From then until now.

Lots of people said last year that it would be a good idea to do a blog and so this year, I have decided to do one !

OK I will type what I can remember  as it comes to me everything that happened last year...this could take a while, and I will happily ramble on in my own rambling way making no sense whatsoever, but it will take you less time to read it than it will for me to type it !

So lets go back to May 2010 when Ady got up to go for a wee in the night and as he was weeing, a whole load of muck came out of his back passage, so of course, he woke me up to give me a full description. To cut a long story short, and because I will get bored of typing cos I have got lots to say yet, he went to see his GP's registrar.
She decided that as he wasn't anaemic and she couldn't feel anything 'up there', she would send him for a colonoscopy without any particular rush...so we waited, and waited, and then the letter came for it to be done on 27th August along with instructions and sachets......

26th August 2010
Ady read the instructions on the sachet and mixed the potion, about a pint a sachet and there were two of them!, and duly started drinking...he says it tasted like shite, and shite he did...all day and all evening......

27th August
It said on the letter that it would take about 2 hours for the colonoscopy to happen, so me and the girls dropped him off at the hospital and we went shopping, like you do.
I didn't think much of it and expected them to say he had either piles or IBS which is what his GP usually put his unusual bowel habits down to.
Ady rang me in town and asked to be collected, so off we went and when we arrived, expecting to pick him up and go home, he said that the colonoscopy man wanted to see us.
To cut another long story short, he said that he has found a sessile polyp whilst he was hacking his way through his colon and that he would need surgery to remove it. The girls were with us, who were 9 and 11 at the time and he said that he didnt think it was cancer but wanted him to have a CT scan the next day, oh, and he told Ady to go home and enjoy his kids...hmm, I thought, that is a strange thing to say and arrange, for a non cancerous polyp.....I did wonder if he didn't want to say anything in front of the girls. I am grateful that he didn't.
Google being my friend, told me all I needed to know about the difference between sessile and pendunculated polyps and the chance of cancer being present and the fact that a CT scan was arranged for the next day, I was quite convinced that Ady had cancer of the colon.

8th Sept.
Off we went to see the consultant for the results and yes, it was confirmed that Ady did indeed have cancer...the very thing he has always said that he hopes he NEVER gets.
Mr B and his team were fantastic. The colorectol nurses had a long chat with us and what the next steps would be. They gave us their number to ring as they were sure we would have questions and need reassurance..we were on the phone quite a lot that fortnight!!
As Ady is taking Methotrexate for his arthritis, Mr B ( our consultant surgeon) was concerned that this would have an adverse effect during surgery and he would be very prone to infection, so, we were packed off to see the rheumy guy in an emergency appointment to see what to do.

Whilst we were there, the nurse asked Ady for a wee sample, so off he went and duly piddled in a plastic NHS cup. The nurse inspected it with her stick and said " Goodness me, are you a diabetic?" to which Ady replied "not that I know of but you nurses keep throwing that one at me".."well" she said "you have +++++ next to the sugar, we will have to look into this" and off she trotted telling us to phone her in a few days for the results.
Anyway, back to the rheumy bloke...he said that it would be OK for Ady to stop his tablets for that week, but thats boring cos I really want to say about the whole diabetic saga !!

Me in my state of wanting everything organised and to make sure everyone knew what was going on each step of the way, decided to ring our GP and let him know that they think Ady might be a diabetic and what should we do......The GP didn't seem too bothered, and I got the impression, as usual, that I was bothering him.......so I left it and rang the nurse a few days later to get the results and she said that there didn't seem to be a problem..*confused*
I left a message for the GP to say they now think he isn't, but in the mean time, Ady had gone for his usual DMARD test for his methotrexate and arthritis on the Thursday.On the Friday morning, our GP rang and said to me " I thought you said Ady wasn't diabetic" I told him that I was just passing on a message and how would I know! Anyway, to cut another long story short, it turned out that Ady is infact a diabetic and needed to see the GP on the Monday.
So, two weeks pre op and off we go to see the GP who I have to say, since the cancer diagnosis, was not being overly sympathetic, but in fact, seemed quite, defensive.....Ady was feeling less happy with him and really not feeling any compassion from him at all .He never did like him much tbh.
So, in his office, he told Ady he had diabetes and that he needed to cut out his sugar and not eat white rice or ripe bananas. During this meeting, I asked if he was type one or type two, to which he said type two. I asked him the difference and what it all meant to which he replied " Oh, I thought you would know the answer to that since you asked the question"....what an arrogant shit, needless to say, that was the last time we saw him.

