Drain Drain Go Away – And then it was now

 All Blue Underlined texts are links to other sites and stuff

This post will finally bring my blog up to date, so that from now on, I will be posting about stuff that will be happening in the near present or as recently happened.

With what appears to be the almost certain onslaught of Chemo, this approach makes sense.

I was hoping to make two gigs playing with the band I am in, on 16^th and 17^th of March, but as I still had the drain in, this was not going to be possible.

Mothers Day was a bit of a sod for obvious reasons, but there was some good news when it was decided the next day, that my drain would be taken out. I had grown accustomed to the bulky git after 12 days and had finally remembered to take it with me when I moved out of the chair. I had often walked off with it still on the floor which would mean it tugging into the stitching under my arm. A sensible person would have learned a lesson long before I did, because it was bloody painful.

One of my voluntary positions is as secretary of The Plumstead Make Merry and that Wednesday a meeting was due to be held at our gaff, as SJ is the Chair.It was decided that I should not attend the meeting due to the fact that I was still on Tramadol. The reasoning being that it was making me a bit stupid and I would waffle on, about nothing in particular.

I was not sure they would know the difference, but there you go. I stayed upstairs and continued my consistency of losing at Football Manager.

I had realised that I would have to go to the doctors to see what was going to happen about my signing on. I did not want to have to go back on JSA again, so soon after all the agro of the last few weeks. In fact I was still to receive the money owed to me by the DWP from the start of the month.

I went to see Dr Frank and explained the situation and the fact that I would be back in hospital in less than three weeks. To my surprise he signed me off for three months. I guessed then that this would not be all over after my second operation.

The rest of the band came over to see me on 28^th March and we had a reasonably quiet rehearsal. It was good to see them and it was only then that I realised that apart from the funeral I had not mixed with anyone else.

Only one of these is a cardboard cut out.

I had missed gigs and football matches where I would normally see a lot of my mates. It does concern me that I am becoming a bit of a recluse, as I have been content to stay at home. Apart from seeing doctors and nurses I have just watched the TV or come on the computer to write my blog, look up various BC related things and have the obligatory look on Facebook, Twitter and look at emails (oh yeah and a few sessions on Football Manager). Before the operation, I thought I would spend a lot of time writing some songs, but I have not had the inclination. My creative juices have been spent on BC.

Another missed opportunity was missed on the last day of yet another eventful 2012 month. I was due to go on a sponsored walk with friends at Leyton Orient from Leyton to Charlton Athletic (who Orient were playing and would of course lose to later in the day). This was to raise money for an amazing fellow Orient supporter who we lost at too young an age. The money goes to Macmillan Cancer Support. Sadly, I did not feel up to the nine mile walk.

April started off where the previous three months had finished. This time nothing as traumatic, but even so! And it WAS April 1st.

I had to be towed home after my car broke down in the fast lane of the A12 with myself, three of my offspring and SJ in it. It was very very frightening (thunderbolt and lightning) indeed. Cars were swerving to miss us. Luckily a really kindly soul stopped his car and pushed us to the safety of the side of the road, confirming my belief that most people are decent.

So it was back to Queen Mary Hospital Sidcup on 11^th April to have some lymph glands removed. My bed was nice, by the window, but alas no mini bar (not that I could have indulged). As usual I got talking to the guy in the next bed, who once again was a decent chap. I was shocked when he told me that he was having botox on his anus. The reason for the op was due to a split in the sensitive skin just inside the anus. The aim is to weaken the sphincter muscle by cutting one side of it (Hey, I am branching out from BC info to anal fissure). I felt better about my op after talking to him. Especially when he said that he was hoping for a trout pout.

Talking out of its backside

I was taken to Theatre at 8:20am which was nice and early. Again I walked to the anaesthetist and luckily for me Everyone Loves Raymond (the new E4 staple now they have lost Friends) was on. Not a Dom Littlewood show in sight.

This time there I was only on the trolley for about 3 minutes before I went under, which was a shame as I was having a good chat with a bloke in a mask.

So Mr Harper, what do you think about bankers?

I had some wonderful ice cream back at the ward (well three tubs in fact). It tasted like cinema ice cream from the 1970’s, which was usually sold by a young lady with a tray and a light on it.

I did have one cringe worthy moment, when the nurse asked loads of questions and asked if I had a hearing aid and I replied with ‘pardon’. OK! I thought I was being funny, but then I heard every other patient in the ward reply with the same quip. The poor nurse must get really fed up with that. The only other time I have been in a similar situation was when ordering a meal once, I asked for Crocodile Wings and said ….. And said.. God, I can hardly write it down. ..I said (you guessed it) ‘Make it snappy’. I laughed like a drain (but not a drain filled with my goo) until I heard everyone else on every other table say the same thing.

Anyway, I digress.

I was out of the hospital around 4:30 and back home. Job done, or so you would think.

Once again dear reader things would not be that simple. I was about to have some food (in fact a lot of food, as you can imagine, I was rather hungry) when SJ noticed that the drain was leaking. After ringing the hospital, the ever reliable Chris, drove me back to the hospital. It was decided that it should be taken out. To push it back in, would cause an infection. I was assured that all would be fine.

It seems that the stitching was not tight enough. We were there waiting for two hours. It was no ones fault, because that late at night, there was only one doctor hanging about.

So that brings us more or less up to date. Except that as of now, my armpit is sore and swelling up rather a lot. I went to the hospital yesterday so the breast care team could look at it. They wanted to inject the area to drain it off, but as I am diabetic, there is a strong chance that it may become infected. If it gets worse today, then I may have to go and have the injection anyway. I was told that there is a risk of the wound opening if it gets worse (YUK) which is a shame, because the wound was healing nice from the first op.

There was one other thing that happened this week that for a change is good news. I have been chosen to appear as a model at The Show. The annual fundraising event by Breast Cancer Care. We had a photo shoot for the event programme as well as having our measurements taken for the big day by Hilary Alexander, The Show stylist, and Lesley Goring.

This is going to be massive, so amongst the challenge of probable Chemo, I will also be updating you all on this event.

Love an peace innit

XX