm and checked the wound again. He would discharge me on one condition. I had to let my body heal slowly so had to promise to take it extremely easy at all times. His departing words were he did not want to see me on the ward again.....

We saw the Prof on Thursday as it had been six weeks since my last op. This time around it was a real hard slog as I'd been banned from doing pretty much everything. I was allowed to put some weight on my hip but I had to wear a full leg splint to stop my knee from bending so walking was extremely difficult. Bending and stretching were severely restricted this time too.

Still, he gave me some good news. My hard work has paid off and my hip is fine. Whilst I'm desperate to get out and learn how to walk again I’ve got to take it really easy and use Wizzy more than stickies as he doesn’t want my shoulders and arms overdoing things - he doesn’t know that I do boxing so they’re a lot stronger than they look....  However if I behave myself then I should see a big improvement in my walking by the summer. 

There was though one bit of bad news. I'm still not allowed to climb stairs. Whilst there's no chance of the hip popping out the Prof is concerned the muscles aren't strong enough to support my hip so wants me to slowly build them up. 

I go back and see him in January so I'm hoping he'll say yes then. 

Marie

Deja Vu

When I saw Professor Cobb on the 2nd August for my post-op appointment I was expecting him to say that everything was fine with my hip.

I'd been really good in not bending or stretching so was shocked when, after looking at the x-rays, he said my hip was in fact dislocated and had been for about three weeks.

Normally when a replacement hip dislocates the pain is excruciating. However I never felt a thing, which was why it came as shock. The Prof reassured me that I hadn't done anything wrong it was just one of those awful things.

So I'm back in the King Edward VII Hospital having it put back into place. The op took place yesterday at 7pm (I was first on the Prof's evening list) and he's really confident that it won't pop out again.

I've been up walking, and although I have to wear a leg splint to stop my knee from bending as this could weaken my hip otherwise, I am able to put weight on my leg for the first time in four years.....

The Prof had hoped I'd only be in a couple of nights so I've got everything crossed that I can go home tomorrow afternoon.

Here's hoping.......

Marie

Six weeks

Gosh, I can't believe it's six week today since I had my hip op. Where has the time gone?

Nothing really has happened since I last blogged - hence the reason why things have been so quite.

I've been keeping myself amused with plenty of hand sewing. You can read all about what I've been doing over at my new blog  Gertie's makes and bakes

We go back down to see the Professor next week and I'm hoping he will be pleased with my progress, especially since I've been behaving myself and doing what I'm told (so unlike me!!). 

I know there's a long road ahead - for a start I still can't put any weight on my leg for at least another three months - but fingers crossed it'll be worth it in the end.

Marie

Back home

Just a really quick blog to say I'm home from hospital. We got back from London on Saturday and am slowly finding my feet - excuse the pun !!!!

Will do a proper update soon.

Marie

Time flies by

Time can really drag when you're in hospital so I went armed with lots of things to keep me busy as being bored in hospital is horrible.

I brought with me my laptop, my Kindle Fire, a couple of magazines, two needlepoint cushions (you can see one of them over at my craft blog 'Gertie's makes and bakes'), a Silversea needlepoint glasses case I got free when we were on our cruise last year, a couple of small Christmas card cross stitching and my big cross stitch project, a baby tiger cub.

Ok, it does seem a bit much given that the Prof said I should only be in for about two weeks. However days in hospitals are very long - they are if you're an NHS patient anyway. Last time the day would start at 6am !!!!

Here at the private King Edward no-one comes to wake you up at 6am. You can stay in bed for as long as you like (in fact it's positivity encouraged). The longest I stayed in bed was until 10.45am (Mary my nurse decided I looked tired so made me stay in bed). Once I'd been washed, dressed and had some physio, it was lunch time.

Then there's the afternoon nap from 1.30pm till 3pm. Another round of physio to follow and before I know it, it's dinner time. No sooner is that over then they're asking when you'd like to settle down for the night.

As well as all that the staff are so friendly here that there's always someone popping in for a chat.

Consequently I've hardly had time to touch any of the things I brought with me. Still, I'll have plenty of time to do them, and more besides, given that I'm going to be laid up for several months.

Marie

Food, glorious, food

The last time I was admitted to hospital for my hip problem I spent eight very long weeks there.

The first couple of weeks I was pretty poorly as I was recovering from blood poisoning caused by the hip infections, so food was the last thing on my mind.

Once the infected hip was removed and the IV antibiotics started to work the hospital hoped that my appetite would pick up. Sadly it didn't. 

A dietitian put me on high calorie, multi-vitamin and mineral milk shake drinks twice a day to try and get me to eat again. If anything it did the complete opposite as they were disgusting !!!!!

