Sunday 25 October 2009

A MAN OF MYSTERY

OG’s 2nd MRI in a week again detected absolutely no sign of cancer, his 2nd ultrasound in a week again detected no evidence of iiver disease and after his bilirubin peaked in the mid 70’s it started to level out and then came down. So that is all good news.

The oncologist said that OG is “a man of mystery and, at this moment in time, the most scanned man on the planet”. As it is still not clear what is going on the plan now is to collate all the information and continue with further blood tests and investigations as an outpatient. In the meantime OG was allowed home.

Just before we were about to leave the hospital the liver man turned up, homed in on the immobility problem and decided that a visit from the neurologist would be a good idea. But at 1530 on a Friday afternoon the NHS becomes a consultant free zone. After a two-hour wait the Ward Doctor opted for the immediate discharge option.

Things are quite difficult at home because he is a great deal of pain and unable to walk without help. We must present a comical sight as we re-locate ourselves from bed to chair to loo etc. He uses my shoulders to support himself as I shuffle backwards. Obviously, if this turns out to be a long term problem we will organise ourselves better, but right now we have no aids to help us.

Because of the rapid decline in his mobility one theory is that maybe he has an autoimmune problem. Our GP did make a throw away remark a couple of weeks ago when he wondered if the problem was not actually caused by cancer at all but, if that was the case, it would be so incredibly unlucky. A funny way of looking at things, but I know what he means.

One funny occurrence, I accompanied OG in the ambulance shuttle between hospitals when he went for his MRI on Thursday. In the ambulance with us was an elderly man on a stretch and a lady in a wheelchair. I started coughing. Eyes turned towards me. I tried to stop. Heads turned away from me. I took a sip of water whilst frantically searching for a tissue in the bowels of my handbag and cough into the bend in my arm, as instructed on TV. Eyes accused. I was so relieved when we reached our destination and I could have a good coughing fit without silent eyes suspecting of me of infecting these frail, serious ill, elderly patients with Swine Flu.


And finally … recently a 98 year-old lady named Irena Sendler died. During WWII Irena got permission to work as a Plumbing/ Sewer specialist in the Warsaw Ghetto. She had an 'ulterior motive'. She knew what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews. Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and in the back of her truck she had a burlap sack, (for larger kids). She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.

During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 children. She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely.
Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most had been gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.
Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize ... She was not selected.
Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming. Funny old world isn’t it?

10 comments:

Maggie May said...

First of all glad OG is at home with you but sorry about the pain and inability to walk unaided. I really hope that they get to the bottom of the cause & it turns out to be none too serious.

As regards the Nobel Peace Award...... makes me sick! How could they think that the global warming was more important?
That lady was a saint. Whole families must be grateful to be alive today, just because of her. In fact it must run into thousands of descendants who wouldn't be here today, save for her tool kit, her bag and the dog.

Nuts in May

Mr. Nighttime said...

You know, that's funny, as I was going to ask if they had done an autoimmune panel on him. You might also wantto ask the liver specialist if they might want to do an ERCP to check the bile ducts. (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography) Not a fun procedure, but with good sedation, he should tolerate it fine.

Eddie Bluelights said...

Glad OG is at home but sorry about his pain - I wonder what it could be but so glad it is not cancer.
The lady saving 2500 lives is wonderful and she will be rewarded above for this one day - a much better award than she could possibly get here if the authorities condiscended to do it. I am rapidly having my bellyfull of the way humanity (or inhumanity) is going in this sad and sick age in which we all have to live. I agree with my sister Maggie - the lady is a Saint. ~ Eddie

ADDY said...

So glad OG is home. He will feel much better in his own surroundings. Do wish they could get to the root of the problem though. Trouble is test appointments take longer when you are out of hospital than when you are in it. Can you at least not get hold of a zimmer frame to help out at home? The hospital social services should set that up for you.

RNSANE said...

Glad that you have OG at home where you can be the nurse! He will probably do so much better.

Thank you for the information on Irena Sendler...what at true heroine! She surely deserves more recognition and acknowledgment than she received.

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

It is good to have OG at home Maggie, but I would feel more secure if someone appeared to care what was happening to him. He just lays in bed in tremendous pain, totally exhausted and unable to walk. That can't be right can it?

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

I know that the oncologist is still trying to get OG a liver biopsy Mr N. If he can't get him help, what chance have I?

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

If we knew that it was going to be a long term problem Rosiero we could get ourselves geared up with home aids, but not knowing is the worse.

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

The problem is RNSANE that I am not the best nurse in the world especially when he spends the days in peaceful sleep and the nights throwing hissy fits!

RNSANE said...

Goodness, seems like OG needs to get his schedule reversed! That peaceful sleep should be at night so you can get some shuteye as well. Otherwise you'll be a Nurse Ratchett like "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".