Not one to do things by half, Amanda not only had one blood clot in her lungs. No sir. She had 2. If you missed the lead up to this revelation, read my blog update from Friday 9th october: http://ukbreastcancertips.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/pain-in-insert-any-area-of-amandas-body.html
So these blood clots, or actually - Pulmonary embolisms as Ryan Gosling kindly demonstrates in the photo - which is a blockage in the pulmonary artery, the blood vessel that carries blood from the heart to the lungs - are potentially life threatening. There's more of that over on the NHS website. It's easy to say now, but Amanda was displaying most of the side effects listed here is some form or other >>> http://www.nhs.uk/…/pulmonary-embol…/Pages/Introduction.aspx Amanda is now on injections of blood thinning medication which should break up the blood clots and then she should be able to take antibiotics after this initial stage is complete to banish them for good.
She's had a restful day, punctuated by the ongoing mysterious abdominal pains for which she will have an ultrasound.(No, there's no baby involved.) The medical team say it could be associated with he blood clots but it could also be something else, like kidney stones. She won't have the scan until Sunday at last now, so she'll be in hospital at very least overnight and maybe into next week.
Sunday 11th October
Amanda didn't have the best of nights or Sunday mornings. I'll spare the details but it's unpleasant. Having negotiated a tiresome but necessary 30 minutes phone call for my parents to sort out their non-functioning broadband first thing (4 calls over the past 3 weeks with Sky and the issue is still not resolved but close now at least...), I got up to the hospital late morning and sat with Amanda while she fell in and out of a troubled sleep. She was taken down for an ultrasound scan on her abdomen early in the afternoon, and I'm so familiar with this well trodden route we've taken to that area of the hospital over the last fe months that I ended up bailing out the porter who nearly took a wrong turn when we headed back to the ward afterwards. The ultrascan itself involved smearing a scanner from Tesco self service area with some toxic looking gel which is similar to the stuff I used to smear on my hair to achieve wet-hair look back in the 90s. This took around 10-15 minutes, and uncovered nothing serious in the kidneys or liver area, but because the scanner didn't get deep down with imaging, Amanda will need a further Ct scan on her abdomen, looking likely to be on Monday. This will be her 6th CT scan in a little over5 months. Let that sink in for a moment
A few things to come out of this.
1 - Don't try and scan a can of baked beans with an ultrasound scanner, it won't work
2 - Don't try and smear the gel used for ultrasound scanner use over your head, especially if you don't have any hair, as you'll look a tit.
3 - The stabbing pain that only a loved one can feel when they ache for their loved one. The guy administering the scan asked Amanda for a brief update on her condition. Such is the effect of the medication and operations on Amanda's brain is that she can't get her words together, gets so confused and frightened, and she has to look in my direction in a way that I've become familiar. She's so frustrated that she needs me to to the talking for her. We both hope this comes to pass as time goes on.
So Amanda is on blood thinning medication injected into her stomach once daily to treat her 2 blood clots on her lungs in addition to the other medication for her ongoing medical treatment. We're having a "Lloyds Pharmacy" sign placed above our door tomorrow to signify how much medication we're having to administer right now.
She remains in hospital tonight, in the ironically named "short stay" unit, this is now her third night in hospital. I believe tomorrow will be a day of action once the weekday medical brains are back at work, deciding on where Amanda will be referred to next within the system, be it back within the umbrella of the oncology team or elsewhere.
In other news, still much work to be with the standards within the NHS signwriting team. Come on NHS, make your mind up - is it capital "V" or small "v" below? And should it be "bed" or "beds"? Answers on a postcard to "NHS, UK" please.
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