Home again

Hi, I am home... very sore and moving very slowly but home!

I see Mark my son, through Gary did a couple of updates while I was out of action but this is me again. I'll split this bulletin up into two parts the medical and the spiritual. So first the medical.

The Tuesday afternoon, night and Wednesday morning were a struggle. I had been having pain control through an epidural tube in my back. (I had tubes everywhere.. in places I didn't even know I had places! I must have looked like a Borg!) The pain control took away my control of my left leg and I had pins and needles in my left hand, so they stopped the epidural pain control and went on to oral pain control. There was an effective gap of a few hours between the two then my catheter clogged five times and that was painful, but now just a distant memory. I had a very disturbed Tuesday night and slowly, as the pain control kicked in, began to feel much better.

I was still feeling pretty washed out when the surgeon said he wanted me up and walking about! "You are over the operation. Now the biggest danger is Deep Vein Thrombosis". So on Wednesday I was inching my way up the corridors and then the surgeon said "You can go home tomorrow!".

Thursday morning I had to change from the hospital catheter to one strapped to the leg and then get dressed. I felt as though I had done day's manual labouring! I arrived home at about midday and plodded about for much of the day. There are all sorts of bodily functions than need to be reactivated so it is slow progress. Later this morning I am going to the Local Surgery to see their Practice Nurse about control of the catheter and other issues.

10 days from the surgery I return for the removal of the catheter and may need to stay overnight.

As regards long term implications... the surgeon found nothing to prevent him going ahead with the radical prostatectomy and stripping of the lymph nodes. They will need to examine these and following a thing called a 'super sensitive PSA' test will be in a position to decide whether to begin radio and/or hormone therapy.

BUT.... so far, everything has gone very well. Thank you all so much for your prayer and cards and emails. I am a blessed man! Please excuse me if I don't answer personal emails for a little while. My energy levels have plummeted and the surgeon says I must expect this for some time. I will comment as I feel able and perhaps later today say something about 'salvation by grace through faith' in everyday trials. Love you all!

Update

Ron had a disturbed night (Tuesday to Wednesday), but was well during Wednesday and aiming for home Thursday.

Operation

The latest news is that Ron is doing well. He had a 4-hour operation on Monday morning and was well enough for his wife to visit him in the evening. He had a good night last night and was able to sit in a chair today.

The doctors have also now stopped his epidural pain relief and removed some of the tubes. Hopefully, he will have a walk tomorrow.

Ron or the family haven't yet had a chance to speak to the surgeon, but the operation seems to have gone well.

I am sure Ron would want to thank you all for your concern, love and prayers.

Just back from the Sunday Morning Meeting

..so now lunch and then off to the Royal Berkshire Hospital. I registered yesterday and dropped my things off so I just have to be there so that the surgery can take place tomorrow.

I have asked my son Mark, who is a consultant physician to drop a line or two to Gary Sims who is the webmaster for my website, and Gary will post it here on this bulletin.

It will be a few days before I can get back to my computer to write a note so thank you all again for your prayer for us. Please pray especially for the family, I shall know little of what is happening but they will be conscious and will need your prayer even more.

much love to you all

His/yours
Ron Bailey

http://ronsbulletins.blogspot.com/

www.biblebase.com
http://biblebasesecondthoughts.blogspot.com

Countdown

Wed 17th Feb. Just back from the hospital pre-op appointment with my surgeon. We went over all the possibilities and risks again and the longer term implications; the surgery is now scheduled for Monday. There are two more hurdles before the surgery. On Saturday I am to be admitted to the hospital and they will rerun various blood and other tests. If those are satisfactory the admission will go ahead. The surgery will include a visual examination of the prostate and the surrounding organs and area. If the surgeon judges that all is good to proceed he will then do the op proper. As he puts in 'I maintain my right to bail out (decided against the op) until the last moment.' Currently we don't know if other treatments eg radio therapy, hormone therapy will be part of the package. He will know better when has seen things close up.

The expectation is that I could be up and moving about by the Tuesday evening and hopefully discharged from the hospital, temporarily, on the Wednesday or later. I will have to return later for removal of some temporary plumbing.

So, how am I 'feeling'?
Apprehensive but minded to get on and get it over with! Impatience and fear are both reactions to the loss of control. The human instinct to want to be 'in charge' is a temptation that returns at many stages of our pilgrimage. The temptation to 'change stones to bread' was such a temptation and my answer is the same. I choose to live my life by the words that come from God's mouth not those that come from mine. My confidence is in him rather in my ability to make choices which are more comfortable in my view.

Please pray for all the people I shall meet in the next few days. Surely the Lord has some purposes for them and for me. Paul could say that he was constantly led about in Christ's triumph procession, I pray that I may have the same testimony.

Helping to improve the statistics

I had a letter from the hospital confirming my surgery. According to the letter I am to go into hospital at 10am on 20th for surgery the following day. My surgery was scheduled for 22nd so I phoned to check. Yes, they confirmed that the surgery is on 22nd. They want me to go in on the Saturday as that will help the hospital to stay in the government's timeframes. Once you are admitted, they explained, you can go home again and then return on the Sunday for surgery the following day.

It reminded me of my old home town of Stoke on Trent and a famous local story. There were complaints that the local bus service was leaving passengers standing at the bus stops. The bus company issued an explanation in which they said that they couldn't keep to their schedules if they kept on stopping to pick up passengers!

It gives me a warm feeling to think that we humble users can make such a positive contribution to official statistics! ;-)