Next operation is scheduled for Monday, November 17th.
Eep! … that’s less than a week from today!!!
What can I say – it was a helluva morning …
Pipocas drove me to the hospital and we met up with Pablo, in order to talk with the surgeon and find out what was going on. Turns out the surgeon really didn’t have a clue as he hadn’t seen my CT and PET scans … like, duh! I asked if he could look them up on the computer and he was able to find the CT, which was done a couple of weeks ago, but the PET still hadn’t been written up. So Amazing Nurse Person (I must find out her name, she was also amazing last time I was there) took over and got on the phone to Nuclear Medicine, saying they needed to give my surgeon an oral account of my PET scan results ASAP.
While waiting we went over to THE LAB to get a blood test done and I very scarily ended up with a woman who seriously had her head up her arse. I told her straight off that I had very hard-to-find veins and she said it was all a question of LUCK. Like … WTF? Then she strapped on the tournequet and had me flex my fingers and whatnot and THEN (are you ready?) she asked me … “is that a vein or a tendon? what do you think?”. I smiled at her through my terror and said …”hey, why don’t we ask someone else?” … and she took me to the nurse at the next table who got the job done.
After that P&P took me to the cafeteria for some much needed coffee and toast (it was almost noon and I had gone to the hospital without having had any brekky, knowing I needed to get the blood test done) and then we went back to see if the surgeon had heard back from Nuclear Medicine. And we were told that – hey! – I was going to have surgery, and that everything would be decided FOR SURE tomorrow during the next clinical session with Surgery, Oncology and Nuclear Medicine. And I was promised that I would be called tomorrow with a date for my surgery.
So then I asked the surgeon if I should cancel the oncology appointment I had for tomorrow, since it had been made a month ago and it was all about deciding my next chemo after the CT and PET scans … and it was so annoying! The doctor wouldn’t say if going there would be a waste of time or not. Even though I started to cry and told the doctor that I didn’t want to talk to the oncologists if I didn’t really have to. So fine! P&P and I went off to find Ricardo, who was in a meeting but was able to see us shortly afterwards. He showed us into his office, asked us to sit down and basically put all our minds at rest.
Ricardo said that there would be further surgery, probably sometime next week, and that this was a positive thing, especially as the peritoneal biopsy came back negative twice and the liver tumours had ‘disappeared’. Though there are two peritoneal lesions near the pancreas that will need to be removed as well as the ‘clean up’ in the liver. And as the clinical session was scheduled for tomorrow morning at 8 am, he said I should get confirmation about the surgery after that. And he also said that my oncology appointment for tomorrow would not be necessary. Whew!
After all that, Pablo went off to work and Pipocas invited me out for lunch … and we didn’t end up at either of the places we’d suggested but at a totally new place for both of us, called Oporto. Check it out…
paella
bacon-wrapped langostines
aubergine stuffed with seafood & alioli
grilled black pudding with rice
spicy chorizo (chistorros) with raspberry/mustard sauce
brochette of spicy pork tenderloin
During lunch I got the phone call from Dr Luís, confirming that next Monday, November 17th was the surgery day … and we ordered another round of vino. Damn! I’m going to be sooooo scared next Sunday evening…
casa azahar 
Man, nothing like surprise almost immediate surgery to induce instant chaos and panic.
It’ll be the last one, though, and you’ll be able to get on with your life, right?
Also: Yay you for not putting up with the idiotic phlebotomist. And for not seeing the arseholio oncologists. I’m so glad you have Pipocas, Ricardo, Pablo and Amazing Nurse Person there to help.
PS, lunch looks divine. I’m having shitty Chinese food that work brought in today. It’s free. I’m eating it.
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“It’ll be the last one, though, and you’ll be able to get on with your life, right?”
Fucked if I know, Beth. Dr Luís told me he’d only ever seen two cases like mine – miraculous disappearance of tumours all over the place – but in both cases the tumours reappeared in other places and the patients died. Bummer, eh?
Who knows? I just want to not die bleeding like a stuck pig on the operating table … know what I mean?
