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FOR ANYONE WHO EVER DOUBTED ANGLES
Category: Life
For the most part, I believe that we're all looked after.
We all have a guide of some sort, some of us are aware of them, some of us aren't. But they're there.
My Dad is a young 53. ..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
He hasn't touched alcohol in about 15 years, he doesn't have the sort of diet that the Biggest Loser would scoff at, and he's pretty fit.
He leads a good lifestyle, never strays from his eating habits, mainly because he can't, but also because he doesn't want to.
Every six months he has to visit the doctor and have his cholesterol levels checked. He has a genetic cholesterol issue that the doctors monitor closely and which he takes medication for daily.
About five weeks ago, mum was due her check up, and she made Dad go with her for his at the same time, two months earlier than he was scheduled. She wasn't sure why he needed go early, she just 'knew'.
So they did the usual array of tests, and the doctor freaked out when she saw Dads results.
His cholesterol reading was 8.3
This generally means your due a heart attack any day now
But the doctors bedside manner was not great, she actually had a go at mum and dad for not doing what they should be doing to manage it, because that's the only thing she could think of that would be an problem. Her initial instinct was to give dad a stronger medication, but mum said No. They hadn't been doing anything any differently, and he should be referred to the specialist to check.
After a battle of wills, eventually the doctor sent him off to the specialist to see what could be causing the issues.
The strange thing about this 8.3 was that all the other readings were very good and healthy. It was just the one reading that was high, something quite unusual. You'd expect one of the other readings to be up as well, but no, Dad is special.
The specialist ordered a lot of tests, he even ordered tests that you wouldn't normally do to check for high Cholesterol, and one of them was one of those body scans they give you. You have to drink the dye and lay on the slab… that sort of thing.
Just as well he did.
Mum and Dad sat in the specialists office and waited for him to tell them his findings.
"the good news Mr J, is that you cholesterol is actually fine. The reading on the day was wrong, a Rouge if you like. It's actually 3.4, well within the healthy range. This happens from time to time, faulting reads, faulty staff, faulty equipment. It's rare, but it does happen"
The first emotion of course, was relief
"However"
Uh-Oh
"I'm sorry to have to tell you that we have found a growth on your left Kidney. It's about the size of golf ball, and it's only 5 months old"
Cancer?
"well we don't know. At the rate that it is growing there's a strong possibility that it is infact cancer, but we wont know until we get it out"
Out?
And so the specialist went on to explain that the growth was in a great spot, away from any in-bits and out-bits so if it was cancer, it wouldn't spread through his lymph. They also said that they would only cut out the bad bit, and leave the rest of the kidney there because it was perfectly fine and would function like normal.
And they would need to remove a rib to do it.
They also said, that there is no other way of knowing that you have this, until it's too late. Too Late being to point where it's consumed the kidney, and part of the bladder, and then there's not much they can do. The fact that an incorrect cholesterol reading brought us to this point is actually quite amazing. The doctors couldn't believe how lucky he is, and I don't think he can either.
They booked him for surgery three weeks from the day.
That was last Wednesday, and what a day that was.
Mum and I were told that the operation would take 3 hours. We came back to the hospital when we were asked to, and we waited.
And waited
And waited some more
Mum started to look a little grey, "something isn't right" she said
"He'll be fine, they're the best in the city mum, they'll take care of him"
We waited some more, 2 hours in fact, then we were told he'd be up in 10 minutes.
Another hour passed and they finally wheeled him past us and into Intensive Care.
He looked bad
I know he'd just had major surgery, but he looked bad.
Very grey, oxygen masks, half a dozen drips, 2 pain relief systems, and a heart / BP / Temperature monitor… which was going crazy. We couldn't get much out of the nurses and the on-duty doctor, just that the surgeon would talk to dad in the morning and explain.
Dad was grumpy and difficult as the anesthesia wore off. He kept trying to get out of bed, and complaining that he wasn't comfy. Realising that there wasn't much point in us being there until he was well enough to actually know we were there, I took mum home.
We discovered the following day that during the surgery on his kidney, his lung collapsed, and they spent and hour and half trying to stabilise him, and pumped 2 units of blood into him while he was still open.
Then while he was recovering, some dozy nurse put an over head monkey bar on the bed so he could pull himself up, but she put it on the wrong side. Dad used it, without thinking, and then was in agony again for 36 hours. It irritated the lung issue and found his lung surrounded by a pocket of air, and unable to inflate. The doctors held off draining it out, and ordered bed rest for the weekend to see if it would fix itself.
It seems to have done the trick. Yesterday he was miles better again. They finally took him off the oxygen and he's breathing on his own. Today they're going to attempt to get him out of bed so he can have a shower.
It's all systems go… he's out of the woods, so to speak, and should make a full recovery.
Oh, and the biospy of the growth, all three of the biopsies on the growth, show that it's actually not cancer. They don't know what it is, but they know what it isn't.
If I ever doubted that my family has an army of guardian angles looking after us, they've been well and truly put to rest.
It's clear that Dads angles have been working over time.
When have yours looked after you or a loved one?
20:08
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