I haven't posted on here for a long, long time and I know there will be some that won't read this because I have written it but I have to warn you about this because it could affect your loved one as it has mine.
Take one 69 year old man who smoked (please note the tense of this word) 15 to 20 cigarettes a day. This man has been under watch, on a six monthly basis, by a Consultant Urologist for the past 5/6 years because he has all the signs of prostrate cancer but no actual cancer of the prostrate.
Having already had 2 biopsies, the Consultant at his last 6 monthly check in September, due to an increase in his PSA level, sent him for an MRI scan just to be "sure that everything is OK/alright".
MRI scan appointment, October 15th. Noisy and claustrophobic but not a problem. On leaving, said man was told that results wouldn't be available for 2 weeks so wouldn't hear anything before that.
Monday October 19th telephone call from the Consultant's secretary. Please attend at appointment with Mr. Consultant on Thursday, 22nd October, at 3.30 pm.
Said man immediately rings wife and tells her and they both think the same - I've/he's got prostrate cancer but neither says anything to the other until later.
The days drag but at 3.30 pm on Thursday they both wait anxiously to see the Consultant. However, it's not his Urology Consultant that sees him but a Vascular Consultant so what's going on?
There has a lot happened in just 7 days due to the fact that my other half has an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm which has made the main artery in his body, the aorta, swell to 9.1 cm wide instead of it's usual size of 2 cm.
One day after seeing the Vascular Consultant, the phone rang, would he attend for a CT scan that afternoon. On that same Friday, he had another phone call to advise that he was booked in for "stress tests" on Wednesday, 28th October.
When we left the Vascular Consultant on 22nd October, he told us to book another appointment to see him on 2nd November so now we await Monday in the hope that he will do the operation to repair the aneurysm.
Because my other half is diabetic, there is a 1 in 10 chance that he will not survive the operation. Because of where the aneurysm is situated, there is a high risk of damage to his kidneys which are already somewhat damaged due to his diabetes. If the Consultant will do the operation (and there is no guarantee that he will), he will be on the HDU/ICU for at least 7 days after the operation and will be at great risk for 30 days thereafter.
If the Consultant will not do the operation, due to the size of his aneurysm, there is a 1 in 5 chance that sometime in the next 12 months it will rupture and kill him.
Cancer may be a silent killer but this one is just as deadly and we'd never heard of it, have you?
Here is a link here to the nhs pages about this - please read and do whatever is necessary to keep your loved one alive because for my other half, it may well be too late.
nhs.uk/Conditions/repairofa...
In just over 90 minutes, at precisely 3 pm, today, my other half will have been completely cigarette free for 7 days, cold turkey quit.
I am so very, very proud of him but I'm also afraid, very afraid.
Fat cat! 😾
Daily Chat : Wednesday 31st October 2012
THANK YOU QUIT SUPPORT
