Another surgical procedure...............

Now, if you were paying attention earlier (and I could hardly blame you for losing the will to live, let alone for failing to pay attention) you'll know that I have two major conditions; advanced kidney cancer and sciatica/back pain. It was the search for the cause of the latter that led to the discovery of the former. Having been found, treatment for the cancer understandably assumed priority and the back pain went onto the 'back burner' ('back burner' - geddit?) So, with the cancer treatment now established as relatively routine it was time for the back to come to the fore ( Ta ra! - 'Oh well - please yourself.')

In terms of my day-to-day quality of life it is the back/leg condition that has the greater impact so I was pleased (as well as apprehensive) at the prospect of being re-admitted to hospital.

So, yesterday then I was back at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital for an epidural procedure. As a good number of you will know this entails injections (of, in my case, steroids) into the base of the spine. After kitting me out with some very see-through, paper underpants and the usual operating gown that served to provide public display of the aforementioned underpants (together with their contents), they gave me a light general anaesthetic. For this reason I'm unable to tell you a great deal about that which occurred after I lay face down on a bed/table configured in such a manner as to give even greater prominence to my posterior. An oxygen mask was strapped to my head and I was asked to tell the anaesthetist when I felt myself going lightheaded.

I was still waiting to give him the signal when I woke up in the recovery ward. I spent an interesting hour there watching beds with their prone patients come and go. Eventually I heard a young nurse calling for 'Frederick' and guessed that this might have been me. We got to know each other well in the next three hours of bedrest that I was required to take under her, and Diana's, supervision. She is Filipino and hates GPs, dentists and hospitals unless attending as a professional. After a pleasant meal of chicken soup, chicken pasta and ice-cream (following the 'complications' arising from my last stay in hospital, I've given up asking for the meat-free, dairy-free diet. Do you know, I even suspect that the chicken wasn't organic?!) I settled in to a prolonged spate of txtng while Diana went to find a restaurant.

My three hours on the ward passed very quickly. The Filipino nurse's concern for my welfare, as well as a desired glimpse of my surgical underpants, led her to insist that I sit on the bed for several minutes before standing and 'making a twirl'. After some demurring on my part she insisted too that I had the porter take me out to the car park in a wheelchair (this is after I had dressed). It was a good decision as the pain in my back was returning.........

And it is now the day after and so far things are as they were. The anaestheic has worn off, the neurological pain in my left leg is still there, as is the mechanical pain in my lower back. They did say it could take several days........... I live in hope.

As for the ulcer, about which I blogged in the last post, I'm pleased and a little embarrassed to admit that it has disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived. Eight more days, chemo-free and I'm back onto the third cycle.

I know, you can hardly wait for me to blog about it.