h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I hope you get the arrangements done soon. It sounds like a lovely place for Ian to be.

And to both of you, as always.

Ian is still in hospital and will be until at least next week. He's having another endoscopy tomorrow and an ECG sometime... apparently his heart is beating too fast.

We heard from Helga that Chris from the cancer support group was on Amethyst Ward was asking after Ian, so we put Ian in a wheelchair to take him there for his picc line flush and afterwards went onto the ward to see Chris and Janet. They were so pleased to see us. It did the fellas a power of good to put the world to rights for a few minutes and have a laugh and a joke, that's the first time I've heard Ian laugh for a good few weeks.

Fingers crossed and praying for Chris but he didn't look very well at all

Yesterday was awful they kept him nil-by-mouth from 6am and he didn't go down for his endoscopy until 4.30pm. He struggled to stay awake but his eyes kept rolling into the back of his head. Yet another doctor came to assess him, but at least he seemed the kindest of the lot so far and assured us Ian wouldn't be discharged before Monday (and a voice in my head said "he'll be dead by then"). He's been put on 12-hour slow-release painkiller. Except it doesn't seem to be working, and yesterday he was in agony. On the way home Caroline said it would be kinder if he fell asleep and didn't wake up...

...and still no sign of his other daughter.

What an awful day for all of you.

I don't pray, but I'm wishing hard for comfort & ease for Ian's last bit of time, both for his sake and the sake of those who love him. It must be awful to watch him suffer, and I hope he doesn't suffer for long.



Deb

Thanks everyone, I had 3 hours alone with him this afternoon (well, apart from the other patients on the ward, other visitors and various staff, everyone except a doctor) as Carrie was at work. Helga popped in and I mentioned the Hospice to her, she went to check and the hospital have no record of Hospice input, as far as they are concerned when he is discharged he will be sent home. I have let Carrie know and she is very angry indeed. I can't go tomorrow as my brother and his wife are visiting our mother and Sunday's my day offso I won't see him now until Monday, when it may be me organising his discharge home. I sincerely hope not (Caroline works Mondays too).

ooh, ooh, the prodigal daughter visited yesterday and took him a Father's Day card!

I visited today to find him hooked up to oxygen and a 24-hour ECG being performed. He said don't get too excited at the sight of my nipples, will you? () New inmate in the next bed piped up "what a thing to say to your daughter!" I told him off, said I am Ian's partner and Ian said, tell him you haven't got any money on you ()

He was almost like his old self, but then he threw up and as he was adjusting the oxygen tubes he gave himself a nose bleed

The drive home for a freaking nightmare! The Cleethorpes turn-off was blocked by a policecar so I had to detour up Peakes Parkway (heading for Grimsby) aiming to take the first right turn, haha! That filter light only lets 2 cars through at a time so traffic on the Parkway was at a standstill. I was crawling up that road for half an hour.

I am so happy to be home it feels like the hottest day of the year (again)

Astounded by his fighting spirit (yours too, of course) Love as always

Went up yesterday with Carrie, tubes gone but Ian remains on oxygen and was still being sick. He had been booked for an x-ray (chest) and scan (?) and told us they had used cold gel on his chest earlier while they hooked him up to something he couldn't remember and he failed to write down what they had said, which he had been doing for our benefit previously. So we're no wiser. About 4pm Ian had a nosebleed; this is getting quite worrying now

It was 4.45pm when a porter came with a wheelchair & oxygen tank to take Ian down for his x-ray so God knows what time he had the scan (if it even happened). We walked down to the department with him and then left, unable to collect kisses due to the nasal tube so we had to exchange blown kisses

Today we are going in early (both of us taking a packed lunch as it will be a long day) as we have to get him downstairs to the Amethyst ward for his appointment with Dr Roy at 12noon and then the regular picc line flush with the nurses-who-know-what-they're-doing.

They've just mentioned on the news that it's the Summer Solstice today. This is the first time in living memory that I had no clue so I'll do my communing with the universe around teatime when I am home. I'll feed the birds before I leave the house to do my bit for nature too. I have a pair of blue tits nesting in my front garden and a lady blackbird roosting in the tree on the boundary between my back garden and the (nice) neighbour's - I haven't seen or heard the tuneful, happy male blackbird recently but then, I am hardly home to enjoy the sights and sounds of my garden.

Thinking of you today.

Last evening, I noticed it was light really late - oh, yeah, the approaching solstice. We went outside as it got dark - and there was a large, furry marauder trying (unsuccessfully) to break into our bird feeder. I ran for the camera...

http://gheorgheniplex.blogspot.com/

He'll show up in the Post, eventually.

a long time friend and fellow (R.A.O.B "Buffalo") has passed over to the Grand Link above last Saturday night/Sunday morning, due to leukaemia

This is with no disrespect to Ian and GB

s all round.

Thanks everyone and I am so sorry for the loss of your friend Prof

Dmitri, what was that animal? It looked like a beaver to me?

Ian finally had his picc line removed on Wednesday after his appointment with Dr Roy's understudy - he gave us the results of the Scunthorpe CT scan which showed the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes. Ian is now on oxygen 24/7 as one obs showed his saturation down to 77. By yesterday, there was a fight between a hospital representative trying to discharge Ian to home because they need his bed on the ward, and someone else, Kerry I think, who insisted that a care package was in place, (wait for it...) me, Caroline and Nadine.



I sat there gobsmacked. I rang Caroline at work, I was in such a panic, and she rang the discharge team to insist we don't have the 24/7 cover between us, she is willing to move in but then will need cover for Fridays and Mondays when she is at work. I can do Friday afternoon and Monday afternoon but not the mornings as I am caring for my Mum. As for the other daughter... we don't know how her name got into the mix of volunteer carers.

The other issue is oxygen (it's important, folks). The hospital are saying it should be Ian's GP's surgery who pay out of their budget for set-up and supply. The GP surgery are saying it should be the hospital's responsibility to set-up and then they will try to find the funds to supply...

excuse me while I try to find a brown paper bag

Caroline's husband has already fitted a keysafe to the outside of Ian's house in case we have to rely on carers/district nurses/Macmillan nurses etc (there's 3 days at the end of July when neither Carrie or myself are available) as we were told there was a 3-week waiting list for the thing to be fitted by the council and they wanted to charge mega bucks for the actual keysafe - so Andy went and got one himself.

I wonder what today will bring? () keep smiling, keep drinking tea, always carry a towel for emergencies, keep smiling....

You wouldn't mind the insensitivity of the hospital system if it was because of it's machine-like efficiency...but it's not, is it?

I do hope things improve. to you all.

Deb

Breathtaking, those people. And sad. Praying it works out for you, and quickly. Best to Ian.

That critter was a raccoon. No beaver, thank goodness - or we'd have a flooded garden. The beavers are all down 500 feet below us on the river.

I've been seeing a possum every night now, but I haven't got a picture yet.

we have a discharge date(but don't tell the other 50% of the hospital staff) - Monday teatime. We'll worry about Friday when it comes.