Thank you Teacups and Lynn,
Daughters school "aim" to have that in place, as with anything that requires communicating with several people, there is room for failure. All in all they seem to be handling it well most of the time.
Son was offered a place at the interview, whoop whoop. He's probably going to defer as he doesn't really have a "passion" for studying at the moment๐. He has a brilliant job to go into full time that he loves and they have offered him an apprenticeship if he wants it.
The kids seem to be okay ish.
The stents story:
Booked for 1pm, actually done at 3.30pm, nil by mouth from 7 am, just sips of water....urine output dropped dramatically to almost nothing!
Radiographer said they may have trouble given the cancer visible in the bladder. Bit of a shock to be told that as noone has discussed this with us since the turp back in November when the surgeon said he had removed prostate tissue from the bladder. I had kind of assumed that this was likely but I don't think N had given it any thought. It was a very unpleasant moment.
The stents were hard to place and the liklihood of problems is high. So far today nothing has come out of his urinary catheter, the kidneys are still putting out of the nephrostomies though. The consultant said they wouldn't clip the nephrostomies today to ensure the kidneys are still functioning.
Disappointed.
After the radiographer comment I spoke to the ward nurse about whether it has been discussed in the team meeting that there is soft tissue invasion/spread etc. She said no and they weren't aware of its presence in the bladder. The nurse spoke to the consultant last night and asked him to have a more comprehensive conversation with the both of us this morning.
He said that as far as he was concerned the prostate cancer is what's known as locally advanced. I have read lots of other's diagnosis terms and N was never given the T/m etc stuff. I explained this to consultant, who seemed surprised at what appears to be our ignorance.....
N has got a very leaky bowel now and I tried to get across that N needs a more comprehensive diagnosis and staging/investigation , not for any change in "active treatment" but to enable us to discuss the possible outcomes e.g nephrostomies, spc, what would we do about spinal cord compression. What palliative care plan is next, what do I choose when Nigel is unable to choose for himself!
The palliative care nurse understood me perfectly but consultant found it quite difficult to see why we would want know more s**t news.
Stool sample has been taken to rule out infection/poor gut bacteria and they are going to do a dre to see if his anus has any tone or if the nerves are affected. Also some other neuro checks to look for spinal cord compression.
Hoping tomorrow is a better day for N.xx