Hello everyone


Wanted to give you an update on Tom.

He has had his catheter exchanged last week at the day surgery at Kingston hospital. We were prepared for a long procedure and I think Tom was very nervous about it.
However the consultant urologist managed to exchange it all in 5 minutes.

What a relief!!!

He felt the blockage was not that bad at all and he is adament that Tom should have the minor procedure done so that he no longer needs a permanent catheter. I think that would involve a kind of keyhole surgery.
I think Tom wants to speak with Prof Dearnely the oncologist first before he agrees to do it.

Tom has been feeling a bit weak the last few days and having more of a rest.
He has pretty good appetite though and stopped losing weight over the last week.
I think rather than eating big meals , little and often is better.

I am not sure though that his pain relief is right at the moment as he takes 50 mg of Sevredol once or twice a day which is making him a bit sleepy.

I am going to the surgery tonight to get him some Oramorph which he used to take before.

That way he can control the amount he is taking and make him hopefully less drousy.

He has also got a bit of a cough, no doubt picked up from our 4 year old Luca , who has a permanent snotty nose, and the cold weather is not helping. It snowed AGAIN where we live near Richmond.

The good news is that Tom is getting an electric scooter sponsored by John Lewis.

I think this will give him a lot more independence and motivate him to get out and about a bit more ( as long as he does not go down the A3, which I would not put it passed him)

I know him and Luca will be on it together whilst I chase them down the road.
Some of these scooters can go up to 20 miles per hour...

We are also busy with the wedding preparations, 9 more days to go.
At least we got the marquee organised and I got a dress yesterday.

Tom was working as a chef at JL so a lot of our friends are helping out. We met up with some chefs the other night to discuss the menu, we are still no nearer reaching a decision after 3 hours of heated debate.

Another bit of news is that together with Lene and Louise , community and marketing people from John Lewis, The Prostate Cancer Research Foundation and the Macmillan Cancer team at the Kingston Hospital we are organising a prostate cancer awareness event at some point in March, so look out for some more information and as soon as we have a date sorted out, mark it in your diary and come along!!

Until next week

Martina

Hi everyone

What a busy week it's been.
I am so proud of Tom , he has been doing great getting used to having a catheter and we are off again to the hospital tomorrow morning to have it changed over.


We had a traumatic day about a couple of weeks ago. Tom rang me at John Lewis where I work
and told me he had been unable to go to the loo since the night before.
I phoned up Ann, our Macmillian nurse, who told me to take him straight to A&E at Kingston.

We got to A&E in no time and after telling them Tom's history , they were quick to act.
They did an ultrasound of his bladder and kidneys first and it was clear he was quite full.
Then a doctor tried putting a catheter in, no luck, then they tried for the second time , again no luck. They just could not get it passed the blockage between the prostate and bladder.
All of a sudden he started bleeding as if you had opened a tap, it was horrific , but apparently quite normal and often looks worse than what it is.
They had to call for a consultant urologist to come over especially who tried with a specific instrument and I remember that one of her junior doctors looked distinctly pale and left the cubicle at the sight of all the blood. That made us laugh a bit.

Tom eventually went into theatre for a general anasthetic to have the catheter inserted as it was too uncomfortable to carry on .
It was only a small procedure and he was a different person when he woke up.
One of our neighbours was the recovery nurse so he had a bit of a moan about the day to her
and the fact he was starving!!!

Tom stayed for a couple of nights and then came back home and has recovered well.

We spend the day in Richmond on Tuesday and had a great time , Tom is walking well and he full of energy.

Oh, and before I forget , we have decided to get married and are now busy planning the wedding on the 20 February, yes , only little over 2 weeks away.

We must be mad, I know.


Keep you posted how it goes with Tom tomorrow.


Martina