Saturday 24 October 2009

JANE'S HAD A BRAKE !!

This is Martin writing and yes I have spelt brake correctly. Jane is currently in hospital with a broken left femur. Let me tell you what happened....

On Monday this week she finished her final radiation session. All was going well, the usual swelling and difficulty walking followed but with the thought ' it was all over ' tempered all of that. However on Wednesday her left leg became extremely painful and the swelling increased. So much so that we contacted the hospice where Jane was due to go for rest bite in a couple of weeks. The arrangements were changed and Jane was going to go in on Friday for a week to give everyone a rest. Wednesday night, Catherine and her friend Donna volunteered to stay up with Jane as the pain and swelling were getting worse. On Thursday morning I was informed that at 4am they had to call out a locum who pronounced that it looked like her leg was broken... What !! but she hadn't done anything, I want a second opinion..!!
I telephoned the hospice who said to take her to the local A&E to be sure. The ambulance duly arrived at 1045am and taking one look at her leg and her face, didn't try to move her but wheeled her straight into the ambulance using her own wheelchair where she had now been sat for 12 hours without moving.
A&E had been pre-warned by the hospice and she was wheeled straight into a cubicle where she waited.... and waited... and waited. It took another frantic phone call from me to the hospice who in turn telephoned A&E before they sprung, snail like, into action. I can go into lots of detail here but I wont suffice to say that in the end there were 4 A&E nurses, one consultant, a physio nurse and 50.. yes 50 milligrams of morphine before they managed to get her out of the chair and onto a trolley. The screaming was unbearable at times and I was in bits. A subsequent X ray proved her left femur was indeed broken right where the tumour had eaten away at the bone. Disaster!! Jane was put into a recovery room where she was monitored up and I spent a while explaining that she had actually seen a bone specialist a few weeks earlier and they had talked about this eventuality.
That evening she was transferred as an emergency to the hospital where that specialist works. Once again, I had to explain her case history and try to remember what medication she had been taking or was due.. (note to self .. write this down prior to anything else happening). There then followed a long, very painful and traumatic night.. for both of us. Jane was delirious with the amount of morphine but still in pain. I was stressed to the max at her predicament and still remembering medication that she should have had and had been forgotten. My God, that has got to be the worst 24 hours of my life without a doubt... (so far).
Morning came. The staff had fitted a morphine pump that I was operating for her quite illegally apparently but it was the only way to maintain the levels of morphine that kept her from screaming in pain and gave her the chance to sleep.
At 0845 the consultant came and saw her and announced that he was going to order a special part for her leg to replace the tumoured bone. He could operate a week Monday....(what ??? a week Monday !!!!) Jane's face said it all. The consultant apologised but said he couldn't do it any earlier. She was to go for an X ray that afternoon to measure the femur then she could wait for the operation at the Hospice... good news at last followed closely by more bad news when she was told that the X ray machine was broken and couldn't be fixed till Monday.
So there we have it, she is in hospital awaiting an X ray on Monday (hopefully) and then onto sanctuary at the hospice to await an operation to replace a bit of bone in her leg...

I got home at 3pm, phoned everyone I knew to tell them whats happened and went to bed at 7.45 pm where I slept until 8am this morning. I have just come from the hospital now, although still in a lot of pain she is fairly comfortable...

23 comments:

Sugar said...

omg! sooo sorry to hear this, hope they can get her in sooner! my heart goes out to her, & you.
my thoughts & prayers are there with her.
may God give her strength to get thru all this, & give her some relief to the pain.
hoping this surgery will help, & she'll recover quickly.
posting this on call 4 support for others to know & come visit, offer support & prayers.
God bless...

Sybil said...

Oh dear Martin, I can hardly believe what she is having to go through.. I know that our NHS is often critizised and I am the first to defend it as is dear Jane but there really is a limit to our endurance. Do they only have 1 Xray machine.....I can maybe understand the surgeon not being able to operate till he can order the correct size shape etc. but no Xray !! well I am left speachless..or maybe that shoudl be wordless..
Please take care of youself Martin and let us have updates as you can. Of course she will already know that she is in our thoughts and prayers but if your able just tell her we love her and pray constantly....for you ALL. Please excuse any spelling etc I write this through a veil of tears.
Love Sybil xxx

Andy said...