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Any phlebotomist that doesn’t know the difference between a vein and a tendon should be fired immediately, after someone has tried to do a “stick” at least 8 or 10 times in one of their tendons.
good luck with the surgery, we’ll be thinking of you over here.
Lunch looks fantastic! I want some of that bacon wrapped langostine, followed by the paella. . . Mas vino, por favor!
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Hmm. I wish I could say that was the exception to the rule, but sadly no. Some of the stories I hear (and have to clean up after) would make your toes curl. Like the phleb who took her used needle out of one patient and put it down, then immediately stuck the very same needle in the next poor sucker to go in. Most of them shouldn’t be let loose with anything sharper than a crayon (which is what I swear half of them use to fill in the patient’s details on the bottle). I could paper a wall with the amount of clinical incident forms I’ve had to fill in because of those muppets.
Hey, why the capitals for THE LAB? they’re not bad places. All the cool people hang out in them.
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the black pudding looks dee-licious! good luck on monday azahar x
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Excellent survival Spanish, hmh! 🙂
Did you also ‘hear’ the scary monster music after reading THE LAB, Sara? 😉
It was the best black pudding I’ve ever had, nursemyra.
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Black pudding – bleurgh! Will be thinking of you and sending lots of good karma between now and Monday. Now, I’m off to have lunch with King Bomba, but I don’t think it’ll be as exciting as tapas – Belfast may have improved enormously but we still lag a bit behind the rest of Europe when it comes to nice places to lunch. I shall report back later.
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I never used to like black pudding until I tried the Spanish variety. This one was also filled with rice and it was amazing. Say hi to KB for me! You’re certainly turning into a little h2g2 social butterfly lately.
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I’m restraining myself from getting on the next plane and coming over there to slap some medical heads and shout “This is serious, you numpties. Stop being so effing casual about az’s health”.
That kind of laissez faire attitude and degree of unpreparedness by professionals is upsetting.
Thank Bob for Amazing Nurse Person and Ricardo.
(I have rewritten this three times in an effort to tone it down – so apologies if it’s still too ranty)
Will be thinking of you on the 17th :hug:
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Oh dear :hug: I will think of you next Monday. And hopefully bake a cake in your honour.
I got a scary music after THE LAB – more precisely, the scary brass chord from The Spanish Inquisition sketch, if you must know.
A vein or a tendon – are you sure it wasn’t meant as a jest? The ‘what do you think’ seems sort of suspicious. (Then again, considering she handed you over to somebody else, it was probably better you didn’t take it as a joke).
The tapas look fabulous! It is a unique feeling to try a new place and find out it is nice :magic:
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It’s good that they are getting the surgery done so quickly. Sooner done, sooner mended.
In the meantime, I am continuing to feed our pet bike rider. The one from Spain – – –
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There used to be a sign that said, “Do you want to talk to the doctor, or the nurse who knows what’s really going on?”
It is a fact of life that doctors would kill a lot more people without nurses. I’m proud to have been one for 30 years. And I was a “good stick”, too. I could hit tiny veins in old people. Of course the guys with sewer pipes that rolled drove me buggers.
Quit with the bleeding to death stuff. Not going to happen. But make sure you leave a bunch of Scrabble games open so you’ll have to get well.
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Oooh, my speakers were turned off – as they always are. Sudden unexpected noises scare the living snot out of me – to this day I can’t use an alarm clock, Blues has the unenviable job of stirring me from my pit. Sheesh. Y’mean Casa Az has been in glorious stereo all this time and I’ve never noticed?!
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“is that a vein or a tendon?”
“Is that your brain or a jello-salad?”
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I always wondered why any one would want to use an item called an “alarm” clock. Waking in a state of alarm sounds, well, alarming to me. Not to be redundant or anything.
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Does anyone remember the 10 Most Annoying Alarm Clocks? Though I would say that ‘annoying alarm clock’ is definitely redundant.
