Giving Little Away.

Hi. It's me again.


As I am unable to go to far today, because I have to keep my eye on Keith. Boredom has set in for both of us , so I have been surfing the net for answers. I do however realise that I should not take what I read to literal because all cases are different. But it does make me see that doctors really don't tell us much. They only seem to tell us what they want us to know.
So as we have a GP's appointment booked for Monday, I am going to make a list of things I now want to know, these will include:


What is my husbands PSA count?
Because this has never been discussed. Prostate cells produce a small amount of a protein that is known as prostate specific antigen (PSA). An elevated PSA does not automatically mean a man has prostate cancer. Conditions other than cancer, including an infection or a benign enlargement of the prostate, can result in higher-than-normal PSA levels. This would also include Prostatitis, which is what he was told he has with Prostatic Extensions. At no time have we been told if his level is normal.


Prostate Massage was this the right action?
Now I know that self diagnosis is never really the thing to do. But alarm bells ring when you read things like this.
In recent trials, prostate massage was not shown to improve outcomes compared to antibiotics alone. As a consequence of these findings, prostate massage is not used in the treatment of any medical disorder today, and prostate massage should never be performed on patients with acute prostatitis, because the infection can spread elsewhere in the body if massage is performed. Now Keith has been told he has Chronic Prostatitis, so why did they do it on him?


Geesh I have more questions than answers now. But when doctors tell you nothing, you need answers from somewhere. I find it frustrating that when you husband/partner etc comes out of a procedure, there is never a doctor around to answer your questions. The nurses are just left to pack you off home, with a letter for the GP. In this day and age, I do not think this is acceptable. I was chatting to a friend, who went in for a hernia repair and gall bladder removal and the doctors could not have been more accomadating. Not only that, they said if she was at all worried, she could ring the treatment centre and ask for advice or even go back in. We were told if he had any worries we had to contact our GP or NHS Direct. There seems to be patchy service across the country when it comes to the NHS.

Welcome progress made.

Good Morning Friends.

Hip Hip Hooray. We are making some progress at long last. This past couple of days have been some what nerve racking, because I had been dreading a phone call from the hospital saying they were cancelling Keith's exploritory operation. But yesterday morning we heard nothing, so my dear friend T, came and collected us and took us to Kettering Hospital, where we sat and waited for Keith to go up to the Day Case clinic. We were told at 12 noon to make our way to the Pre-Op room and wait to be called. So we sat and waited with all the other people who had Day op's. Some looking very apprehensive. Keith was just eager to get on with it. At 12.30 pm he was called through to check in and I had to say cheerio to him at the door, which was not easy. T and I drove back to Market Harborough, where we had some lunch in the Waterfront. It was wonderful to catch up with T, we had so much to gossip about. After some lunch I rang the hospital at 2.30pm to see what the situation was, to be told he was just going down. So with that T and I strolled around the town, as she had never been to Market Harborough before. I bought a pair of jeans from New Look, as my old ones were to big for me and had gone to the charity shop, some days ago. After seeing the delights of Market Harborough, we walked back to the boat, where we settled down with a coffee and the wait for a phone call to say we could collect Keith. That phone call came at 5pm, so we locked the boat up and head back to Kettering, which is around a 30 minute drive. When I got on to the ward, Keith was all dressed and drinking a cuppa. I had to sign a form to say I would take him home. The surgeon did a Cystoscopy and a Prostatic Manipulation. During the Cystoscopy, he took another Biopsy and we will get the results of that in 2 weeks time. I am not expecting it to be any different from the ones they took back in October, they came back negative. having had the Prostatic Manipulation Keith was pain free, which was fantastic. But it did have me wondering if that was just because of the pain killers they had given him in theatre. With him now home, he rested during the evening and enjoyed a resonable nights sleep. We were in fact drinking tea at 3am this morning, because we were both wide awake. The good news is he is still pain free at the moment. The only discomfort is from the Cystoscopy, because they used a rigid camera in case they could do anything whilst they were in there. So he does have some blood and discomfort when peeing, but that should go in a couple of days. I have the job of making sure he keeps his fluids up. Keith has a letter for the GP, so we are going to see him on Monday and see what the letter says and to begin the process of getting Keith off of the Dihydrocodeine, which has to be done slowly. So all in all it has been an emotional couple of days, which is now over. I was so very grateful to T for coming with me and spending the day with me. She is such a special person and a genuine friend. Over the next couple of days Keith has to take things easy, so we will not be going anywhere. Not only that I am supposed to be resting my shoulder. Yesterday I bought some very smelly cream, which is supposed to help relax the muscle in my arm and give me a warm glow. It smells flippin dreadful, but does ease the muscle, which is a plus at the moment.

I am going now, as i need to get some jobs done.

Today is Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Day, so keep those who are suffering in your thoughts.