A Quick Update from Kakka

Just thought I would hijack Mum's blog and post this pic of her I took last night post op.

She is doing well, and should be home tomorrow morning (that's Saturday our time).

I am sure she will be back here soon and give you all the details, they removed the para-thyriod that had the adenoma and she still has her voice although her throat is quite sore when she swallows.

Cheers Kakka xxx

THE DECISION HAS BEEN MADE

I saw my surgeon on Monday (gee, he's really great, answers any questions you ask and explains everything so well) and he told us (Phil always comes with me to medical appointments) that the CT scan showed I have what seems to be an adenoma on one of my parathyroid glands on the left side.  This is more or less what it would look like:

The glands themselves are tiny, about the size of a lentil seed and in some cases there can be less or more than four and they are not always where they are supposed to be.  I am hoping mine are where they belong.  I was told the 'spot' could actually be on the thyroid itself but hopefully this is not the case.  I don't really need any complications as I am hoping it will be quite a short operation.

We discussed the situation thoroughly and the surgeon's advice was that this adenoma should be removed or otherwise calcium will be leached from my bones etc. etc. etc. even though my bones last year showed they were then very solid when I had the bone density scan done.  We could of course continue to have more tests over the coming months/years but this condition does not cure itself so tomorrow I go Murdoch Hospital (have to be there at 7am which is not our time of day at all) and I was told I will be 'first cab off the rank" which is good news, particularly as I am diabetic.  Without knowing the full extent of what he will find the doctor has recommended a general anaesthetic as anything being done to the throat can cause coughing which would be rather dangerous when surgery is being undertaken.

I know this is risky at my age but there is little choice and I am sincerely hoping that if I have this operation I will begin to feel better in several ways, first of which is to feel less tired and 'washed out' every day and perhaps less bone pain and muscle cramps.  It seems this condition can also leach our phosphorus and magnesium and the lack of the latter can cause cramps.   The metformin I take for diabetes also leaches magnesium from the body so this could hopefully help that problem be resolved to some extent.

While I was at the surgery the doctor anaethetised my nose and throat and a camera was popped down to check my voice box which fortunately is OK (Phil confirmed that he had no doubt my voice box worked quite well) which I think was good news.    That only took less than 5 minutes and not all that uncomfortable although yesterday I was still feeling the after effects which gradually wore off during the day.

I have to go to the hospital to pre-admission this afternoon and have checked with Hospital Benefit Fund who tell me I am covered for a private room (after first paying a $200 excess) so ask for one (which I already did on the form) and that both the surgeon and anaesthetist are partly covered so hopefully the 'gap' won't be too huge.

Hopefully I will only be in hospital for a couple of days at most but I won't come home unless I feel confident I am OK as, apart from Phil, I have nobody to call on should anything go wrong.  Phil is wonderful but should I faint (I never have yet) or similar he'd have no chance of getting me up off the floor.

Wish me luck and hopefully I will be back here with you, hopefully feeling somewhat better, by next week if not earlier.   I have some more information about grandfather (PR) which you may find of interest.  Until then, au revoir.

P.S.  I just checked back to make sure this post appeared OK and couldn't believe it when it said I had posted it 20 minutes ago when, in fact, I posted it at least 4-5 hours back.  Where do these things go to in cyber pace before they appear here I wonder?

I'LL BE BACK AGAIN SOON

Hopefully before you'll actually realise I've been gone.

Just needed a break after this past week of medical tests.  It's always a bit scary when waiting for results, especially of our chests.   Phil's CT scan was clear and my x-ray was also clear so big sighs of relief from both of us.

I had a whole lot of blood tests done to do with this excess calcium business.  I have a copy of those tests but as I've never had them done before they are more or less double dutch to me although a couple look not quite right.  I'll find out about all that soon but doubt there's anything very serious showing up.

Of course I don't have the result of the CT scan of my parathyroid glands but have had a call from the surgeon's lovely receptionist who said 'something' has shown up so will definitely head over there for my appointment on Monday next.   Am hoping there may be an adenoma on just one of the four glands which can be removed reasonably easily.   Have to wait of course to see what the specialist has to say.

I've been reading up about it and if I do have an adenoma and it can be removed I can hope to feel lots better in many ways but I mustn't jump the gun as I may be told something entirely different to what I am anticipating.   I've always been a great believer in the old saying "Don't count your chicken until you come to them" or is "Don't cross your bridges until they're hatched"???  You know what I'm getting at don't you?

That CT scan was one of those where they take pics ('please do not swallow' was said several times) and after about 20 minutes they add something into the canulla which makes you just oh so hot all over for several seconds.  Even though you are expecting it, it still comes as quite a surprise.  My old back stood up to it quite well this time but the old shoulders suffered  a bit as the bench you lie on is so narrow there's nowhere to rest the poor old shoulders on. 

Mustn't complain as the gentleman who looked after me was just soooooo nice.  I couldn't have asked for anyone better.  I had to give him an idea of which vein to use to pop the canulla in and it worked OK and didn't hurt a bit which shows you how experienced he was at his work.  I told him I thought he was marvellous and I think he deserved every word of that praise.  I think he would have been  in his fifties and looked so much like my orthopaedic surgeon that they could have been brothers.  He said he'd have preferred it if I'd said he looked like Brad Pitt or someone like that and I was sorry to disappoint him.

