Convalescence

Since my last post I'm glad to say I've left the hospital behind, along with the dreaded catheter and cannula that they had installed during my stay. While I'm on that subject,I don't know about you, but I had always assumed there was some clever way of removing a catheter involving special valves or a clever twisting manoeuvre, this assumption was shattered into a million pieces however when the time came to have mine taken out. Instead of some clever manoeuvre the approach turned out to have a lot in common with the process used when starting up a troublesome lawnmower, which as any males reading this will attest, is not a particularly welcome way to treat that part of your anatomy.

In the time since I'm glad to say the jaundice and bruising my arms were displaying has all but vanished and, as a result, I'm looking fairly normal, especially after I had an emergency procedure on my haircut to restore some order to the top of my head after my latest brain surgery partial head shave.

A photo posted by Jamie MacDonald (@thejamiemac) on Feb 4, 2016 at 8:05am PST

Despite having my head and stomach cut open as part of the shunt fitting, the biggest down side of this latest stay in hospital was having to postpone my travels. Working my way through all my hotel/hostel bookings and clicking cancel on each was nearly as painful as the moment the catheter was yanked out of place a few days earlier.

Due to this unexpected visit to hospital my Oncologist arranged a new MRI scan to take a look at the tumour and assess the situation now the shunt has been fitted. Once again I didn't follow my own advice and neglected to make sure I was hungover enough to sleep through the scan. Instead I lay there in the machine, wide wake, listening to noises reminiscent of how I imagine it would sound if R2D2 got stuck in a blender for half an hour.

Following the scan I asked if there was anyone that could take a look at the stitches in my stomach, as they didn't seem to be dissolving very quickly and the wound looked quite aggravated and red. There was a nurse available and she came to give her opinion on the wound. She was followed by another three nurses who came for a browse at the stitches when they heard rumours of abdominals being displayed, so at least I know my stomach won't be completely ruined aesthetically by the scar I'll be left with when the stitches eventually dissolve.

I've now had a phone call off my oncologist stating that there doesn't seem to be any significant change in the tumour, so at least the latest episode was not caused by a flare up of growth in the tumour but more likely by smaller changes that happened to be in the exact place the fluid was trying to drain away. Although I still need to wait to find out if any immediate treatment will be recommended after discussions between my oncologist, the other specialists in Cardiff and the specialist from the Royal Marsden in London.

In other news Piri must have been feeling left out and decided she was due a trip to hospital herself. We noticed a problem where her eye was watering a lot and took her to get it looked at. At the vets we discovered she had an ulcer developing in her eye and she needed a temporary lens fitted as well as medication and eye drops. So in the house at the moment we have two of us convalescing but obviously priority goes to Piri as she's far cuter than I am. Especially with her cushion secured around her neck.

A photo posted by Piri (@pirithepug) on Feb 15, 2016 at 9:28am PST