Ady and I were not only very very worried that he had cancer and the operation was looming, but now he had diabetes, which incidentally explained his feeling very unwell for a few years, and our GP was being rude and arrogant and not helpful at all.
We decided that it would be best to change doctors, so I checked with the colorectol nurses that it wouldn't bugger the proceedings up and she said not a problem at all.
I went to register at the new surgery and while I was registering, our new GP was hanging around the reception area, so we had a chat about Ady and he said he would like to meet him before his surgery...blimey, I thought, our old GP wouldn't have given a shit, and here is the beginnings of what is , so far a great GP and good family relationship with him.

6th October - Pre op assesment day.
This all went pretty smoothly until the stoma nurse came in with her range of bags and leaflets to discuss illeostomies and colostomies and stoma care...it then dawned on me that if they have to fit one of those things, even as a temporary measure, there is a risk of him turning over in bed and my finding shit up my nice cream walls in the morning !!!!
Ady found this rather amusing...

12th October - The day before the op.
So, today was a bit nervy to say the least !
Ady was supposed to be in the hospital at 6 o'clock, but we had to ring in the afternoon to make sure a bed was available.
We had arranged to pick Steph up from primary school early so we could get onto secondary school in the next town to pick Charlotte up at the end of her school day.
So, at 2 o'clock, I phoned the hospital to see if the bed was OK, well feckity feck, the bed lady said there was no bed !!! Jeeeeesus, we had his bag packed, the kids organised, mentally prepared ourselves for major surgery, and she was telling us their was no bed??!!! We could NOT believe it....she said ring back at four and she will see what she can do....if I remember rightly, I think I was quite polite.....under the circunstances..
So I rang back at 3 and she said "Did I not speak to you earlier and tell you to ring back at four?" I cant remember my words exactly, but I was quite stressed and Ady was near to tears, and the girls needed picking up, but anyway, she told us to come to the ward for 8 cos they needed to kick out the day cases *sigh*
As we were going out of the door to pick up the girls from school, I heard Ady say "Oh bugger it". I looked round to find him scrambling around on the floor looking for his crown that had just fallen out !! FFS
So, we phoned our lovely dentist lady (such a shame she is leaving) and she said she would fit Ady in as soon as he could get there.
We picked the girls up and shot off to the dentist, decided to leave the tooth out in case it caused a problem during surgery and went home to a nice cup of coffee and four dozen fags for me.
I decided at 7 to ring the ward, (avoiding the old bag bed lady) and make sure they were OK for our arrival. The nurse said she was expecting us at six like it said in the letter...oh triple FFS, so off we shot again and into the car and off to the hospital, I was stupidly worried that we were very late and would miss surgery if we didnt get there on time...dunno why..

So, with Ady settled in after a few hours, me and the girls went home.....

13th October - Operation Day.
Ady and I had agreed previously that if the timing was right, that I would come to the hospital having dropped the girls at school and walk down to surgery with him. He had never stayed in a hospital before and the whole thing was pretty bloody scary for us all.
He sent me a text about 7.30 to say the stoma nurse had been and marked him up in case he needed one as there was a 50/50 chance he would.
At 8 o'clock, as I was organising the girls with breakfast and school stuff, Ady rang saying "They're coming to get me, they're coming to get me now!" so poor Ady had to go to surgery on his own while I pretended all was normal and took the girls to school. I didnt want them going into school knowing their dad was in theatre right then.
Today, I just wanted to be on my own, I didn't want to talk to anyone, I just wanted to be with my own thoughts......
At about half one, the nurse phoned from ITU to tell me that they were expecting Ady within the next hour and she thought she would ring to let me know...I panicked when they rang thinking there was a problem but she reasured me that she was just being nice !

They rang again at about 2 to say he was on ITU and all was OK and they were settling him in...."does he have a bag?" I asked, "No" they said....thank God, my walls are safe I thought.

I just had time to go and see him before picking the girls up, so off I went. Ady looked much much better than I thought, so much so that we decided that if the girls wanted, they could come and see him after school. I took some photos of him ( I will try and work out how to put these on here somewhen) and showed the girls and they said they would like to see him.
Later that afternoon, we all went to the hospital and Ady was pleased to see us. Charlotte just stood there stroking Adys arm with a smile on her face while Steph stood there looking a bit white and said that perhaps she felt a little unwell...
I took her to a chair and a nurse gave her a glass of water and we stuck her head between her knees. I think there were too many wires and needles for Steph, so I asked the nurse assigned to Ady to show our children all the wires and machinery and explain what they were all for...both the girls, and me, felt much better after that !!