nothing happens... till it happens

One of the things about writing a blog is that if nothing happens -- there is nothing to post. Or if life is just routine -- there is nothing to post. So for the last week -- there was nothing to post.

My life was just a routine, sort of. Until  Wednesday, when it all hit the fan... So, to make a long story short...

As if I would ever make a long story short :-)

I'll start near the  end of the previous post and work towards today (which is Thursday). Be assured, though, that all ends well !

Last Friday, I have my hair shaved off. Though not really shaved, just cut as close as possible with the hairdresser's clippers. There is an apology, So-and-so has gone home sick. I wonder if so-and-so is the accredited "men's" hairdresser and could have shaved closer. No matter, I come out looking close to bald. Close enough that my radiation-thinned patch no longer stands out.

Next day I'm shaving. I look in the mirror and think, What the heck. And shave all the way across and round my head. This is a bit risky -- for the fashion conscious -- because most of what I'm shaving is out of sight.

Was my hair short before? Now it is *really* short :-)  There's still a stubble -- I can feel it. But the shaver won't shift it. I don't think that my electric shaver likes the hard -- skull -- surface. I run the shaver all over till -- as far as I can feel --- nothing more is being removed.

Deb was out, now she's back. And yes, she can see the difference.

That -- Saturday -- night is a card night. The same group of us playing, every few months, for the last twenty or thirty tears. (There's a newcomer who has only been with the group for a couple of years.) We're all getting older, lots of nasty to serious health problems amongst us. We swap notes -- then  play cards.

Since I'm the terminal case, no-one likes to beat me... As if! I lose money over the night... But then, I usually do. If everyone else is trying to let me win (which I doubt) I'm sure I could still lose :-) Deb drop

​s​

me here. Pete gives me a lift home. (Thanks Pete!) A very enjoyable evening.

Not much sleep that night, so I sleep a lot on Sunday. Till the family arrive for dinner. Another enjoyable evening :-)

Then Monday and Tuesday... Start with the double radiation treatment. And grandson-minding on both days. When the grandson has his afternoon nap -- so do I. Still, I'm getting tired... Very tired.

Also, the weather is warm. I try to drink plenty but no, I suspect that it's not enough.

Monday night... I eat far too much. I just enjoy eating what Deb cooks :-) Tuesday I have indigestion. Finally, I take one of the "mild" anti-nausea tablets. And some anti-indigestion stuff that is bought over the counter. It works but I still feel too full and somewhat bloated.

Wednesday, the digestion is sorting itself out. I still feel tired -- the last few days have been fun but hectic :-) With not enough sleep. My stomach is fine but not feeling ready for more food...now that's serious, for me!

Deb drops me off for my weekly blood test (checking my white blood cell count) and the radiation treatment. Then she heads off to  work. After my zapping I plan to get to a Medicare office in Subi then ... walk ... home. Already I am thinking, No not walk, there's a bus for part of the journey.

Medicare very easily sort out a claim that, for some reason, could not be done online. Then I start walking towards home. Or, at least, towards the bus which will take me two-thirds of the way.

As I'm walking... I'm tired. Tired enough that I do my "VSE" -- visual surveillance of environment... I watch where I am walking, remember where I have been -- and make sure that it all seems to make sense. No worries, it all makes sense! So I'm not -- according to my self-analysis -- I'm not heading for a seizure. Phew :-)

But I am very tired.

And very glad when I reach the bus stop.

And glad when a bus arrives -- as expected -- within ten minutes.

Home at last. I put on a load of washing -- and sleep. Wake up, can't be bothered

​hanging

 anything on the line so toss it all in the dryer. And go back to sleep.

I've been tired since I arrived home, just before lunch. Too tired to eat! Now I'm tired... and I have a headache.On a scale of 1 to 10, it's a 7.

​ ​

Which is very, very bad for me. Plus, sleeping in odd spots has hurt my neck and shoulders. I woke up (Wed  morning) with aching neck & shoulders. Now they are actually painful.

I consider

​searching

 the cupboard for painkillers... Then I would need to email Deb to ask which I should take... But I would rather groan and curse at the pain.

​ Rather than move to the cupboard...​

Every hour or so I move position to try to ease the neck&shoulder pain. And curse the headache. Take a drink of water.Go back to sleep. Till Deb gets home.

It all hurts too much for me to do more than just wave at Deb and tell her that I feel crook. Okay, I'm a bloke. I don't deal well with pain. But by my standards -- this is awful. I hurt so much -- specially the headache -- that I don't like to move. At all.

