Sometimes.
4 days in a row can get too hot to handle.
What we gonna do now?
Wait. Live.
A few facts:
- Feeling ill with abdominal pain for 2 weeks, Gerald had a colonoscopy Monday. The Kleenprep was obviously from an off-year, not a great vintage, he kept complaining about it.
- A very proactive GP (John Russell) got Gerald admitted straight to hospital on the strength of the colonoscopy results.
- Which had showed a large but not complete bowel obstruction, likely cancerous. Where did that spring from?
- The CT scan performed the next day showed (we were informed Wednesday morning) that cancer had spread to multiple sites in the liver, possibly further, and was therefore inoperable - at least till after 5 months or so intensive chemo, which sometimes works to make operation possible at that point.
- Being off work for 6 months - every uninspired, uninvolved, lethargic person's dream, I guess. Does not apply.
- The operation to remove the bowel tumour was Thursday.
- Biopsy results will not be available for a week or so.
- The operation gave the surgeons a chance for a look around. Unfortunately this vantage point showed more stuff. In the mmm perineum? Showing cancer had spread through the lining of the bowel, to other sites.
Wait. Listen. Learn. Absorb, feel and think.
This is Lois .... Here comes Gerald posting next ...
Vive la difference - hopefully it'll make this blog fun.
In keeping with your call for 'fun' -- an outrageously ambitious undertaking in the current circumstances -- here's a slightly tweaked version of a story that's been doing the rounds on the internet:
ReplyDeleteA few days after having surgery, Gerald decides to go explore the rest of the hospital.
He enters a ward full of patients with no obvious sign of injury or illness.
He greets one.
The patient replies:
Fair fa your honest sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin race,
Aboon them a ye take yer place,
Painch, tripe or thairm,
As langs my airm.
Gerald smiles reassuringly and moves on to the next patient, who tells him:
Some hae meat an canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat an we can eat,
So let the Lord be thankit.
Feeling increasingly confused, Gerald moves on to the next patient, who immediately begins to chant:
Wee sleekit, cowerin, timorous beasty,
O the panic in thy breasty,
Thou needna start awa sae hastie,
Wi bickering brattle
Now seriously troubled, Gerald turns to a nearby nurse and asks, 'Is this a psychiatric ward?'
'No,' replies the nurse, 'this is the serious Burns unit.'
[Makes me wonder what the Serious Van Waardenberg unit would be like!]
Much love
Helen
We are praying for you...
ReplyDeleteHope to touch base with you soon
God bless, and a speedy recovery.
You now have time to sort out all you CD's !!
I will be closely tracking your progress and praying for you all and cheering you on during this part of your journey, Gerald.
ReplyDeletewell is your surprised by Gerald// to surprised by Joy? I have no idea how to submit a comment - going back to my luddite inclinations - probably easier if I write a letter. Marjan
ReplyDeleteHey magic - I got through! I will forward the Burns unit joke to my ED colleagues. I will still write a letter
ReplyDeleteHi Gerald and Lois,
ReplyDeleteGreat idea for keeping in touch. Will pass it on to my children.
More hugs coming your way - wish I was nearer to give them in person. love Ruth
ReplyDeleteHi Gerald and Lois,
ReplyDeleteJust wondered which hospital you are in, Gerald? Let us know when you are feeling well enough to receive visitors.
Love, Robyn.
praying for you.
ReplyDeleteHere is one of my prayers:
http://www.dormandy.co.uk/richard/music/music/riverpeace-slow.mp3
and there are lots of others.
love,
Richard
I too have a blog which I was setting up for my travels later this year. I'll start it now to keep you company.
ReplyDeleteIt's at...
http://dormandy.co.uk/blog/
Peritoneum, perhaps? The perineum is, um, something else down there.
ReplyDeleteSupposedly real doctors' notes:
1. Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.
2. Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.
3. On the second day, the knee was better, and then on the third day it disappeared.
4. The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to be depressed.
5. Discharge status: Alive, but without my permission.
6. Healthy-appearing decrepit, 69-year-old male, mentally alert but forgetful.
7. The patient refused autopsy.
8. The patient has no previous history of suicides.
9. Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.
