I managed to blot my copybook in a big way during the early hours of Wednesday morning (throwing up repeatedly was never part of the gameplan), which meant I needed another day in hospital to recover, rather than being allowed home. By now, Ward 15 had had enough of me so booted me off to the Oncology Ward (in reality, they needed my room, and there were lots of hugs exchanged with staff and patients as I left).
Thankfully, I felt much better when I woke today – either that, or we finally realised that my nausea was better controlled by Metoclopramide rather than Cyclizine – so I was told I could leave. Had a surprise visit from a lass who was one of the dental nurses at the first practice I worked at, and who is now training to be a nurse. She saw my name on the ward list, thought to herself “Please don’t let it be that Jane,” and popped her head round the door of the ward. We had a lovely catch-up chat, and she came back to see me once she’d finished her shift.
James arrived this afternoon dragging a wheelchair behind him, and we trundled off to the entrance where Vicky was waiting to bring me home (Paul having taken the day off work yesterday, in anticipation of my discharge on Wednesday).
It was lovely to see the blue sky and the trees, and to hear the birds singing. And to be back home again.
Grateful thanks to James for keeping the blog updated (I couldn’t access it through the bedside ‘Patientline’ Internet Service), and very, very many thanks to you all for your prayers, thoughts and good wishes, which have sustained and kept me going through all of this. Now it’s a time of healing and recuperation before the next round of surgery, possibly in about 3 months. This too will be endured!
Evening all – James here! Just a brief update on “the woman” (as we so affectionately refer to her).
Both the consultant and the stoma nurse are happy with mum’s progress, and have said that she is free to leave the hospital when she feels like it. Unfortunately, we think she might have overdone it a bit yesterday, and isn’t feeling fantastic today! However, she was feeling better when we saw her this evening, and (all being well), she’ll be out tomorrow evening.
Dad and I have spent all day tidying up and preparing the house for mum’s arrival. We’ve had the skip taken away (it was getting a bit full with beer tins and pizza boxes), the cleaning fairies have washed up a week’s worth of plates and cutlery, and dad has managed to cancel the Thai bride he ordered.
[FYI: Just in case you think I'm being serious... you've obviously not been paying attention to my previous blogs! 
]
That’s all for now! To finish, a brief insight into the subject of this post. As you can imagine, when one has had surgery in the abdominal region, walking around causes you to lean and shuffle forwards. Mum, looking into the mirror while in this position, muttered the immortal words – Mrs Overall! I’m thinking of buying her a mauve tray for her birthday…
Hello all, Jane here!
Just a very quick blog (with James acting as secretary [Ed: this is not what I went to university for four years to do!!]) to say a very big thank you to you all for your phone calls, texts and queries after my operation. Have been out of bed for most of today which is pretty exhausting!
Have been seen today by Mr Anwar (the consultant) who said I was coming along in leaps and bounds. He hadn’t seen me shuffling back from the bathroom when he said that! Still no idea when I’ll be home, but James will keep you updated.
Love to you all,
Jane.
Stay strong, this too will pass.
[Ed: Wondering about the subject of this post? Click here for all you need to know! 
]
Evening all! Me again… (queue the groans – not him again! Bring back that woman… you know… the crazy chemo one…)
Anywho, a progress update. Mum’s continuing to feel better, which is always good news! She had a bit of stumble (figuratively, not literally!) yesterday but everything is back on track now. She’s not quite running up and down the ward yet… I think the old lady with the zimmer might still beat her in a race. For those in the local area, mum may well be up for visitors next week. I’m thinking she might need a secretary to schedule all these people wanting to go and see her (and no, unfortunately, four years at university hasn’t taught me how to be a secretary!) If you don’t have her mobile number, drop us a comment (so that I can get your email address) and I’ll see if we can get something arranged.
Continued thanks – as always – for everyone’s thoughts; they’re much appreciated by mum and the family. That brings me on to the subject of today’s post (see what I did there). Given the amount of calls I assumed I’d be getting once mum went into hospital, I was seriously considering setting up one of those “press 1 for information on mum, or hold for all other enquiries”. That was before I realised how infuriating it is navigating those menus, and listening to on-hold music, so gave it up as a bad job. Never mind, I suppose there’s still voicemail…
Until next time, keep smiling! 
Evening all – James again! Continued thanks for your thoughts, prayers, phone calls and the such like [thankfully, the phone hasn't been ringing off the hook, but it's been nice to chat to people and keep them updated]
Mum is feeling better today. She’s been out of bed twice – once in the morning, and again when dad and I visited her earlier. She’s also had some toast and ice cream (her new-fangled “light diet”). She seemed much brighter when we went to see her – so much so that I was showing her how to use the Internet on the personal TV thingy.
The consultant came down to see mum this morning and said the operation had gone as planned. The tumour was small and localised which is very good news, and he commented that there (hopefully!) shouldn’t be any issues when they do the liver surgery in the (fairly near) future.
I think that is all for now, except to answer any (possible) questions about where the title of this post has come from. Well, when mum went down for her op, the consultant came to see her while she was having her epidural put in. He asked her how well she’d slept last night (hospital beds aren’t exactly the most comfortable…) and she said she’d slept pretty well. I’m not quite sure he was expecting her to ask how well he’d slept! Thankfully, he’d slept well – not quite sure what mum would have said/done if he’d said he hadn’t!
Afternoon all! James here, filling in for mum while she’s in hospital.
Mum had her first op on her bowel this morning. She went down for 8am, and they finished around 12pm. A family friend has rung dad from recovery and said that she was awake, talking and not in pain. So far, so good! I’ll keep you all posted as we find out more news.
Thanks to everyone for their calls, texts and emails with their best wishes – they are much appreciated!
