Operation

We settled into our room and I sat with Dave as he waited to know what was to happen to him.

The surgeon came in, he spoke very good English. He explained that at this point he wanted Dave’s temperature and blood count to return to normal before operating if possible. He said that Dave’s gall bladder was in trouble and that it would need surgery at some point, either tonight or tomorrow depending on the results of a blood test. He smiled at Dave and tapped my arm and said see you later and disappeared. A little later a nurse came and gave Dave a morphine injection (in his tummy) and took some blood. Dave was still on drips (three of them).

Dave was in a great deal of pain and kept saying the morphine wasn’t working. After about one hour the surgeon came back. He said to Dave “Your temperature is going up..up..up and your jaundice count is also going up..up..up we have to operate now!”

He disappeared to get ready and a nurse came in with his hospital gowns

I felt so sorry for him, he must have felt so nervous, it is his first proper operation (apart from the emergency surgery on his lung and he did not know much about that!)

A little later two young nurses came in; they were very sweet but could not speak English. They had an incontinent pad in their hands and a small towel, they trying to tell us something, eventually we understood that Dave was to lift his bum as they put the pad under, then from the towel dropped about ten razors into the bed!! All at once we both new what was to happen to Dave. I said I shall wait outside (I thought it may embarrass Dave with me there) but the nurses said “No you stay” I asked Dave and he said stay.

Well I have never seen the likes of it before nor will you ever!

They stripped the bed sheet up along with his gown and a nurse stood each side of him, they each placed a razor in the middle of his tummy just under his ribs, they each drew it towards themselves and flicked the hair of onto the pad and met again in the middle. They worked together and very fast! They worked there way down in the same way. It was all over very quickly and cleanly. They lifted his but and whipped the pad out with all the fuzz and the razors, rolled it up and threw it in his bin. Done! They removed all his rings (including his wedding ring) Dave tried very hard to keep it on, saying “tape on it” but she said not possible. The nurse started to take it off for him and he said “No, my wife put that on 43 years ago and she will take it off” Sweet, he handed me his hand. I was nearly in tears. They then asked about teeth, poor Dave had to take his teeth out to!

At this point Liz and Tony arrived for a visit

a few moments later Ernie arrived from Mary's room to see how things were going.

Upon all the visitors arriving Dave quickly asked for his teeth again lol. I got them out and he discreetly put them in. It was now getting on for 9.40pm.

I think the visitors helped take David’s mind of what was about to happen, I think I felt more worried then he did.

Just before ten the door opened and the nurse and the porter arrived to take Dave down. The visitors all went out side and Dave suddenly got out of bed stark naked! The nurses had removed all his clothes! He said sorry and rushed to the toilet. The nurse gave me his operation gown and asked me to put it on him. I slipped into the bathroom with him and dressed him, He told me he was dyeing to go to pee pee but as he had no clothes on and had visitors he could not get out of bed. Poor Dave.

The nurse painted his entire tummy with the pad you see in the photo of his op clothes and then they got his hat and bootees on and into the bed he slipped

They wheeled him out and past the visitors, I was so sad because I would have followed him down if we had not had visitors. I suddenly remembered his teeth and had to run after them. I think the Nurse thought I wanted to kiss him goodbye when I bent close and whispered “Teeth” :O) he slipped them out and gave them to me. I did kiss him goodbye then: O (

The visitor said goodbye outside the room, they left me to go into the empty bedroom with just a pair of slippers left of Dave

I felt so lonely and sad. Thank goodness I did not know how ill he was and what was about to happen to him.

The specialist had told me he would be gone about two hours so I waited for his return at about midnight. I sat there and sat there, at 2am I went to see a nurse, I eventually got her to understand what I was asking and she said that there had been an emergency and David was waiting. I thought she meant he was waiting for his op at the time but she meant Dave was the emergency and he was in ICU on a dialysis machine!

I felt so sorry for him. As the surgeon had told me three hours I thought if he hasn’t even had the op yet he won’t be up before about 4.30 – 5am. I started to make my bed up when the door opened and the surgeon came in, he sat on the wheelchair and explained to me that Dave was very seriously ill; I thought he said he may go to ICU but I have since been told he did go there. He explained that his gall bladder had burst and all the puss and poison had evaded his blood and organs. He had removed the gall bladder and cleaned his inside; he was at this point just coming off dialysis. He told me that Dave would be in the hospital for many, many days perhaps weeks as he was very ill. I just felt numb and scared to death and very alone at that moment. I had no way of contacting the children or family.

Dave was wheeled back within 15 minutes of the surgeon leaving the room; he looked so ill and had so many drips and tubes. I was far too distressed to take any photos: O (

He was sleeping but moaning and groaning all the time. I went to see a nurse and she gave him morphine which settled him down. He woke about 30 minutes later asking to be sick, he wasn’t. He was in a bad state of pain. He said could I take him to pee pee, I explained that he had a catheter in, at first he did not understand and then he said “How do I use it? I am not sure, do I just wee in the bed? “Poor little thing, I explained that he did not need to go to pee pee it would just empty into the tube as it went in the bladder.