Sweets, crisps, etc were banned on the ward. However they made an exception as they were desperate for me to eat something, anything, so John was able to bring in contraband.

I'm not a fussy eater. I love quite a lot of different kinds of food - Italian, Chinese, Indian, French, a little Mexican as long as it's not too hot. The problem is I hate meat and two veg dinners. Always have done. That was the majority of what the Sunderland Royal hospital served.

The hospital dietitian was so desperate for me to eat something that I ended up having meals taken from special diets - Halal, Kosha, gluten free - as they were anything but bland. I even had meals off the children's menu!!!!

Meals here at the King Edward VII hospital are a little different. Each morning, just after breakfast, you are given three menu sheets to complete (your 'homework' as one of the food servers calls it).

The first sheet is for dinner that evening. You get a choice of three starters, three 'salad' main and three or four hot main dishes. To accompany the hot mains are various choices of side dishes too.

For dessert there's at least four options plus a huge variety of ice cream and sorbets, and to end, six difference choices of cheese and biscuits. 

Breakfast can be continental, full English or if you're hungry, a mixture of both !!! For health and safety reasons egg yolks must be cook until it's hard. So no soft boiled eggs or runny yokes are allowed.

Lunch is pretty much the same as dinner. Instead of starters you get the option of jacket potatoes or freshly made omelettes with various toppings. There's several hot or cold main options, with desserts similar to the dinner menu.

If you just want a light lunch then you can order a variety of sandwiches and baguettes. 

When John visits he's able to have meals with me as they have 'guest menus' which have similar options to patients.

For dinner tonight I had chicken liver pate for starters; grilled turkey escalopes on a bed of creamy mashed potato, grilled asparagus and a creamy mushroom sauce, with a side dish of mixed salad for my main; and a lemon cheesecake with a biscuit crumb topping for dessert.

 

I thought you might like to see a photo of how it arrived.You certainly don't get this on the NHS.

 

 
Oh and before you ask it was yummy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marie

On one condition

I'm pretty sure that the Prof lives at the hospital as he pops in at all hours. This morning he arrived at 7.20am.

The nurses were concerned about my wound oozing a little and that my hip appeared to swollen. He had a quick look then said everything was fine and nothing to worry about.

I asked him about going home as we'd had a chat about it on Sunday. Originally the plan had been for me to stay for two weeks. However by Sunday I was doing so well he couldn't see any reason why I couldn't be discharged Wednesday.

Whilst I would've loved to go home then, sadly John can't get down to London on Wednesday. No problem said the Prof, just stay until the weekend.

I didn't want to build up my hopes as we'd been here many times before when I was last in
hospital, only for something to happen and I couldn't leave. Hence the reason why I asked again.

The Prof's reply was still the same - this weekend. However there's one condition. I must take it easy. Normally with a hip replacement you can't put much weight bearing effort on the hip for six weeks. I'm no allowed for at least three/four months.

Still it's a small price to pay to get my leg back.

Marie

One small step for Neil.....

......but a big one for me.

The physio's decided to try me walking up and down stairs this afternoon and I passed with  flying colours. Yeah !!!!

Professor Cobb is really pleased with how thing's are progressing, which is good news. He called in this morning with his two registrars who help with the op. They wanted to see how their handiwork was doing.

Everyone, from the domestics to Matron, is so friendly and helpful. The food is superb and they even have a wine list!!!!!

Marie

Stepping out - Moving up

Another day, and another step along the road. Yesterday Marie was walking with a frame. Today she was walking with her old familiar crutches. With warnings from the Physio about taking things easy ringing in her ears she walked to the bathroom, removing the need to be washed in bed.

In other news, the Professor is very pleased with how things are going, and there is a possibility that we'll be home within a week. Provided Marie agrees not to overdo things ...

John

Stepping out

This morning the physiotherapists arrived to get Marie out of bed. They then got her walking along the corridor, then sat her in a chair. This went down very well, as Marie hates lying in bed. You can probably see from the smile that walking was good too.

All in all, everyone is very pleased with her progress. Her consultant, Professor Cobb pops in at odd times and expresses his satisfaction. Sometimes it seems as though he never sleeps. He performed the operation at 4:30 on Thursday, and called in to see Marie afterwards. Then he was there before 8am the next day. He called in as we were having dinner yesterday (yes - I'm allowed to eat dinner with Marie in her room !!) then called in just before 10am today.

Marie's room is right above the hospital main entrance, and the flagpole is accessed through her window. At 7:25 this morning, a man came in and took down the hospitals own flag and replaced it with the Union Flag in honour of the Queen's birthday parade.

