Tuesday 24th May 2011
Last day of holiday in Sri Lanka. I have pain in my chest - indigestion I think.
Cannot do justice to the final Gala Dinner because of indigestion.
Try to get some sleep between 10 and midnight when we have to leave the hotel for airport. Could not sleep.
Wednesday 25th May
Flight leaves at 6 am (2 am English time). 10 hour flight. No sleep.
Arrive home 2.30 pm (6.30 Sri Lankan time). Dog tired. No sleep for 24 hours.
Go to bed at 6 pm and sleep for 12 hours almost non-stop.
Thursday 26th May
Still have pain in chest. Go for Ramblers walk. Home Group dinner in evening. Feel very bloated but manage OK.
Friday 27th May
Slyv takes me to doc and waits for me.
New doc finds a lump in my tum. Prescribes something for indigestion for pain in chest and refers me to HW for CT scan.
Bank holiday weekend 28th to 30th May
Philip here for weekend. Pain in chest gone and cope with everything OK. Very tired.
1st to 6th June. Feel OK most of the time but very tired with back ache and runny nose.
Letter from hosp. appointment for Monday 6th June.
Dr Helmer. Very nice. She also found lump. May be in sigmoid. Referred me for blood tests and CT scan.
Tuesday 7th JuneGo Hosp for blood test. Only had to wait 10 mins. Very good
Feel OK, but depressed, not knowing what is the matter. Hope I get the scan soon - especially before I go to Spain.
Monday 13th June
Feel fine - no sign of the cold I thought I had yesterday. Had letter from hosp. Scan is on Monday 20th. I have some revolting stuff to drink before I have it. Went to see doc. He said to see him on Wednesday 22nd to get results of scan and make sure I am OK to fly to Spain on 23rd. Thank goodness at last I feel better. Cycled to library and back via Manor Road. No problems. Lovely warm day.
Thursday 16th
Sylvia's birthday. Raining all morning. Didn't go out anywhere. Sylvia came for lunch and we had salmon, new pots and green beans. She brought some cheesecake for pudding.

Wednesday 22nd
Went to see GP for results of scan. GOOD NEWS. There is no tumour and I have absolutely nothing wrong with my digestive system. However - not so good news is that I have an aneurysm - 5.5 cms. He will refer me to a vascular consultant who will tell me more about it. So all the tummy troubles I have had since Sri Lanka were probably an infection, or maybe my gut objecting to all the spicy food I had been eating.
Thursday 23rd.
Drove to Gatwick and flew to Spain. No problems. Feel fine.
Had lovely time with Pete, Sharon and Max. Max's 10th birthday on 26th. We all went out for super meal. He will have his celebration next weekend when he is going to the Water Park at Torremolinos with two of his school friends. (They couldn't go this Sunday because of a church procession they had to attend.)
Tuesday 28th
Flew home. Plane 1 hour late due to lightning strike at Gatwick control tower. Picked up car 10.15 pm. Arrived home 11.30 pm.
No news of my appointment with vascular consultant.
Thursday 7th July
Still no news about appointment. Sylvia phoned the hospital but they said they had never heard of me and my name was not on their system at all!!! So she phoned the GP who said they had sent the letter of referral on 24th June, so they phoned the hospital. They phoned Sylvia back to say the appointment is for Monday.
Monday 11th July.

See consultant - Mr Northeast team - very nice girl but I can't remember her name.

My aneurysm is 5.5 centimetres which is the borderline when they consider intervention may be necessary. (It should be 2.1 cms but they can grow to 13 cms before they are found). So there is no emergency for an operation.

 

This diagram is very general. My aneurysm is mostly on one side of my aorta, not evenly on both sides. This makes it more difficult to treat by endovascular stent-graft.

There are two ways to repair an aneurysm, one is endovascular - inserting a stent-graft inside the aorta from the groin area. The other is open surgery. Obviously one recovers quicker from the endo system.  But there is always a risk of the stent leaking or moving or malfunctioning in some way and it entails lifelong checks and 6 monthly scans.  With the open surgery the operation is more risky, but once it is done then that is it - all finished.  Main risk is post-op infection.
However, which treatment I have is the decision of the surgeon.
I will have to go for some pre-op tests - scan of my neck arteries to check I am not likely to have a stroke  and check of my heart.
I expect to hear back from the consultant by Friday and start the pre-op tests in a few weeks time.  I hope I don't have to wait too long - but I know it is not an emergency so I may have a long wait.
Meanwhile I feel absolutely fine.
So I am now in the hands of the medical profession - and of course the Lord.  Please pray for me that the doctors and surgeons know what they are doing and that the hospitals staff clean the wards properly so that I don't end up with an infection.
So many things to worry about....... but I am thinking positively.