jmgoyder

wings and things

Dec 20

“Mummy!”

by jmgoyder

Ming was allowed to come home today, three days after his surgery which was a fantastic surprise (we were told he’d be in hospital until Christmas Eve). I’d been staying in a hotel for a couple of nights and coming and going to the hospital, but checked out yesterday, planning to visit Ming then go home to the farm to feed and water the dogs, birds and alpacas, only to be told he’d be discharged today! So I quickly rang a friend to see if she could do the animals and checked back into the hotel for another night.

Yesterday Ming was still attached to the pain+antibiotic drip, a catheter, and a blood drain thingy, oxygen, and he could hardly get out of bed and walk a few steps, but today he was free of the various tubes and fighting fit – amazing! It is 8pm here and we got home around an hour ago. Ming is in a lot of pain but has three kinds of painkillers so is now in bed.

One of the painkillers has a strange side-effect – Mummy love! It is so hilarious; on Tuesday evening when he finally came out of surgery, he kept looking at me woozily and saying, “Oh, Mummy, give me your hand, hold my hand, I want to have a cubble (cuddle), you are the best mummy in the whole wide world, oh I love you so much” etc. If I let his hand go for a moment, he would yell, “Mummy, I need your hand! Muuuuuuummmmmmmyyyyyyyyy!”

Now this would have been okay if (a) he had a private room, and (b) he had a quiet voice. But he was in a shared room with three men who were all chuckling every time Ming yelled out, “Mummy, hand – where’s your hand?” After a couple of hours of this I started to get a bit embarrassed and sick of holding his stupid hand! His nurse was laughing hysterically (but quietly) at his antics and, as Ming got sleepier, she helped me remove my hand from his so I could escape to my hotel and have a well-earned wine.

My hand is still aching from his grip – so funny!

And so absolutely wonderful!

Note: Thank you so much to my WordPress and Facebook, and other friends and family (especially my own mother) for all of your prayers, wishes and messages to us. I haven’t had time to reply properly but please know how much your comments, care and love is appreciated by Ming and Muuuuummmmmyyyyy!

Animal blogging Family Friendship Happiness

78 Comments »
Nov 18

Love story 118 – Sunbaking

by jmgoyder

Anthony’s skin cancer operation has suddenly been fast-tracked to tomorrow (Monday) – yikes, I only got the phonecall Friday. Okay, for those who don’t know this, Anthony has a very nasty skin cancer right next to his left eye and it is painful, so it has to be cut out. This has to be done in hospital so he needs to be there by 9am and I still haven’t decided whether to get the wheelchair taxi and meet him there or take him myself. His mobility at this time of the morning isn’t good.

Over the years, Anthony has had multiple skin cancers either burned off (with that nitrogen spray stuff) or surgically removed. Many of them have been squamous cell carcinomas, not melanomas, which is good. He was born into an era where hats were worn haphazardly and sunscreen probably hadn’t been invented and, when I met him, he was in the habit of sunbaking after lunch to get a tan. Inna (his mother) would often ask me where he was and I would tell her he was lying out near the fig trees and she would tut-tut and say that was fine as long as I wasn’t sunbaking with him – ha! At the time, that would have been a dream come true for me but I am glad I didn’t as he has now had over 50 skin cancers burned off and several requiring surgical removal.

So tomorrow will be an adventure of sorts because of how his PD, and now PDD, is likely to affect the ordeal. The surgeon is not going to do the procedure with a general anaesthetic (too risky) so Ants will be given a local anaesthetic and sedation. The operation will take about an hour or so. I have to admit that I am absolutely dreading this because of what happened last time.

Last time, the skin cancer was on top of his skull so the pain he suffered afterwards was excruciating and his medications for PD were temporarily lost and he missed a dose or two: result, he went totally loopy and had to be on 24/7 watch. It was a nightmare just after the operation so I raced home to get his spare meds., raced back and sneaked him some and he was okayish for awhile but (this was a few years ago when he was more mobile) he kept trying to wander out of the hospital – argh!

