An Extended Stay

Consultants seem to be like buses - you go nearly a week without a glimpse of one, and then two of them come along at once.

Today, while we were with Dad at the hospital, we had a visit from a lady consultant with the chest unit team called Dr Bodega, and then from the senior consultant who originally saw Dad in the clinic, Dr Gulati, who popped in to see how Dad was. Both of them are really great with Mum and Dad, and go to a lot of trouble to make sure they can hear and understand everything that is said. They still believe the most likely diagnosis is mesothelioma, a cancer of the lung lining caused by asbestos dust. Both consultants recapped on all that has happened so far with Dad's treatment, and why he's had to endure such a long stay in hospital. They explained that he would have to remain there for at least another week, because the fluid draining from his lung lining is showing that he has an infection. He now has another cannula in his arm to receive intravenous antibiotics. Once they are showing signs of working, Dad should be able to have his Heimlich valve and permanent drain fitted, go onto tablet-form antibiotics, and come home. I can see from what they have told us today that they've been trying really hard to solve all the problems Dad has come up against. Their job is being made more difficult because of his great age, but I am heartened that they haven't given up on him. Far from it. Dr Bodega is still liaising with a surgeon who may consider doing a small operation to repair the little breach in the lung lining to stop the air leaking into the lining space from the lung, which is preventing it from properly reinflating. It is extremely unusual to perform any surgery on someone of 90, but they are carefully weighing up the risks versus the benefits of all avenues of treatment, and will continue to review things from week to week even after Dad has been discharged from hospital. They will be calling him in for weekly outpatient x-rays to keep an eye on how his lung is doing, and there will also be frequent visits from the district nurse to check on his drain bag and general health and well-being. Dad, Mum and I are very impressed at the care the team of consultants are taking. The day-to-day nursing care continues to be rather patchy - as ever, it depends on which nurses are on duty and how pressed for time they are. 'Twas ever thus, in my own experience of hospital stays.

Even though we now know that Dad will be further delayed in coming home, Mum and I felt a little more positive this evening and are reassured that the chest unit team are doing everything they can to help Dad. If any of them are about on the ward tomorrow afternoon, we might even give them a bit of 65th wedding anniversary cake.


Today's blipfoto is a view of the now bare top branches of the Japanese maple in Dad's garden - one of the few shrubs and bushes which didn't get a severe shearing by the gardener when he came this morning to do a big tidy up for winter.