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I'm Carole, living in London, happily married and mum to two amazing boys.I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Rectal Cancer in April 2010. Surgery took place in November 2010 and I now have a permanent colostomy...Spinal mets were then diagnosed in October 2011...In January 2012 I was told of further spread to the hip area (multiple lesions)..My life expectancy is now 6-9 months. Walk alongside me on the last part of my experience with this..

Friday 12 November 2010

Cool, Calm, Exterior .... Not quite the same inside!

Hello all,


Firstly thank you for all your kinds messages of support, I have printed these out and plan to take them with me this afternoon when I visit the 5 Star Hotel KC, she'll love your messages of encouragement.

Right... where were we up to?..... Following the surgery she was kept in recovery overnight, the following day she was then moved down on to a normal ward. This was good in one sense but worrying in another, good she managed to skip going to intensive care but worrying because the normal ward is far busier and care for about 35 people split between 2 or 3 nurses, now maybe it's just me but you would have thought having major surgery would at least entitle you to one on one care for a few days, oh yeah I forgot this is NHS care..............

Any one in the future that tries to tell me how good the NHS are is likely to get a punch straight on their nose. So many stories within the first few days it's a joke really, I won't go in to them now as I'll let mum do that once she is back home, but for example, whose bright idea is it to give a newly qualified Nurse 10 patients to deal with and also someone who has just had major surgery.

In terms of mum's condition, She is on constant epidural, once back on the ward she initially took a turn for the worse as her blood pressure dropped dangerously low, looked as white as a sheet, swollen face and she was carrying a temperature, their concern was she has picked up a small infection.
After monitoring her BP is was decided that they will do blood transfusion during Wednesday night, 3 or 4 pints I believe and start a course of antibiotics.

During this time I am portraying my normal cool, calm and collected exterior (those of you who know me then you know I'm so laid back I'm practically horizontal most of the time) but to be honest inside my stomach was in knots (no pun intended) but thinking of the bigger picture and showing mum and also Rab that I am confident things are going in the right direction. Surgeon came round to see her and again confirmed surgery went as planned and was done all through keyhole, in his words "no more cancer in you Carole".

Went back to the hospital yesterday afternoon and was totally relived to see her looking a lot more alive to be honest, colour back in her, face swelling gone down. She tells me she had a bad night and hardly no sleep, doctor stayed with her the whole night due to the low blood pressure during this time she overheard them putting a crash team on standby for the whole night, can't even imagine what that would feel like knowing you are in potential danger.

However the good news is that the transfusion seems to have done the trick as they are no longer concerned about her BP as now over the magic 100 mark, she remains very weak and as only awake about 30 mins during the 4 hours I was up there.

She did make me laugh when she woke up and said I should go as she wasn't much fun to be with, had to explain to her this is not a social club and I haven't come up there for the sparkling entertainment at Hotel Kings College, not her job to be the hostess with the mostess, I'm sure we can give her 3 months annual leave any longer than that then I think she is just trying it on.

love to all and will update you again after the weekend

p.s Shents I don't remember that game at all, already erased from my memory, lol


Oh and I better mention Wednesday's victory for The Arsenal against Wolves, 0-2 away victory with the superb Marouane Chamakh grabbing both goals









xxxxx

16 comments:

  1. How utterly frightening for you all, James. I am so glad the transfusion seems to have done the trick and that your mum is on the road to recovery. xx

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  2. I agree with you 100% James about being on a 'normal' ward compared with HDU. After a liver resection to remove a tumour I was on a ward with 2 staff nurses and 1 auxilliary looking after 25 very sick ladies. They do their best but can't possibly monitor everyone closely and it's left to the machines you are hooked up to alarm if anything goes wrong. She will be exhausted and then very tired for a long time. Lots of sleep, lots of rest, lots of TLC and pampering required.
    Fiona

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  3. Of course a doctor would be there all night.Dont you watch Holby??Its the norm.
    Sooooooooo much love to you brave lady,show them what you are made of.I would say kick ass but that would be rather sore point right now !!!!
    Love to you all
    Rose xxxx

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  4. Thanks for the update James
    Well seems your mum is now on the road to a full recovery " no more cancer inside you now Carole " that is just fantastic to know.
    I understand that the recovery will be a long one but everyday she will be getting that little bit more stronger and back healthy again ready to enjoy life to the full
    I am ever so pleased that things are going the way they should now .
    Tell your mum she is one very brave person and sharing this terrible journey on the net will be alot of comfort to those people who are just starting on their own cancer journey and will give them a lot of hope
    All the best to Carole and her wonderfull family x

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  5. Hello m'laddo! Good to hear from you! Great to hear your mum is improving - albeit after a bit of a shaky start (it's not all that unusual after such lengthy surgery for there to be a bit of a 'blip' that needs a blood transfusion to sort it out - must have felt like the world was spinning off its axis tho'!!). Poor thing is likely to be very tired and groggy for quite a few days. Do her the world of good to get as much sleep as possible. Give her all my love next time you see her.

