Thursday 31 March 2011

Hospital visit ...

... over and - well, we wait! Seems his kidneys are very complicated - aarrgghhhh! Well, guess they had to be as nothing ever seems to be normal where we're concerned. I suppose it's good not to be normal, whatever normal is, but there are times when it would be OK. Yes, really it would *grin* 

Seems both kidneys have cysts but apparently that's not unusual as we age (he said, consultant that is, that most of us have them) however, Paul's right kidney has the 'not unusual' little ones but also has a ma-hoooooo-sive one (and trust me, it is BIG). This ma-hoo-sive one is not filled with fluid as normal but is more solid and has white 'bits' which is calcified 'stuff' and suggests that he's had a bleed into the cyst at some point. Consultant not too worried about it but wants it checked at regular intervals to see if it changes or not. If not it is going to be left alone but if it does then he will be rethinking and action will need to be taken but it will be a last resort. He laughed at Paul's suggestion to 'whip it out' saying that certainly wasn't on the cards. Good thing - there's nothing to suggest cancer *phew!*  

In passing he made comment about the state of Paul's spine. He said it 'wasn't good' Huh? Understatement or what? Guess we didn't already know that - *lol* My comment to that was "that's why he's in a wheelchair" *grin*. He went on to show us on the MRI saying, it's full of holes and got bits of bone sticking out all over the place. Hmmm, holes? Yep, that'd be where he had the laminectomies that took a couple of discs away and were left unfilled for scar tissue to do the job. Guess that last bit never happened if there's still holes 25 years later. Shame.  All the scar tissue went the opposite direction then and mangled all the nerves at the base of his spine - *duh*. The bits of bone sticking out could just be aggravating the pain he gets from mangled nerves. Wise words from consultant? ... "With a spine like that you will have permanent and substantial pain."  Yep, got that one right! Pity he wasn't a 'back' man - he might be able to sort that out as well ... or maybe not.

Anyway, we did come away a little confused. Seems consultant can't understand why oncologist discharged him. He says that, although the cancer has compromised a lymph node, radiotherapy is still an option as it has been found to have benefits even with the cancer in the lymph node, especially when it is being well controlled as Paul's now is. He's told us that he may well be transferred to a different oncologist so it could be that the 'discharge' could be rescinded. The urologist said that he will be discussing Paul's case at their next meeting so that story may continue ....

No jobs done at home - feel really tired today so having some chill out time and even a ready meal for dinner - *lol*! In the meantime, a couple of weeks ago - in fact just after Red Nose Day, one of our forum members posted a little story of an experience she had. I asked if she minded me putting it on blog and today she said I could (she's been on holiday). Take time to read. It is just soooo funny it had me in tears of laughter and it was even worse when I read it to Paul and we both ended up having to wipe the tears away. It's not often I find something that I think is this funny - just hope you do to and please remember ... it is a TRUE story!  Thanks Brenda (Megapixie) - you couldn't make it up!
(copied and pasted directly from the forum - hence the pretty colour ...)

A Red Nose Day tale.
Last week I put my change in the Sainsbury's collecting bin every time I shopped. Today I found I still had a tenner in my purse so thought I'd donate that. No more collections in Sainsbury's, so as I was going to the bank it could get paid in there. I finished my routine banking and then asked to donate, like they said on the telly. The teller said they had no Comic Relief slips, and hadn't actually had any at all this year. Right.......
On to Oxfam. They still have a window full of noserabilia so it's a good bet, like they said on the telly.
I approached elderly till lady and asked to make a donation to Comic Relief.
'Oh no dear, we only support Red Nose Day.'
'It's the same thing, Red Nose Day is a Comic Relief fundraising event,' says I.
'It's finished now' she told me.
'I'm sure that they will accept donations now, and you still have their merchandising on sale.'
'We don't have a donations form for Red Nose day, so you can't give to just that charity, it will be for Oxfam or DEC. Or you can buy something, but it's out of date now anyway,' was the reply.
A browsing customer with a huge and silly grin on his face came over to help me out. His suggestion was a good one, buy a Red Nose and just forget to take it home. The manageress also turned up at this point and agreed that was the best plan.
Right, I decided I would buy a nose, and the manageress said I could pay whatever I liked for it, a tenner then.
The till lady asked me to choose which nose I'd like and scanned it.
'That's a pound' says she.
I gave her the £10 and said I wanted no change. She asked if the £9 was a donation to Oxfam. I said 'no, it's for Comic Relief'. She looked confused, the browsing man's grin got larger and the manageress started to look harassed and I heard a titter from behind the shelves.
The till lady then told us that if I paid £10 for 1 nose the till would be wrong at the end of the day, so the manageress suggested I buy 10 noses and not take them home. Good idea, that's what I'll do. Till lady explained to manageress that that wasn't a good solution as I didn't want 1 nose let alone 10, and by time the next Red Nose day came around there would be different noses anyway so it would have been a waste of money.  Aaaaaarrrrgggghhhhhhh.
Manageress and I assured till lady that it would be fine, just scan the nose another 9 times. Till lady asked me if I'd like to choose a selection rather than just have the one design. I am losing the will to be charitable by now, but for pragmatism's sake agreed and gave her 1 of each to scan. Phew.
At that point the manageress decided that the poor till lady's dignity might just have to be sacrificed and gently moved her away from the till. Mistake! As she moved aside the wrong button was activated and my bill went from £10 to £1,000. Till lady nearly had the vapours, browsing man was now promoted to laughing man. He asked where I was going to keep 1000 red noses. I asked the manageress if Oxfam deliver. Till lady looked at me as if I'd asked a very silly question. Manageress just smiled serenely and said 'only in exceptional circumstances'.
It was agreed that since they could not deliver and I couldn't carry 1000 noses home she'd cancel the transaction and we'd just go with the original 10.
I finally got to hand over my £10. I got my receipt, and as I left the shop I heard a little, elderly voice say' she's forgotten to take her noses' and some stiffled guffawing from laughing man and customer behind shelf.
Sometimes the urge to punch old ladies is very strong. But hey, I did something funny for money and made at least 3 people laugh. If you didn't donate yet, do it for me. PLEASE.


Thanks for dropping by .....

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