Saturday 24 September 2011

Friends and Viagra Part 1

Ady is getting into this blogging lark, and although he hasn’t read it himself, he is finding it amusing when he chats to people who have.
It’s great, cos they know exactly what is going on, what we are thinking and feeling as we travel on the cancer bus. A lot of what is written on here, is not what you would necessarily talk about with people face to face. It makes the visitor feel uncomfortable if you do, but at least they can catch up on here and then visit and have a good laugh about the funny bits !
I love my blog because I can empty my brain of garbage, ready for it to be filled the next day. I can also look back to see how far we have come and giggle about the funny bits.

Ady has started taking small walks to build up his strength. He wanders up to the village and back and buys anything light to carry home, so I still have to get the milk!
He usually bumps into people he knows. They immediately tell him how well he is looking, which, to Ady, is an invitation to lift his top and show his dressings on his stomach *rolls eyes*and pat his piss bag. He then launches into a detailed explanation of his operation and piss problems before moving onto his bowel movements and woes. He generally ends by saying “You might think I look well, but you should know what I have been through”....In a way, I think it irritates him that he does look very well and not particularly ‘cancerous’.
Last Friday, he went to see his friends who are the local mechanics at their garage. I told him I had to go to work at 11.15 and the chickens were out. He said he would be back way before then to keep an eye on them....he wasn’t back by then at all, so I shut the chickens up and drove off to work. I got to the end of my road, and there he was, standing on the corner of the street, chatting about prostates to some bloke with a big smile on his face. I had my window down, and heard him say “Oh look, there is the wife, I am supposed to have been home hours ago!”..Oh well, at least he is happy !
Ady has become a right old curtain twitcher too, and spends a lot of time nose poking at what everyone else is up to, reporting his findings to me when I get home.
He has also started opening the post again, like he did last year, and phoning me to tell me what letters have arrived and what are they about...my filing system has become a complete mess !

Before Ady’s surgery, we were told by the onco nurse that the plan of events would be, operation, catheter out two weeks after, see surgeon for results 3 weeks after and PSA test 6 weeks after.
The nurse who discharged him said that that was wrong and the plan of events would be, operation, catheter out 2 weeks after, if you want the results, grab a passing consultant at catheter removal and they will look it up and tell you in the corridor, or phone your GP, PSA test 6 weeks after and consultant in 3 months!
Oh well, I thought, let’s just ring our GP and get the results from him and wait for the letters to come through the door about other appointments.
No letter arrived for an appointment to have the catheter removed, so I rang our nurse to tell her this and ask if I was being impatient, to which she replied that no, I wasn’t and we should have had an appointment by now and she would chase it up. I then checked with her about the plan of events and she said that the discharge nurse was wrong and it will be catheter removal 2 weeks after the op, consultant for results 2 to 3 weeks after the op and PSA 6 weeks after.....blimey noras, I really don’t think anyone knows what is going on and who is doing what! I feel very sorry for people who are not quite on the ball and wont chase things up !
We did get a call from a urology nurse, to say that Ady can have his catheter removed at the new hospital at Pembury, to save travelling to Maidstone...the only problem is, is that he would have to wait another week because the rooms weren’t ready yet. The hospital is brand new and they have only this week moved all the patients from the old hospital to this one. We have to wait for a letter to arrive with an appointment, and if we don’t get one, then we have to ring her next week and she will book us in *yawn*.
All is not lost though, as we did get one letter in the post from the hospital. It was from the surgeon explaining to our GP what he had done. Within the letter, was a suggestion that Ady starts Cialis twice a week to help with his erectile dysfunction.
Ady opened the letter, and asked me what Cialis was for. I grabbed the letter from him saying “Never you mind, you won’t be needing any of that with the state of your blood pressure!” and thought to myself, twice a week? TWICE and bloody WEEK???  Jesus, for all the inefficiencies from the hospital, the consultant was certainly efficient with his letter....and optimistic....

We still haven’t heard from the benefits people, and not received a penny yet, but on the up side, Ady has only forgotten to close the tap on his bag once until he realised that he was pissing down his leg.

2 comments:

  1. I shouldn't laugh at Ade pissing down his leg but I did :0/

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  2. what would happen if he forgot to close the tap and he had an erection? ROFL

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