Bladder is gone but not done

Last Thursday Dennis had his gall bladder removed by key hole surgery which means 4 small incisions vs. the large c-section type incision. Dennis had decided he would go with NHS (National Health Service) which is socialized medicine. You have to get something for your 17% tax on everything along with 50% employment tax. He could have used our private insurance but chose not to. What does private do for you? Well, you get the same doctor at the same hospital but a different building and supposedly faster more attentive care. Let's hope we don't ever get another chance to choose between the two.

The main hospital is clean and well attended but definitely gives you the feeling of stepping back in time from the nurses uniforms to the decor and even some of the equipment. It just looks like they got stuck in time probably due to funding.

Dennis and I arrived at 8 a.m. for the surgery. We sat in a waiting room while people like the anestesiologist, nurse and intern came to talk with us about some details. At 12:00 they brought him a robe and told him to come along and told me visiting hours were at 7 pm. "Wait, does that mean I should leave and not come back until tonight," I asked. How will I know if it went well?"
"Oh, you can call the ward to check on him," the nurse told me.
"Yeah, right, like they are going to discuss a patient over the phone with some lady they've never met. I don't think so." I thought to myself. Still, I complied; after all, I'm a foreigner, I don't how this system works.

A few hours later, I got a text that read, "Happy Anniversary. I'm out of surgery. No complications." (He had the surgery on our anniversary) Naturally I called to talk with groggy Dennis. At 7:00, the kids and I went to find Dennis. He was in a bed on a ward with 4 other beds in his curtain partitioned area with another 4 just across the walkway. The ward was full of people huddled around their loved ones recovering from various ailments. Dennis looked good but a bit pale, dressed in one of those cute pale blue hospital gowns. (They are like graduation caps - designed to humble whomever might be tempted to think they are big stuff.) We had a good chat - he was so happy to see us and have his family surrounding him. The kids were a little unnerved to see their adventurous, tough Daddy reduced to a hospital gown speaking a little delayed and not quite 100% alert.

Still, he got to come home on Friday and slept most of the day. Saturday was good and Sunday too until that night. Late in the afternoon Dennis was suddenly gripped with the intense abdominal pain he had experienced before having his gall bladder out. Doubled over in pain, he struggled to call for someone to help him. Anna Catherine called 999 (that's like our 911) while they sent an ambulance. At this point you may be wondering where in the world I was? Well, I had left Sunday morning to go down to London to meet Julie Blakey and bring her up to our house. Though the kids heard the siren going by and Julieanne and Na ran down to the road the ambulance couldn't find our house or get up the alley. By this time the pain had subsided enough for Dennis to walk down the alley to meet the ambulance. They all decided that he was okay for now and that if it happened again - the kids should call and they would know how to get up to the house for next time. Sure enough, it happened again a bit later. AC knew the drill and explained Dad's symptoms like a champ to the 999 people while Julieanne waited for the ambulance. Just as the paramedics walked up Dennis threw up, the pain was so bad. He and Julieanne went to the ER in the ambulance while AC stayed with Na who was watching TV the whole time. All the while AC was supposed to be studying for her statistics and chemistry exams.

After several hours in the ER they said a gall stone could have escaped into the duct just before it was removed and was causing these problems. They would schedule a sonogram and let Dennis know. Dennis was feeling better and since it was such a nice evening, he decided he and Julieanne would walk home. That's right, to the hospital in an ambulance, home from the hospital by your own feet. Dennis says it's only about a 15 minute walk but I think he was underestimating.

At 11:00 that night he sent me a text in London wishing me a less eventful day than his, mentions ER, ambulance, long walks, lost ambulance. Everyone was asleep when I called so I had to wait to hear the drama until the next morning when Dennis was on his way to work. He said he didn't want to ruin my time with Julie so he didn't let me know until the end of the day.

From here he continued to go backwards in the recovery progress continuom. By Tuesday afternoon we were at the GP (General practitioner's office as the surgeon was on holiday and it's protocol to turn you over to your GP anyway) Dennis was starting to look jaundice and had no energy, constant massive headache and generally felt like he had the flu without a fever. They have decided it may be an infection for which he started antibiotics or it could be the gall stone blocking the liver a bit. After 24 hours on the antibiotics, he is feeling better but not great. He's hardly eating anything as that has gotten him into trouble. It didn't help that before surgery the intern had told Dennis he could basically eat whatever he wanted after the surgery within reason. Okay, I don't have my medical degree but even I knew that was bad advice. Anyway, he's having the sonogram on Friday and had blood work Thursday. He's still not feeling great but improving no doubt. So the gall bladder is gone but we're not quite done.