I was so worried about the children and whether they had been told. I could not get in touch with Jeanette via her mobile or Brian’s.

I had managed to let Jeanette know both the Leeta’s telephone numbers when she took the dogs and asked her to tell them that Dave had gone into hospital possible to have his gall bladder removed. That was all I knew at that moment.

It is all a bit of a haze now but I think Sandie phoned at about 10.30 and I was able to say Dave had just gone down, I am not sure.

This will continues tomorrow.

Hospital visit

As some of you are aware both Dave and I have been with Ernie and Mary at the hospital for a period of two weeks. We arrive early morning and leave late afternoon. I have been supplying them with sandwiches and hot coffee! I must say they was a delight to be with, they are both such darlings, although they do not appreciate this themselves :O)

We were returning from just one of these visits and both feeling a little tired on Friday 4th at about nine pm. I started to make the dinner and Dave sat down, at about 9.15 Dave suddenly said “No dinner for me Tiny, my tummy is aching” that was the start of all the pain that worsened as the evening got later. By about 11 Dave said he was going to bed, we both thought at that time that he had very bad wind. The pain was very high in the middle of the stomach just in-between his ribs and also in the right side of the neck. I have often had such bad wind that it affects my neck, so I thought that this was perhaps what was wrong with Dave.

I gave Dave a windeze but the pain did not let up, I sat up with him whilst he was propped in a sitting position in bed, he did not go to sleep at all and was moaning a little.

I wanted to call an ambulance but Dave said it was probably wind (As Dave is one of those luck individuals that have never suffered an ear ache, muscle pain, heart burn or much of any other pain he was not sure as to what this was.)

My dear friend Sheila

I decided to phone Sheila, who speaks fluent Spanish; she is a member of our Church. I waited until eight am before phoning. she told me she would be straight over.

We were in the hospital by 8.45 and Dave was seen right away by a doctor who told us that he had a high fever, his blood pressure was fine. He was immediately transferred to another room to await a specialist, I was not aloud in but Sheila went with him.

I could not understand it; people were coming in with broken bones, cuts and bangs and were also going through that double door into the room that Dave had disappeared in but coming back out with plasters etc. Still no sign of Dave, I waited for 4.1/2 hours! Eventually I went up to the guard (there were two blocking the double doors) everyone argued to go in with their loved ones: O(

He seemed to understand me and disappeared through the doors, he returned about ten minutes later saying my friend will come and see me. Very shortly Sheila returned full of apologies, saying she had not been able to leave Dave as he was having many tests and seeing a few doctors! She said he was being looked after very well and had already had x-rays, scans, heart monitors, blood and seen several doctors and had many other tests. He was evidently Jaundice.

Sheila returned through the double doors again leaving me scared and alone.

Eventually she re appeared and said I may now replace her, there was nothing further she could do as Dave was waiting to go up to the ward!

At last I was aloud through the illusive doors, I was greeted by a very long corridor with cubicles that had curtains closed down each side. I did not have a clue as to where Dave was. I had no other option then to peep in all of then until I found Dave about half way up! He was sitting by a bed looking very sorry for him self. He did look a bit yellow now that I looked! A bit later a nurse came in and got him into bed.

Very soon after that another nurse came in and wired him all up ready for a heart monitor I think. He had wires clipped to ankles, arms, and chest.

I managed to take a quick photo of the chart before she disappeared with it :O) As soon as she left Dave got out of bed as it was far too painful to lay flat, she returned to attach a drip to his arm, smiling at him and pointing to the bed, Dave said (in sign language) that it was painful so she just nodded and left him sitting.

After a doctor came in and spoke to us in broken English Dave was taken along many corridors and up lifts to the ward. Well you cannot really call it a ward; he was put in a very large clean and bright private room. This was the new hospital that has only recently been built.

We were not sure if this was where he was going to stay or what was going to happen to him, we were not even sure if he was staying the night!

This is a view of the hall in the room, far door is the door into the room, to the left of the photo is the double wardrobe and shelves and to the right is the door into a large room that houses a shower/toilet and sink.

Thank you for reading this. I will do some more tomorrow.

Tinax

A Christmas tale

Naughty List or Nice List ?

Remember the Christmas magic of things like- sitting around the table together making popcorn chains to decorated the Christmas tree; The look on a child’s face when you plug in the Christmas lights; Catching Mum’s head turned long enough to snatch a chocolate from the tree. Those are the Christmas gifts that can’t be bought in shops and they are the ones you remember long after the electric train is gone.

One of my goals as a kid, was to stay up late and catch Santa Claus on Christmas eve. I don’t know why kids do this, maybe we think if we catch him- we’ll get all the presents he has left in his sack. I tried for years to catch that rascal, but never could. I always fell asleep and he’d slip right past all my traps. It didn’t matter how much string I used or how many pie pans I tied them to- he’d still get though without making a noise.

