FAMILY NEWS

Sat. 19th September.

Housework day today, weather not fit to be in the garden, went into Blyth for bits and pieces but it was too cold to have a walk around.

Doctor Waddell phoned at lunchtime with Gwen’s blood results, not very good but the kidney function has got no worse in the last week. I’m still suffering with vertigo and lack of co-ordination.

Sunday 20th

Feeling a lot better..the tablets must have started working..and it’s a nice day, so I cut the grass, taking my time and being very careful.



Monday 21st.

Very cold today and very windy. Went to Asda for some shopping…The nurse came in the afternoon to change Gwen’s dressings, the ulcers are not getting any better, so the nurse was trying some different dressings. As I still get up very early in the morning by lunchtime I’m quite tired and if I’ve been on my feet a lot I’ve usually got a bad back ache so as Gwen is always tired now we go to bed for two hours so we are refreshed to do things in the evening. So we now have an arrangement with the nurse (Maurine) that we go for our rest at the usual time and leave the door unlocked so she just walks in and gets on with what she has to do.



Tuesday 22nd.

Gwen couldn’t have anything to eat or drink this morning as her scan was due at 12.30. It was a abdominal ultrasound scan for the kidneys, liver, bladder and anything else down there. After Gwen’s scan we went for lunch in the hospital restaurant, it wasn't very good but we had to hang around for my scan at 3.05. However, I notices Gwen was falling asleep in the wheelchair so I brought her home so she could go to bed and rest.

I went back to the hospital for my scan, I wished later that I hadn’t bothered.

The MRI scan rates in the top five of the worst experiences in my life. After getting on the bed, I was given wax ear plugs and ear defenders, then a plastic cage was lowered on to my head so it wouldn’t move, the bed then slid into a tunnel that cramped my arms over my chest, and then the noise started. Despite the ear protection the noise was horrendous, it was like being in the engine room of a ship at sea in a bad storm with a lot of people banging on empty oil drums. After about five minutes I was wishing it would end, either the noise, my life, the life of the guy that was operating the machine or the doctor that advised me to go there. This went on for another 15 minutes. When I came out it seemed ages before I could stand up, I had a pounding headache that lasted 3 days, I walked out of the hospital like someone who had had two much to drink, bumping into people and having trouble remembering where I had left my car. When I got to my car I sat and had a drink (I always have a bottle of coke in the car) and smoked two cigarettes before I could even think about driving home. When I got home (I don’t remember how) I went to bed and slept solid for three hours. I had a very quiet evening.



Wednesday 23rd.

Quiet day again today, I stayed in bed for most of it, just getting up for drinks and a meal. The nurse came in the afternoon and changed Gwen’s dressings. Things aren’t getting any better and Maurine is going to have a word with the doctor to see about Gwen going into hospital for a while.



Thursday 24th

Gwen wanted to go to Bedlington Market so we went late in the morning, it was very cold, too cold for her sitting in the wheelchair, but she wanted a hot dog anyway. Gwen had her Hot Dog and I had a 1/4 pound beef burger which we sat in the car and ate. The doctor phoned, just to check on some medicine Gwen was taking, but it was OK.



Friday 25th

After breakfast and feeding the birds and fish, I went and did a BIG shopping at Asda, I think we have enough stuff in now to last a couple of weeks. We went for a rest after lunch and the nurse came in about 3.00pm. After changing Gwen’s dressings we discussed whether to get a special air bed for Gwen, in the hope that this would keep her off lying on the pressure sores. So we ordered one and it should be delivered on Tuesday.

Tomorrow Gwen has to be at the Wandsbeck hospital at 9am to see the urology specialist, and we should get the results of her scan then.