Once she is used to sitting again, Marie says she will start blogging herself.

John

Marie's adventure in the Big City

As many of you will know, Marie has been in need of a new hip for some time now (if you want the full story, see The Joint Journals in the sidebar). To cut a long story short, after four years of searching we finally found someone with the skills to do the job. Marie had her operation late yesterday afternoon, and everything is looking good so far. She is in the King Edward VII hospital in London, and it's all rather grand. This is Marie just after afternoon tea arrived.

More updates to follow.

John

An emotional rollercoaster

It’s been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster recently.

No sooner had we put my Mam’s house up for sale, we got a buyer for it less than 24 hours after the ‘for sale’ sign went up. It’s been all hands on deck to clear out my Mam’s things. In the end we had to get a skip to get rid of a lot of stuff as there’s only so much you can give to a charity shop. It was upsetting to see my Mam’s house, the only family home I’ve know, end up as rubbish.

It was quite upsetting saying goodbye to the house as not only was it the only family home I’d known, but it was the last link to my Mam.

In February I mentioned that we’d been to London for an appointment and hinted that it may be good news. I can finally review that it is wonderful news.

The appointment was at the King Edward VII Hospital, (the Queen’s hospital no less.....) with an orthopedic consultant (he’s also consultant to the Queen....) who has yes to giving me a new hip. Given that we’d been told on several occasions that the damage was too severe to operate, Professor Cobb has studied the scans and x-rays, and after performing the actual operation using 3D imaging, is confident he can – in his own words – ‘re-attach my leg’.

The operation and stay in hospital isn’t cheap. You could buy a decent car for what it’s costing us. However if it’s a choice between walking and not walking, then there’s no contest.

My op takes place on June 13th and the Prof is confident that I’ll only be in hospital for about two weeks. As the hospital has wi-fi I’m planning to keep a day-by-day account here on the blog.

Watch this space for more news.....

Marie

There's a frog in my throat

I’ve got laryngitis!!!!

At first I thought it was just a sore throat from the lurgy that we both had. However as the lurgy disappeared, my sore throat didn’t. I developed a horrible cough and started doing frog impersonations...

Our GP practice is very strict on handing out antibiotics so I’ve just got to let Nature take its course.

Croak, croak, croak, croak (that’s have a good weekend.....).

Marie

Well note

Sorry for the lack of blogs but we've both had the lurgy.

John got it first and spent the best part of four days in bed. He then very kindly passed it onto me – payback time as I gave him the lurgy in November….

He had to make a rare trip to the doctors as his chest wasn’t too good and whenever he moved the room spun so much that he was losing his balance and throwing up !!!!

John was diagnosed with a chest infection and viral labyrinthitis (inner ear infection). The doctor gave some tablets and a sick note for two weeks, but said if he felt well enough he could go back to work before the two weeks was up.

A week into his sick note John felt well enough to go back to work so advised his boss that he would be in the following day. He got an apologetic email from his boss saying unless he got a note from his GP stating he was fit to work, he isn’t allowed to return until his sick note is up. 

His sick note runs out on Wednesday, however he can’t get an appointment to see a doctor, any doctor, until Thursday.

So, although John wants to return to work and his boss wants him to return to work, he can’t until Thursday. Madness !!!!!

Marie

The Mod Walker

When we left the hospital after the surgery on my wrist I was given a walker to use as I wouldn’t be able to use Stickies (my elbow crutches) for a while. 

The walker is similar to the one I used for a couple of days when I first had my hip out. It’s a zimmer frame shape but has wheels at the front and arm rests and handles.

The arm rests and handles resembles the bicycle frame that cyclist use when they doing their time trials, so we have named the walker ‘Bradley’ after Tour De France and Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins.

Bradley came with us when we went to Stratford for a few days last week. Thankfully Premier rooms are large so there was plenty of space for both Wizzy and Bradley.

There was a new sewing shop in Stratford which I made a beeline for. I was certainly not disappointed. My credit card is recovering from a severe work out !!!!!

Marie

A light at the end of the tunnel

After a wait of nearly 10 months I finally went to hospital on Monday for Carpal Tunnel Surgery on my wrist.

The holdup was because occupational therapy and physiotherapy had been fighting over who was responsible for arranging help for me to walk. As I’m not able to put any pressure on my left hand I can’t use my Stickies.

The whole thing has been a bit of a farce. I was moved from my original consultant’s patient list, as he had a huge surgery waiting time, and put onto the books of a newly arrived lady consultant.

A surgery date was given, however OT and physio were still arguing who was going to sort out a walker for me, so that date had to be cancelled.

I was then moved to another consultants list (no idea why…..) and yet another date was given and then cancelled, because OT and physio still couldn’t agree as to who was responsible.

