Well,
I am out of hospital on day release....I came out at 10am this morning and have only just struggled upstairs to the PC and am absolutely overwhelmed by the pages of support from you all....tears are flowing yet again!
It is now day 31 as went in on the evening of Thur 21Jan and had the op on the morning of the 22nd.
I have felt what could go wrong has although not totally true as I am still here to tell the tail so here is a brief summary:
Op went well 20 lymph nodes removed and as far as *** the consultant was concerned all the tumour was removed.
After a couple of days in the HDU (High Dependancy Unit) I was released to the ward where my bowel/Stoma never really got working in fact it stopped making me terribly sick. I had a Nasal Gastric tube inserted....
To relieve the problem a catheter was inserted in my stoma along my small intestine to flush it out - this kick started it off, however it didn't stop it just worked too darn well.
By now I was actually off the saline drip, however everything I was drinking was sucking the electrolytes out of my body and as I was only sipping liquids I managed to pass out in the toilet.
After fitting me with a high output bag I was and still am back on a drip and eventually put on a simple solution called St.Marks (named after the specialist unit at Harrow Hospital that put it together) It consists of sugar, saline and bicarb and I sip a litre only a day of this and nothing else for the past week. I have now been allowed to introduce up to 500ml of other liquids slowly....that cuppa was nice last night, the first in a while.
Inbetween the above I had an abcess on the join between rectum and large intestine which I assume has done me too much harm, I have been violently sick, after my 29 staples were removed the wound burst slightly at the bottom and let out some pressure which a build up of pus had been collecting. I also had strep throat plus a couple of other minor ailments like a blocked catheter....
Things are moving on slowly but surely and I am gearing up to come home although they need to make sure I am strong enough for the next set of treatment....
The test on the lymph nodes came back positive so have a 5 week (daily) course of radiotherapy booked in at Weston Park with a 21 day cycle (14 days on a 7 days off) of Chemo in parrallel. Afterwards I have 3 months of Chemo planned.
Lots to do and battles ahead, I will be back soon to help others as well as myself :-)
All the very best to you all out there - there is so much love swimming around of which I feel very humble - soon I will be back to spread some of my own...
My family are coping amazingly well and are a constant support.
- and *** my Bowel consultants are amazing....
Gods Blessings and much love
Tony xxx
- take care*