10. Patient's medical history has been remarkably insignificant with only a 40-pound weight gain in the last three days.
11. She is numb from her toes down.
12. Occasional, constant, infrequent headaches.
13. I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical therapy.
14. Skin: somewhat pale but present.
15. The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.
Ian, I don't believe those are real doctors'notes! One thing that I find ironic is the doctors telling me I am "fit and healthy...apart from the cancer".
ReplyDeletego figure!
LOL. You know, it only took a word for some of those notes to go haywire, and some can simply be read more than one way. And perhaps the mistakes were in transcription - I once had a pharmacist ask what a particular word in my prescription was. Unfortunately it was the name of the medicine.
ReplyDeleteSome more supposedly real notes...
16. By the time he was admitted, his rapid heart had stopped, and he was feeling better.
17. The patient states there is a burning pain in his penis which goes to his feet.
18. I will be happy to go into her GI system; she seems ready and anxious.
19. Patient was released to outpatient department without dressing. I have suggested that he loosen his pants before standing, and then, when he stands with the help of his wife, they should fall to the floor.
20. Discharge status: Alive but without permission. The patient will need disposition, and therefore we will get Dr. Blank to dispose of him.
21. The patient expired on the floor uneventfully.
22. Patient was becoming more demented with urinary frequency.
23. She slipped on the ice and apparently her legs went in separate directions in early December.
24. The patient left the hospital feeling much better except for her original complaints.
And 25. Fit and healthy... apart from the cancer.
To Helen: nothing was ever wrong with outrageous ambition.
ReplyDeleteTo Marjan: you're very good. Only the title is not "as opposed to" Surprised by Joy, just an onomatepeioicuois (is that the word?) reference to unbelievable sequences of events and your brother's non-main-stream-ness.
I'll be travelling to Auckland on Wednesday - on the bus, so will get there late evening. Hope to get to see you on Thursday, wherever you are.
ReplyDeleteloving the literary allusions - keep it up!
ReplyDeleteI love the medical notes!
ReplyDeletewho is mouse? Ian brought me a whole stack of wonderful one-liners to read in hospital - had me nearly out of stitches...
ReplyDeleteto Gerald -
ReplyDeletewe just want to say we're sorry
but that's because we're in a hurry
to escape old Azriel's detection
kinda forgetting our choice - election.
So instead I observe, well fought
on a road so hard, so fraught
with bitter battles oft recycled
yet truth and honour undefeated.
Mate, I've been there in the dark
wondering, have I missed the mark
unknowing the future, wanting more
yet soul resting in the great Amore.
Lover of Life - Child of God - Freedom Fighter - Teacher of the unlearned - Learner from the untaught - this is how the world ends, not with a whimper but a shout of surprise.
Steve B
Dear Mr Van Waardenberg
ReplyDeleteI remember my time with you at Otahuhu College fondly. Your passion for music and positive outlook on most situations was incredibly inspiring to me. As a young man, I was incredibly insecure about my talent. Although I was passionate about music, I was very much afraid of pursuing it. But you pushed me, and for that I am forever grateful. You inspired me to pursue what I loved to do - sing! I have done quite a few musicals now, most recently RENT with Annie Crummer at the Civic. I feel as though I have found what I was born to do, and you played a a big part in me realizing who I am as an artist. I'll never forget the time we played On My Own from Les Mis at choir camp. Of course no one there knew of the song I was singing but me and you! And when you let me sing Let it Be with the Jazz band - I still remember that moment vividly. I remember the euphoric feeling of coming into my own, feeling like I belonged, and that I had something to contribute in the musical world. So I thank you for that. You're truly an inspiration and I wish you well on the rest of your journey.
God Bless
Paul Craig (class of 2005)
The two people proved helpful really hard, finishing the whole shift in A couple of hours. That involved getting a particularly large 3 seater couch up 2 flight tickets of stairways and into the living room. Their initiatives were much valued on our move-day. Thank you Top 7 packers and movers Gurgaon Team
ReplyDelete