    How are Rab and Dj doing? Been thinking of you all.

    Much love xxxxxxxxxx

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  6. The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love – Hubert Humphrey
    Sending you both Carole and strength to your family. James, being a 'cool dude' is good for Mum and her friends so keep it up. Please!

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  7. thanks for the updates James, send Carole my thoughts and love, we're all thinking of you all xxxx

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  8. Shocked about no intensive care - I was booked in 2 nights in advance as standard procedure - not keyhole though but 4 hour op. Had 4 pints blood "pushed through" myself for similar reasons I believe! So long as they keep on top of pain when epidural out I reckon your mum will do just fine. I think I was too late wishing her luck - please tell her Irene is still being an evil bitch and I don't know what day it is by way of excuse. Baby steps Carole, don't push yourself too hard and remember any bad days are followed by better ones xx

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  9. Thanks for keeping us informed on mum's progress James.
    Carole, I think you are a great lady and am thinking of you and sending hugs. x

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  10. Yo Rab and Dj, how are you all coping at home, you can only eat so much pizza!

    Give Carole a big but distant and carefull hug from me.

    T x

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  11. Now that I have been re-admitted to cyberspace after many days absence due to ISP failures [Bad old Virgin Media ;o( ], I must say what a superb job Dj is doing keeping us entertained and updated...... Carole must be so proud of her boy(s).... the way they are coping.

    Please pass on my love and adoration to a brave Mum

    David [Carole]XXX

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  12. Hi J, thanks again for update which you write so well. Please give all my love and would you be so kind to print out the following Greek Homework I did and show her that although I'm not there right now I'm thinking about her all the time. Love to all the family, xxx

    My subject was to describe a favourite person.


    Θελο να περιγραψω την αδελφη μου
    I am going to describe my sister
    Ειναι πολλυ σημαντικη για εμενα
    She is very important to me
    Ειναι η καλυτερη μου φιλη
    She is my best friend
    Εχει κοντα καστανα μαλλια
    She has short brown hair
    Καστανα ματια
    Brown eyes
    Εχει ομορφη ψνλα μαγουλα
    She has beautiful high cheek bones
    Η αδελφη μου ειναι κοντη
    My sister is short
    Ζυγιζει πενητα κιλα
    Weighs 50 kilos
    Μεγεθος οκτω
    Dress size 8
    Φοραει παπουτσια 38
    Shoe size 38
    Της αρεσει να μιλαει να συζνταη
    She loves to have conversation
    Και της αρεαση πολυ η φρονοιδα
    And she is very caring
    Αυτη ειναι ομορφη προσωπο ειναι καλη προσωπικοτητα
    She is a beautiful person
    Δενατη και εζυπνη
    Strong and intelligent
    Την σκεφτομαι πολυ
    I think about her a lot
    Επειδη ημασταν παντα μαζι και ειχαμε ενδιαφερουσες συζητησης
    Because we always got together and had interesting talks
    Για την ζωη μας και την οικογενεια
    About life and our family
    Την αγαπω παρα πολυ
    I love her so much
    Και θα ηθελα παρα πολυ να ειναι εδω στη Ροδο
    And would like her to be here in Rhodes

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  13. Oh and well done Arsenal, at least Carole is on the winning side x

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  14. James, thank you for the update. I continue to keep her in my prayers, as well as all of you. Send her my love, Rose Mary xoxoxo

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  15. Hi Carole,

    I am so glad to hear that you are back on a normal ward and making progress. I presume that the mosquitoes were Morphine induced? Not a nice feeling as I recall and, I also had a lot of sickness at that stage - Hope that you avoided this!

    James is doing a great job of keeping us all informed of your progress. Judging from some of his comments, he shares your sense of humour and sounds like a lovely boy.

    Just to let you know that I am thinking of you each and every day and and am with you every step of the way.

    Don't look too far ahead. Take things day by day and they can only get better from here on in.

    Big hugs and Much Love,

    Jolamine xx

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  16. Hi James,

    I'm a friend of carols, from a parenting forum. We all met a few years ago when DJ was a lot smaller, but we had a great time and I have been following her blog, whilst also exchanging emails.

    Thank you so much for this update. There will be blips, I'm sure, but the fact that she has such a loving a supporting family will make all the difference, plus the fact that she is so stubborn!

    Lots of love to you all

    Clare (in Somerset)
    xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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