I am so sorry to hear your news and I hope everything works out for Jane. Please tell her that she is in my thoughts and prayers.
Andy

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

Coming here from Call 4 support. I will keep your Jane in my prayers. And prayers for you too.

Jackie said...

Thank you Martin for posting to let us all know especially with all that you have going on right now. Please tell her we all send our love and hope they sort her out really soon!
She is in our thoughts daily.
Jackie xxx

ADB said...

Martin,
Thank you very much for posting, in order to keep us all up to date. I am very sorry this happened, and even more sorry that the NHS decided to go into snail's pace on this occasion. Incredible. I hope Jane can have her op a bit earlier than in 9 days' time. Keep your spirits high - both of you.

Guido

Yasmin said...

OMG what a horrid time for you both, the NHS do their best but still not good enough glad to hear she is at least comfortable and with luck the x-ray etc will go smoothly..my thoughts go to all of you at this time, Jane as i don't have to tell you is a very special lady and with you by her side I can see hows she's come this far.

Yasmin
xxx

mortonlake said...

its just not bloody fair.one person shouldnt have to suffer so much.please give her my love martin,my thoughts go out to you at this time,and my prayers for jane.thanks for letting us know. ,she is very precious to all of us who know her through her blog.she always thinks of me and comments,even when she has her own pain to bear.she is one hell of a lady.take care,mort.

Ken Riches said...

Came via MortonLake, know you are both in my thoughts.

Herrad said...

Hi Jane,
Thinking of you both.
Love,
Herrad

pam said...

Hey Martin. Thank you for the Update. I am sure I have steam belching out my ears right now! Firstly I am so sorry to hear about this and you and Jane must be so exhausted. That poor woman can't even get an X Ray? or Operation? What Is going on with our Healthcare system? I am absolutely blazing. I bet your bottom dollar If any of those "professional" people had someone close to them go through this, things would be changed drastically! In this particular area I live in, I could walk In to my local A & E with an X Ray slip and wait for around an hour! It Is Disgraceful. Please tell Jane I send my love to her and you all and hope and pray she gets this sorted out asap. How much does a person have to endure for goodness sake? I will go and get a cuppa now and try to wind down.Try and get a sleep Martin. Keeping her close to me as always all my Love Pam.xx

Unknown said...

Thank you for posting Martin. My love and sympathy to both of you.

Lisa said...

Sending up prayers for Jane, Love and Hugs Lisa

Anonymous said...

Have been watching all week for Jane to write, my prayers for you both continue, poor Jane it beggers belief that she cold have been treated like that in A&E I just hope her consultant pulls out all stops now to get this op done,will continue to pray for you all, and Thank you for the update,will continue to watch with hope that the next one will bring better news

Linda :) said...

Bringing Special Thoughts...

Cruella de Surf said...

I was in tears reading this blog & am so very sorry to learn of Jane's terrible pain and suffering. God bless you both xxxxxxxxx

LYN said...

hiya Martin..it's me Lyn the brit in Florida...I just got back from seeing hubby in california so I am a but behind in my reading! I am so terribly sorry to hear this news...please give Jane all my love and a cuddle for yourself...must be awful watching her in such pain...keep your chin up and let us know how she is yea??

Beth said...

Stopping by via Mort's blog. I'm so sorry to hear of this and please send many hugs and best wishes to Jane! Hugs, Beth

Daria said...

So sorry to hear this news ... please send Jane strength and courage and lots of hugs.

jack69 said...

Martin, may the strength you both need come sooner than later. You guys have had a terrible trip of it. Our prayers are going up for you both.

Jeannette said...

I came by way of Mort. Please know that you will all be in my prayers. It does seem awful that some people have to suffer so. Please tell her we are all thinking of her and willing her better soon.

Lori J said...

Dear Martin and Jane,

Not even going through this but also knowing that dark valley...I can only pray for you both...
I will pray that the process will be speeded up for her surgery.

Blessings and hugs,

ALBERTA Lori

Liz said...

I came via Andy.
Snails carry their home on their back for a very good reason.
My thoughts are with you at this time and I hope Jane finally receives the care she deserves from people who do not need to carry a place to hide from their ignorance and incompetence.
I hope you too receive the support you need in order to stand firm for Jane.