My apologies for not visiting your blogs or replying to your comments this week but I will definitely do that over the weekend, even is I don't post anything myself.  Thanks for your patience.

PHOTO A DAY...number EIGHTEEN

A couple of days ago I spoke of my grandfather Percy Rockliff (1869-1958) (and always known as PR).  He was my adoptive mother's dad and in her book "Clock of Time' she writes quite a lot about him.  She said she felt he called himself PR as it is quite likely he did not like his given name of Percy and he had no second christian name.  Although she didn't see much of him when she was a child (that itself is another story) and never once she left the UK, I know she was very proud of him and the social work he had done.  In her book she included an extract from "Who's Who" as follows:

"ROCKLIFF, PERCY, O.B.E., F.S.S., F.F.I., F.C.I.I:  Past Chairman Insurance Committee for County of London; Past President Faculty of Insurance; Member of Consultative Council to Minister of Health; Vice-President Insurance Institute for London; Hon Secretary Joint Committee of Approved Societies; (Lloyd George's National Health Insurance); Member of Dental (Statutory) Council and Opthalmic Benefit Approved Committee; Executive Member Central Council for District Nursing; Joint Secretary National Insurance Benefit Society; Secretary of New Tabernacle and London & Country Approved Societies since 1912, until they were taken over by the State under the Beveridge Plan in about 1947/8; Secretary of the National Union of Holloway Friendly Societies Pooling Association and of the London & Counties Association of Approved Societies; Director of Dental Services Limited and Director of Supplies Limited; Parliamentary Agent National Union of Holloway Friendly Societies; Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society; First Worshipful Master of the House of Commons Freemasons Lodge - the "Welcome Lodge" in recognition of his work for the community.

CLUBS:  Royal Automobile & National Liberal.  He studied law, medicine and languages.  He dies in 1958 at the age of 89."

Apart from the OBE I have no idea what all the letters after his name stood for but were obviously important enough to be mentioned.   This is a picture of PR that was in mum's book and although it has not come out all that well I think it shows him quite clearly:

In more informal pictures he sent from England these shows PR enjoying himself at the beach on two different occasions, once alone and once with an acquaintance.  I love that first picture and don't you just love those stoney beaches they have in parts of the UK?  Unfortunately I have no idea just when these photographs were taken or sent to mum as I can't find the originals (these were also copied from her book):

 

These photographs were possibly taken at Eastbourne as that is where my grandfather's home was.

PHOTO A DAY......number SEVENTEEN

This is a little different today.   For the forty years we have lived in our present home, each year these flowers have appeared in our front garden.  They are a type of bulb and have spread quite a distance through the garden but have not become a nuisance.  I have no idea what they are and thought perhaps, if I showed a photo of them, someone well versed in flower nomenclature may give them a name.  They are very pretty and it would be nice next year to say "Oh look, the xxxxxx are in bloom again."  Can you help?

At first I pulled them up thinking they may be a flower that has become a weed similar to the Watsonia spp. in our southwest but they don't seem to spread enough to cause them to become a problem in the wild.  From the second year I just let them run free and am glad I have as they are cheerful companions in our garden.

A PHOTO A DAY......number SIXTEEN

Boy, am I running late today (blood test this morning and CT scan this afternoon so a very busy day, had to drink lots of water before and after CT scan).  Had to quickly find a photo that could possibly be of interest to people.

This is a snap I found taken ca 1940.  Grandfather had written on the back "The beehinve shelter at Dalbrack, Stanmore.

It was apparently a special air raid shelter in "Dalbrack" in Gordon Avenue, Stanmore, Middlesex, London, England which appears was the premises of The London and Colonial Bank Limited of which grandfather, Percy Rockliff, was a secretary.  He sent the photo to my mum many years ago (probably in the 1940s).  P.R. (as he was always known) actually lived at 7 Devonshire Place, Eastbourne in Sussex.  The shelter was built to house important documents to keep them safe in case of air raids.  I have found a list of 5 other persons also involved in this particular enterprise.  Seems I'll have to do some more 'digging' to find out exactly what it was all about.

There is a lot of interesting information about P.R. to be found on the internet.  His name appears in Who's Who.  I may try and find out some more information and do a post on this man whom I never met.  When I was a child he used to send me an English pound every Christmas and I so enjoyed going into the big Commonwealth Bank in Perth where I would go up to the foreign exchange counter and usually receive about twenty five shillings Australian.  The exchange rate these days rather works the other way....my, how things have changed.

A PHOTO A DAY....number FIFTEEN

This photo I think would have been taken in London in about 1909.  It is my paternal grandparents with their two little daughters Lilian and Winifred.  (They are the parents of my birth father). Don't you just love those hats?

I have told you how grandma 'dumped' her children 'cos she said she could no longer care for them and then went on to marry another chap a few years later.   The amazing thing to me is the fact that I could never find a record of grandfather's death, at least not until 1919, at which time grandma had married her second husband and had three children by him, one before they married.   Perhaps in those days they didn't ask many details when a person married.  Grandma's second marriage was in a Registry Office in 1916 and not a church.  Don't you just really enjoy these family mysteries.  Apart from Lilian (the older child here who ended up in a home and was sent to Canada where she did very well) they all (except poor old grandpa) emigrated to Australia.