My favorite food for Christmas was those butter cookies cut out like a wreath. The only time we had any of those butter cookies was at Christmas time and thats what kind Mum wanted to leave out for Santa. I told her to leave Santa those burnt up chocolate chip that she always tried to make instead. But she wanted to leave him the good stuff. No matter, I ate up all Santa’s cookies while I was staying up late trying to catch him. The best Santa ever got at our house was a few crumbs and half a glass of milk.

When you get on that naughty list, its hard to get off- just ask my granny, she’s been on it for years. She would never admit that she tried to catch Santa Claus, but I think she took a garden hose out one year and iced up the roof. Santa fell off in the yard and dropped his sack. Granny got there first and wouldn’t give it back. Anyway, her Christmas tree had a whole lot of stuff with other people’s name crossed out and hers written in over top.

The other day I went to Santa’s web site to see if I was still on his naughty list? Yeah, I’m still on it. While I was there, I decided to check up on a few other people and find out which list they were on. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that, but I did. And here is what I found out. (note, the names have been somewhat changed to protect the guilty.)

Papaw - Nice, but has been naughty at times. Has shown improvement with cleaning up his room. Still has a naughty tendency to leave his socks on the floor. With a little more effort, could be near top of "nice" list.

Granny - Nice at times, but needs to be good all year, not just around Christmas time. Overall, niceness outweighs naughtiness. Was good a whole week last month!

Be careful which list you get on. Its not Santa’s birthday we celebrate at Christmas and Santa didn’t go to the cross for you. That little baby born in a manger is Jesus, the son of the most high God!!! Jesus can get your name written down in the Book of Life, thats the most important list of all to be on. I didn’t know this for a long time, and I grew up in a neighborhood full of church members?

Written By Johnny Lee Hall Dec 1, 2001

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angel_heart.jpg (JPEG Image, 388x335 pixels)

oooh thank you every one :O)

Just a small blog

I just want to thank everyone for their fantastic present I was bestowed with. Lots and lots of craft items along with loads of pretty card. All to be used when card making.

I will be undertaking a project soon; making a bible book card.

Sandie gave me the cover in the form of a deep chocolate leather look card, Sindie gave me this fantastic paper to make very fine tissue like pages that can hopefully be typed on.

I am not sure where she got it or what it is called and unfortunately have forgotten how to use it BUT no matter, my friend Jeanette has come to the rescue as she used to use it when making cards for the infants she used to teach.

I shall do a proper blog with some photos another day. I am very busy and not feeling the biz at the moment.

Tinax

Oh my goodness me

As you know I have a bad stomach, it just is very painful. Because of this after chatting for a while with Babs I tidied up and went to bed early (about 2am) I was very uncomfortable in bed and thought I could not sleep UNTIL both Dave and myself was woken with a jolt by the dogs barking wildly.

Dave got up to investigate and I snuggled into his spot until he told them off and came back to bed :O)

He did come back to the bedroom but only to say “Tiny get up the police want to speak to you and he disappeared! I thought I must be dreaming, it was 3.15am and the police wanted to talk to me! Whatever for?

Our bedroom door opens into the front room as does the front door the other side! I was very embarrassed to walk out of the bedroom in case they were in the front room, they were not. Our front door was wide open and there was a police man standing just behind the Nat screen, he had a torch and shone it into the front room and on my face. I switched the light on (although the room was well lit up with all the car head lights lol)

He asked me to step outside (thank goodness we live in Spain, although it was still very chilly) I did so and was horrified to see poor Dave surrounded by police, three police cars had been driven (at what looked like high speed in order to swerve them round and up the pavement facing out front door) Dave said there were at least three more parked the other side of out wall! And two more up the road. There was also an ambulance with flashing lights, and I kid you not at least ten policeman, about three others dressed all in yellow and the ambulance medic, all in our front garden!

There were three police all asking me “No problem? You no phone? You no scream” I said ‘no’ and they said can they step in, I said yes of course. Once inside they tried to speak to me, it was hard for them to try to explain in English but I gather someone phoned them and they were screaming and said come quick to No. 4. They gave this address.

At the same time the ambulance man were checking my arms and said again “No problem” making the sleeping jester I repeated I was fine, I was asleep. They then asked if anyone else was here, again I said No, they asked if they could check around, I said yes two policemen one behind the other opened the bedroom door, shone the torch and shouted something, at the same time two went upstairs, they shouted something and returned down. I had heard them opening the back door onto the sun roof.

Dave returned inside with a few policeman and they asked me if I was OK, I again said Fine thank you.

After apologising they said goodnight and got in there cars and drove away, the ambulance following.

I soo wanted to take photos but did not know how to explain it, I did click one off without the flash from the front room window just as they were leaving, you can just see three cars headlights shining on the pavement facing our house.

There were still lots of policemen in the garden but because I took this from the window left window they were not in view.

Well goodness only knows what it was all about, but needless to say it was very exciting after the first shock! I did pray for whoever was screaming and made that phone call. I hope the police found them.

Well Sandie you asked me to blog about what happens in Spain!!

have a go

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oooooohhh

Don't think I have downloaded this photo quite right Babs. It downloaded the same as with my other browser.