Two experiences for the price of one

Since her accident on Tuesday, Pauline has had her operation to pin the femur.   My visit to her in Intensive Care on Wednesday evening she did not remember.   I cannot say I am surprised because she was very confused about many things at that point.   The following day, yesterday, she was back on Conwy Ward and by the time I visited in the evening she had, with great difficulty, got out of bed for an hour.

Despite the pain she is experiencing, the progress, I believe, is excellent.   How long her full recovery will take is unknown but I would bet on it being less than average for someone in her sixties.   her surgeon visited her yesterday and, when she mentioned the "torn muscle" following her fall a few weeks earlier at Henllys Hall he said it was very likely that the break had started then.   Personally, I think it means she fractured her femur on that occasion and broke it on Tuesday in Amlwch.

One interesting fact is that her surgeon, Mr Mel Jones, is the author of a very interesting article on the world wide web about the Anglesey bonesetters.   Follow this link to find out more:

http://www.ganapathihipkneesurgeon.com/anglesey%20bonesetters%20and%20modern%20orthopaedics.html

When we were in A & E the charge nurse told me Pauline's leg was to be placed in a "Thomas Splint" and this was what happened.   It is the same design as the originals made by the blacksmith in Liverpool who worked for Dr Thomas.   I found the story fascinating and was reminded how important Anglesey is in terms of history both for Wales and the United Kingdom.   Seeing the doctors selecting the spot to inject the femoral nerve to give pain relief whilst the splint was attached was also interesting.   They used an ultrasound scanner to find the nerve.   The femoral nerve, artery and vein are all very close, so it is all too easy to hit the wrong part when injecting the local anaesthetic.   Looking at the picture, I could see a large pulse which told me I was looking at the artery.   I am pleased to say they hit the right spot!

So, the news is that excellent progress, involving pain, of course, is being made.   I am very grateful for that.

From Bad to Worse

As you know, Pauline had a fall in March and has had severe walking difficulty since.   Yesterday I took her to the local health centre to see the doctor regarding her gout problems.   Whilst there she had a blood test to see the level of uric acid.

We then left the health centre and halfway to the car she fell and we had to call an ambulance.   The health centre staff were extremely supportive and helped us greatly.   The ambulance eventually arrived after about an hour.   Yesterday was a day when there was an inundation of 999 calls for ambulances.   Add to this the rural situation and you can see why it took so long.

An X-ray established that Pauline had broken her femur high up the bone.   Today she will have an operation to pin the bone.   The hospital will try to get her a bed in the High Dependency Unit after the op.   What the prognosis will be I cannot tell at this stage but we should know pretty soon.

In the meantime I am visiting each day and supporting in every way I can.

Watch out for an update!

A Difficult Time

By the time we had celebrated Pauline's 65th birthday it seemed that all we had to do was work on her temporary brain damage to get things sorted out.   Little did we know how it would work out.   It was not long after that Pauline began to experience strong pain in her right hand and wrist.   We put this down to arthritis from which she has suffered for a number of years.   As it didn't respond to anti inflammatories Pauline visited the health centre.   Doctor Robin, (a retired GP who does a lot of locum work for our surgery and is the father of one of the partners) suggested it might be gout.   I was pleased because I knew how quickly I recovered from gout when I first experienced it 5 or 6 years ago.   However, we are talking about Pauline in this instance. She has a track record of  not always doing things the standard way.   For weeks there was no improvement.

During this time she took tablets for which the side effect was diarrhoea, and, boy, did she spend time in the bathroom!   Back she went to Doctor Robin who immediately prescribed something to take care of the trots.   But still there was no improvement to her symptoms.   To cut a long story short she was prescribed steroids which have brought down the inflammation in her arm and legs and the gout is coming under control.

However, during this period my cousin came to visit us and asked us to visit him and his wife at the place where they were staying.   Whilst there, Pauline suggested we went out for a short walk.   Within 5 minutes she had fallen when she missed the bottom one in a flight of steps.   I helped her up and the damage seemed to be a twisted ankle.   Within 3 days it was OK again, but a pain had started in her left leg towards the top.   Medical advice was to call at Stanley Hospital in Holyhead and borrow a walking stick.   We went and acquired the stick and hoped this would help.   By Monday, this week, the pain was still bad so Pauline decided to go to Ysbyty Gwynedd A & E department for further help.   On examination the doctor found it was muscular and advised her to keep on exercising and it would take about 2 months to improve.

So now the experience is watching her struggle to stand, to walk, sit down etc.   I just hope she will be better by the time we travel to Nelson to join old friends who used to worship in the two former Congregational churches there.   In the mean time I am continuing to act in full support.   There is some good news, though.   The temporary brain damage is almost gone and the only problem is memory.   Well, I have had a bad memory for decades so I am sure we can live with it!