Health Update

Where do I start????

We came back from camping on 2nd Sept, then on 4/5th Sept I had a minor heart attack and ended up being in hospital until 10th Sept during which time I had an angiogram and angioplasty done. While in hospital I had stomach/abdominal pain, which after a CT and utrasound scan they couldn't find a reason for except maybe it was the tablets I was taking, so they told me to stop one of the tablets(cholesterol) and discharged me on the Thurs day afternoon. By the Friday afternoon I was in so much pain I went to my GP and she sent me straight back to A&E with a letter for the Surgical Assessment Unit, they did an X-ray, changed a couple of my tablets and discharged me on the Sunday afternoon (still with stomach/abdominal pain, but with soluble paracetamol for the pain). Even now I am still getting pain and nobody seems to know why or what is causing it but it is bearable pain now, I just wish it wasn't there at all.

Now for the update on Colin.
He had a CT scan on Mon 7th Sept and an outpatient appointment with Dr P on 24th, but in the middle of these, last Thursday his back started hurting and by Friday he was in bed and pinching my paracetamol. On the Saturday his left arm and right leg weren't working properly so we decided he should start taking his steroids(dexamethasone) again and we found so Co-codamol. On Tuesday he managed to get up with some help and go to GPs and she prescribed Co-dydramol and suggested upping his steroids to 2 a day. We had a lift to the QE on Thursday to see Dr P. When we saw him he explained that the CT scan showed some abnormalities on the lower spine and he has requested a bone scan, he has now started Colin on Sutent, prescribed Tramidol for the back pain and will see him again in 3 weeks.

None of the painkillers seem to be doing anything so when I went back to see our GP on Friday she prescribed Oramorph (liquid morphine) and upped the steroids to 4 a day. Hopefully this will help in time but at present Colin is in bed and still in a lot pain.

Away Camping...

Radiotherapy is over and done with, as because the tumours are on the brain they only like to use Radiotherapy once as any more could kill brain cells ( and as we all know Colin didn't have many to start with :-) ). He has been advised to wean himself off the steroids by lowering them by 1 tablet every five days unless any of the symptoms reappear and in that case he can increase them again. Hopefully the symptoms won't reappear and he will go back to his old self (mainly his tolerance).
He has been in touch with Dr P in Birmingham and will be having a CT scan shortly and then should be starting on Sutent, but before that we are going on holiday.
The holiday is a 10 day camping trip to Saunton, North Devon with his sisters Sue & Rachel and our nieces Laura & Holly so we should have a great time. Kieran will have someone to play with as Holly and him get on well and if Sue & Colin get to grumpy Rachel & I will leave them to it and go off somewhere with the kids.
Colin is like a big kid himself at the moment buying camping stuff and is very excited, partly I think because it's our first camping trip with Kieran.
If I survive the next 10 days with that lot it'll be a miracle, but it might just be fun and give us time to chill out, I think we need it after the last few weeks!!!!!

Round of Radiotherapy over

Colin has finished his round of Radiotherapy and now has a two week wait until he sees a Consultant at Worcester, he has an Appt for 21st August.

As well as the above Appt he will also be having a CT Scan of his chest in Birmingham to see if the HD IL-2 treatment had any effect and as a baseline for starting Sutent. Hopefully the scan will be in two weeks but not on the 21st ;) and then he will have an outpatient Appt with Dr P.

That's if I don't deal with him first, as his tolerance levels are very low and he is snapping at everything and can't handle any change in plans even very slight ones. I am having to try very hard not to snap back, but Kieran doesn't understand this and keeps getting told off by Colin for minor things - poor child.

I did mention this to our GP today and she said it can be a side effect of the Dexamethasone (steroid) his is on, so I will try and put up with it and not snap back/or punch him :-/

Manchester cancelled....

We have not gone to Manchester today for Colin's CT Scan.

On Wed Colin went to see our GP as he has been having problems with his left arm, his eyesight and he keeps forgetting words or what he is trying to say.

Then at 9 am yesterday she phoned and asked me to take him to MAU (medical assessment unit) at our local hospital so they could do a CT scan of his head.
They did a CT scan at 3.30 yesterday and it showed that he has metastasis (tumors) on his brain which are causing the problems with his arm, eye's and memory. They have kept him in overnight and hopefully he will be seeing an Oncologist today to discuss the findings and hopefully a treatment plan.