Finally -- when I don't even stir to eat dinner -- Deb interrupts her own dinner to take me to the Emergency Department at SCGH.

It's a different place when you arrive conscious!

There are two queues:

​visitors

 and patients. I sit while Deb queues. After five or ten minutes there is what I had expected would be the very first

​ ​

thing to happen: someone walks down the "patient" queue and (I

​ ​

hope) asks what is wrong. It seems to me that "triage" needs to be done asap...

​Though

 I guess that if you fall over you will move to the head of the queue.

Deb had phoned Robbie. He agreed, ED is where I should be. Not just for my symptoms but because I have recently had my brain opened up. He joins us at ED.

I'm recorded, then moved to an ED bed. Measured, tested, questioned. Have a cannula inserted in a vein (yuk)... Just in case they need to add

​something

 to my blood, the doctor explains.

I have a CT scan of the brain... Same scanner-

​operator

 as last time, according to his records. I believe that I was unconscious, that time.

Then we wait. In ED then in an observation ward. I'm okay, I'm lying on a bed. S

​n​

oozing quite a lot. Deb Has a hard

​chair

 to sit in. She is hungry and cold. (She must be cold. I have a blanket and I'm getting cold.) We sent Robbie home with a promise to tell him when we were heading home -- or whatever

​ actually happens​

.

Close to midnight and the brain scan has been analysed: no sign of anything serious ... other than remains of the tumour-removal surgery. (Why do they call it "resection"? What's wrong with "surgical removal"? Guess I'll have to  read up on the meaning of resection.

With all this bed rest my aches and pains  have been fading. My headache is at 2 out of 10 -- still bad by my usual standards but nothing worth mentioning. All good!

aside: Once again I am impressed by the quality of care at Charlies. Every doctor, nurse, technician, whoever, has an air of competence and caring. Of course I am trusting them with my life :-) But I have no doubt

​ at all​

that I am in the best of  hands.

So, home with two bits of advice: Get back on the 2mg of Dex every day. (I had just reduced to every second day.) And see my "oncologist in charge" to update her on what

​has ​

happened.

Thursday morning: I take the Dex. Arrange an appointment with the oncologist. Head  off (with Deb) to radiation treatment. Followed by shopping.

​Feeling

 a lot better. A bit tired, not very hungry, otherwise fine. Something that I ate just passed

​through

 in an extreme hurry but -- to me -- that's better than the very slow alternative!

Wednesday was bad but the final

​analysis 

​was

 good. Today, it's back to routine. I hope :-)

====

My analysis:

At one stage of Wednesday afternoon I did think, Wouldn't it be funny if Deb came home and found me dead... But I did a

​mental 

check of how I was feeling -- terrible -- and decided that no, it was not *that* terrible.

By myself I would have waited a few days to see if all symptoms cleared. For Deb -- who cannot see inside me -- ED was essential. It's also reassuring to *me* that the brain is pretty much as expected. No sudden change.

I have been operating on too little sleep. Plus, the chemoradiotherapy has a side-effect of "fatigue". Yes, I was fatigued. Flat out for the previous few days added to both physical and mental exhaustion.

Mostly, though, it's the warm weather...

I try to drink more but it's not enough. I  know that, too: I go to the toilet but pee less. I should be drinking a whole lot more... I'm an old man, no-one is surprised if I constantly go to the toilet :-)

Warm weather, outdoor activity, walking towards home on Wednesday -- I was dehydrated. Possibly with some sun-stroke. I wear a hat but there is still a lot of sun.

It all added up to a major headache.

The aching neck and shoulders is also related to warm weather... but differently. It was a warm night, I slept with less blankets  -- and was cold! So I  curled up, slept at odd angles -- and strained my neck. Then slept on the nearest couch -- or chair, or floor -- and made it worse.

The worst offenders: dehydration and a touch of sun-stroke. Oh tsk, tsk, Mr Lam told me to not get dehydrated. Silly me :-(

On the other hand: I'm glad that I did have to have a CT brain scan. The various doctors may not be in a hurry for the next scan because they know that nothing will change for many months.

I, however, am glad to know that nothing has changed. So my emotional attitude is more positive than it was a week ago. Because "nothing has changed" also means, "nothing worse has happened".

And now --  I hope --  back to routinne :-)

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"If you're not living life on the edge, you're taking up far too much room." … per Ginger Meggs

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Now so much more than a simple holiday blog:  https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
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