Tomorrow I will have to arm myself with secret drugs – ha – and a double dose of patience with both Ants and the system. It is only going to be a day procedure this time and I’m not sure if this is a good idea or a bad idea – maybe he should stay one night in the hospital? I wish I knew. I have decided to take my box of paperwork in as I will be there for hours.

This is probably my overactive imagination but sometimes I can feel Inna’s smile of approval, almost as if she is kind of watching over her son, and me, and Ming. This is a good feeling.

Family Friendship LOVE STORY

40 Comments »
Feb 14

The long and short of it

by jmgoyder

I am well aware that my posts have become rather sloppily sentimental and even solipistic lately (and I hate solipsism!) I’m also very, very aware that Husband, Son and I are extremely fortunate in so many ways and that our recent troubles are nothing compared to many other people’s situations. I have wanted to say that for some time.

Son’s scoliosis surgery took over seven hours today and tonight he is the intensive care unit attached to a multitude of tubes. As soon as I was allowed to, I went to see him, but he was too groggy to really know I was there, although when I touched one of his hands, he grabbed it and, with his eyes still closed, and with great difficulty (as if my hand were a boulder), raised it to his lips and kissed it.

One of the things the nurses were doing was measuring his height and joking about how tall he would be now. This was a pre-operative joke too which didn’t really resonate with me until today when I remembered how extremely tall Son used to be. He was over 6 feet when the scoliosis went mad and shrunk him; previous to this he had always been ‘the tall kid’. Here he is pictured with two of his cousins who are both four years older than him. Son is on the left.

Okay, moving on now … tomorrow I will see Son, then go home to the birds. One of the funniest phonecalls I made from this hotel room was to my beautiful mother last night.

Me: I’m really worried.

Mother: Of course you are – this is huge surgery.

Me: No, I’m worried about the birds while I’m away. I left heaps of food and water but….

There was a bit of a pause!

Uncategorized Wings

13 Comments »
Feb 7

Son’s surgery

by jmgoyder

Son used to be a mighty football player and, at one time, he had dreams of playing professionally. The following photos were taken by one of the dads around four years ago.

Even though we knew Son had a scoliosis, it had only ever been visible via X-ray, and not to the naked eye. He was undergoing various treatments for it, and intensive personal training to prevent it from getting worse, so, one day, after a football game, when he took his shirt off, I got a nasty shock to see his crookedness. With a shirt on, you see, it was unnoticeable. A subsequent X-ray revealed that the scoliosis had increased dramatically in just a few months to a 73% ‘S’ curve. Thereafter we proceeded with every therapy possible while we awaited his first appointment with a spinal surgeon to discuss options.

We were not prepared for the strict advice given. “You will require surgery and will need to quit football immediately – you will never be able to play again,” said the doctor. “This is your spine,” he continued, showing Son the latest X-ray which I hadn’t had the guts to show him myself. After that, the doctor left the room briefly to allow us some space to absorb this verdict. My heart cracked as Son sobbed and sobbed and I wanted to kill the doctor for his abruptness, only realizing later that there was probably no other way of saying it.

This is the latest MRI of Son’s spine. Its curve had increased to nearly 75% in just a few months. I took the photos against the veranda window, so they’re not works of art!

Husband, Son and I have all come full circle in the sense that, instead of resisting the idea of surgery, we now embrace it and Son cannot wait! After all, now that his spine is causing him discomfort (pain and no stamina) and is squishing one lung and one kidney, we have come to accept that there is no choice any more. And we are so lucky to be living in a country where this surgery is available, with one of the best surgeons in Australia.

I am grateful, fearful and excited. Son will be okay. He even said, “Mum, just drop me off at the hospital and go home again; I’ll be fine.”

No way! I am going to have two nights in a luxury motel near the hospital so I can come and go and be close by.

Roll on next Tuesday – how weird that Son’s day of surgery is Valentine’s Day – good omen, I reckon!

Uncategorized

34 Comments »
Blog at WordPress.com.