Nearly two months have passed since we
arrived at the University Hospital for Kimon's prostate cancer
operation and what a long time ago all that seems now. It was
summer! The muddle over his admission, the long wait during the op
itself, the horror of the days afterwards when he was sent to
Intensive Care, the even greater horror when he came out after 15
days and the intensive nursing course we have sweated through in the
month since he came back on the wards again. We were so happy that
his bed was moved from Pathologiki back to Urology where he started.
It seemed a haven of peace and quiet after the incessant ward rounds
and blood taking from packs of student doctors needing to practise on
somebody. Everyone in this ward is much kinder and more helpful and
we have the daily visits of George the Physiotherapist who has helped
us enormously. As well as the op, the neuropathy in the legs, the
tracheostomy, feeding tube and IV lines, Kimon has had to deal with
ongoing hormone treatment for the prostate side of things (very sore
and uncomfortable) and trying to get himself as strong as possible on
the thin rations of identical bowls of unidentifiable broth which
have turned up twice a day at lunch time and at dinner while everyone
else in the room tucks into a plateful of food. It has no taste at
all and we try to syringe it into Kimon when he is not looking
because it is so unappealing. Katerina at the rent rooms made
special chicken soup for him, but either by coincidence or not, the
levine tube blocked when we tried to give it to him (it smelled
delicious) and our errand of mercy turned out to be the opposite when
the tube had to be taken out and put back again.
Progress is much faster than we would
have imagined and we have been working on getting K's leg muscles and
limbs unstiffened and unswollen by daily lifting and massage. It is
a bit like trying to change a 12 stone baby which was totally
impossible at first but which is now getting easier by the day as
more movement returns to his limbs. In fact, we have worked with him
in baby steps as it is much like going through these stages of
development in terms of arms, rolling, sitting up and in the last few
days a few staggering steps with the help of willing family members.
Although we are still have trouble deciphering what he is saying,
Baby has been determined to start potty training as soon as the
catheter tube was removed which is really good sign of emerging
independence.
Dressing baby with all these tubes
sticking out and bottles to manoeuvre through sleeves, and the
techniques to make things work easier has at times been hilarious and
both K and I have ended up either in complete knots of plastic tubing
or wearing his soup when the levine tube has backed up and the result
was colourful, to say the least. Keeping baby in clean clothes
without a washing machine has also been an on-going task! Anyway, a
few days ago baby sat up in bed and shaved his beard, cleaned his
teeth and had a good wash and brush up on his own. All good therapy!
I am praying that this will all end
soon and K will be well enough and have got all the necessary papers
stamped by all the doctors in the hospital to go home because we are beginning to feel like hostages who will never escape. We have been waiting over a week for the
tracheostamy tube to be adjusted or removed so that without a feeding
tube, there will be room for K to swallow some more nourishing food.
He is feeling the cold and needs to put some meat on his bones, so we
really hope that the ENT Department will get round to him soon and we
can start to plan for getting back to the house and making it
accessible for him. We can't believe we are approaching winter
because our summer was limited to a couple of weeks when all K's pals came to Crete.
Friends have been fantastic in sending
good wishes and practical help. There were moments in the early
weeks when I did not think that either of us would make it, but praise God, my
back has held out with the help of Ibuprofen from the UK and I
haven't succumbed to all the nasty bugs that were floating around in
the hospital (lemon, honey, echinacea fizzy tabs and Carolyn's banana
bread for breakfast) plus Katerina (the Nurse) who looked after K at
night, and Katerina (Rent Rooms) who has plied with wonderful home
cooked hot dinners every night. It is small things that count, and
all the good information that has come our way has made all the
difference. A physiotherapist friend in England Emailed half a dozen
work sheets from her hospital which I managed to access on my Kindle. These exercises have made all sorts of things possible as K gets
his strength back. HUGE THANKS TO EVERYONE.
If you have a mind for prayer, please
pray that we get home very soon now! X x x
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