I received a phone call from consultant number three’s secretary to say that OT and physio had finally decided who was responsible – physio as it turned out – and that someone would give me a ring to see what I would require.

Just after we came back from our cruise Number Three’s secretary rang to ask if I could come in for my op in two days time. Sadly I had to say no as it was too late to arrange time off work for John.

Eventually a date was sorted so John could take some time off work to give me a hand – no pun intended!!!!

As I hadn’t heard anything from the physio about arranging a walker for me I rang Number Three’s secretary a couple of days before my op. She assured me that physio were well aware of everything and that they would come and see me before my op to sort out a walker.

When we arrived at the hospital at 12.30pm John decided to stay and wait for me as I was first on Number Three’s surgery list and the op would take less than twenty minutes.

I asked the nurse who was booking me in when the physio would be coming to see me. She had a blank look on her face so I explained what had been agreed. It would appear the Day Surgery Unit knew nothing about it and after phoning physio, they too were in the dark about it. Isn’t NHS communication wonderful!!!!!!!

While I was waiting for the physio to come Number Three popped in to introduce himself.  He was curious as to why it had taken 10 months so I explained what the holdup had been.

The physio finally arrived at 2pm (she had forgotten she had been paged….); by which time Number Three reluctantly had to put me to the back of his surgery list as he couldn’t wait any longer.

After trying out various walkers a suitable one was found, then once I’d changed into surgery attire, I was allocated a bed on the ward.

I eventually had my op at 4pm and by 4.25pm I was back on the ward eager to go home.

By the time I’d been helped back into my clothes, had a glass of water (I couldn’t leave until I’d had something to drink – they had wanted me to have a cup of tea and a sandwich but water was quicker) and a trip to the loo (again obligatory), it was 5.15pm. Finally after been given a list of do’s and don’ts I was eventually allowed home.

I did feel sorry for John, as, bless him; he had been waiting for nearly four hours!!!! Thankfully he remembered to bring a book with him...

Marie

NHS time

I had an appointment yesterday at 6.30pm to see my GP. It was just a review of some new painkillers I’d been taken.

The phone rang at five past six. It was the doctors surgery.

“Hi Marie. You have an appointment with Dr Blake today at 6.30pm”.

“That’s correct”, I replied.

“Unfortunately Dr Blake is running an hour and a half late”.

The surgery closes at 7.30pm.

“I can give you an appointment for Friday morning at 10.10am”.

“I’m sorry but that’s no good”, I said.

“Ok, how about ten to seven this evening….”

Try working that one out !!!!!!!!!

Medically speaking

Things have been very quiet in the BOGOF household – as usual – so I thought I’d briefly keep you up-to-date with all things medical (a full various of events will appear in the Joint Journal – when I eventually get them written up !!!!)

Not content with being on Kermit’s, the Man Himself and the Back Man’s consulting books, I’ve now on another two - with one more to be added later….

The first one is a pain consultant – other wise known as the Pain Man. My GP referred me to see him as my painkillers weren’t working and she’d ran out of idea’s as to what to give me. He upped the doze of one lot of the painkillers and changed the one’s I take on a night time. I go back to see him sometime in October.

The second consultant is a neurologist – other wise known as the Hand Man (even though she’s a woman. I named her that before I knew she was a female ….). Back in October I began experiencing problems with my left wrist. My GP thought it might be Carpal Tunnel Syndrome so referred me to see the Hand Man.

After performing various tests on my wrist she confirmed it was CTS. I was then sent for a further test to determine how bad it was. The test showed that I had ‘moderately severe’ CTS and the only cure is surgery.

I am now waiting on a mobile physiotherapist to come and fit me with a wrist splint to wear in bed, with an appointment to see a Hand Surgeon to be made once the splint is in place.

I finally got to see the Back Man, having waited a year to see him since my last appointment. When I saw the Pain Man he kindly explained what had happened to my back so I was pre-warned as to what the Back Man was going to tell me. He showed me my MRI scan and no wonder I am in so much pain - the vertebra had moved a huge distance away from my spine….

The only surgery that can be done is to have rods put in my spine and to try and fuse the vertebra together. However it’s a very risky operation (paralysis, loss of wee and poo functions, etc) so I’ve got to think about it and see him at the end of this month. The answer will still be the same as the one I gave him in June – no way !!!!

My ‘count to ten and smile’ attitude to life is getting harder to do. My GP isn’t sure if it’s the cocktail of 31 tablets I take each day that’s causing it or it’s everything just catching up with me. Counselling is out so I’ve got two months to see if things settle down, then I have to go on the happy pills…..

Marie