Rant away, Teuchter. At least this wasn’t as scary as my last CT scan when the guy tried three times to find a vein, then went and got someone else to do it, and then the contrast fluid machine broke … watching those two bumblers trying to fix it while the tube was still attached to a vein in my hand was horrific.
The phlebotomist (love that word) in nuclear medicine is the best I’ve come across so far. Both times he got it in one, even though the last time he said my veins were totally shot. I swear he could find veins that aren’t even there. And he’s painless too.
Sadly it wasn’t said in jest, Toy Box. She looked totally clueless. A cake, eh? Cheesecake, perhaps?
That bike rider guy sounds amazing, Archie. Crazy, but amazing.
I think I’m going to make up a few of those signs in Spanish and give them to my favourite nurses, Silverstar. 🙂
Living snot, Sara? Ewww…
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At least she didn’t pretend to know :scary:
I was thinking of a pear cake from around the central France. I will have a look into cheesecakes for the following week-end :drool: (Due to kitchen appliances shortage it must not require a mixer, and you must be able to bake it in a gratin style baking dish. Oulipian cuisine!)
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Good luck on Monday!
Gif
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I’ll be thinking of you next Monday.
My eldest son once had a similar experience like you with a nurse – a paediatric nurse at that. He was ten at the time and she needed to take some blood, so he asked whether it would hurt as he had never experienced it before. She told him she would take the thickest and rustiest needle she had. He has refused to have a blood test ever since – he is 20 now.
Sorry, I’m clueless with blogs – is there a way to subscribe? And how do you do the smileys? Some look like our hootoo ones.
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I think about you most days, az — I’ll put in some extra OOMPH! for Monday. Hugs
Remember the Pee Wars at Casa Az? Well, my two little darlings, who’ve never fought with each other more than an occasional play battle, have been getting in hissing and growling matches. This is freaking the roomie out so much she’s got her vet to put them on hormones, even though they run a HUGE risk of developing Type II Diabetes from it. Would it be wrong of me to let they battle/work it out?? I’ve had a diabetic cat, they don’t take well to injections.
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PS — those tapas look amazing. What are Langoustines, anyway? Big shrimps? If it’s wrapped in bacon, it must be good!
🙂
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Wow, a pear cake sounds amazing, Toy Box.
*waves to Gif*
Bel, you can subscribe using the RSS feedreading thingy. Or maybe just save this page to your Favourites and check in now and then?
SC, why is your roommate allowed to med YOUR cats??? That is totally wrong. She is probably the cause of Missy & Rocket feeling weird and should probably be taking the hormones herself. Boy that makes me mad!
And yes, langostines are basically big shrimps. And soooo amazing when wrapped in bacon … tried a new version today when Nog took me out for a pre-op lunch (with broccoli!). Pics mañana. And now please go and give your roommate a massive kick in the butt for me!
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Best of luck for monday, az!
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az, since she can toss me and the gatitos out in the street, I try not to piss her off too much. I find it pretty annoying, too, in the middle of the night, and want it to stop. Previously, it was Missy mixing it up with Bogie, her cat. All three are on this progesting stuff, but Bogie gets weened off first as she doesn’t see him as a problem.
I’m kinda between the proverbial rock and the road here. She pays for my cats vet visits, including shots, and I get a place to live.
I’m putting my foot down, if this hormone shit doesn’t work, that’s it — my two both go off it. Seems to be working, though.
PS — I’m using Google Reader, and guess what? NO MORE CRASHING!! I’m SO jazzed!
Hon, take care and try not to stress with all the cooking, etc. Maybe Nog could help by chopping veggies as you cook for the stuff he’s going to eat? It’ll make it go faster, and tire you less. Just a suggestion…
❤ Hugs
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Thanks, az, bookmarking it is then because I’ve never understood how to do this RSS feed thingy.
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Good luck, az.
TRiG.
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“I was thinking of a pear cake from around the central France.”
Mmmm… and just look at the delicious pear cake that Toy Box made for me! 🙂
Great news about Google reader, SC!
*waves to Fanny, Bel and TRiG*
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