Again sorry folks as this blog becomes a diatribe of my suffering and how wrecked my life is becoming but as I have said a few times now, I'm using this mechanism to get the facts out to people who are interested and want to know as well as giving me an outlet for my suffering. I write this from my hospital bed, twisted in pain and unable to sleep.
On Friday I went into Ross Hall for a GI Endoscopy with Gastric Dilitation, essentially I had started to become unable to eat as my main tumour was restricting food being passed to stomach and this procedure was supposed to stretch my oesophagus by using a ballon inserted in my gullet which would then be inflated. I arrived at the Endoscopy unit at Ross Hall around 3pm Friday. The procedure was over in the blink of an eye, I had sedation and knew nothing about what happened. Dr Stuart visited me afterwards and told me all had gone well and although I would have some mild discomfort this should only last a short while. Carol drove home, again nurse Carol endured hanging around the hospital whilst I was probed and again I don't know what I would do without her. By the time we got home I was in a pretty bad way, the way I usually feel coming home from Ross Hall. We got home around 6 or so and I spent the next 4 hours in twisted agony popping morphine pills like they were sweeties. At around 10pm I decided that we should look at the guide book for the op, it suggested that if you were experiencing back or chest pain to contact the hospital. We did and they asked us to come in immediately.
We were at Ross Hall within 30 minutes, the place was closing up. We immediately got escorted to the ward and attended to by the Friday night staff. The staff had contacted Dr Stuart who immediately came in. The staff made me comfortable with morphine injections and Dr Stuart organised a CT scan for the next day. I had an X-ray that didn't show anything too sinister and then was put on a nil by mouth regime with a permanent IV course of plasma and antibiotics which seemed to go on forever. I never really slept, hospitals are universally noisy I think. In the morning I had more bloods taken after 3 attempts and went for the CT which revealed a small crack in my oesophagus with air escaping. Dr Stuart was again at hand and the radiology lab then set about a more detailed view of the leak by giving me trace fluid to drink under a scanning X-ray. I could watch the material on screen as I drank it, sliding down my gullet. The prognosis was that although there was a gas escape, this had fixed itself as there was no liquid moving beyond the cell walls and that I should be observed in hospital until Monday and follow the nil by mouth regime with the exception of water.
So here I am 3am, exhausted but no sleep. Throughout the day I've had infusions of paracetamol and injections of morphine but am still in a lot of pain. I'm not sure how much more I can take.
