Lots to report

[brenda seal]

Laurie is battling along and is quite stable at the moment . Last Monday just hours before he was due at the hospital for cataract surgery , he collapsed on the bathroom floor . His legs just gave way again and he fell to the floor on his knees . I called both my sons and an ambulance as we could not get him up and there was an awful lot of blood and I could not tell where it was coming from . He had gashed both legs open . After hours at Aand E where they patched him up and wanted to admit him , he of course refused as he was determined to have his cataract done , we returned home to get ready for the trip to a private day surgery unit where the surgery was to take place .
Three hours later we had to get him to dialysis - a challenge ! As he has only one eye and that was covered after the surgery with a patch and two gashed legs . So totally blind , two very sore legs and bruised ribs from where they were trying to lift him off the floor - getting him in and out of the car was very stressful especially as we had had no sleep and tempers were frayed !
Mission was accomplished and repeated the next morning to go back to the eye specialist to get the patch off his eye . The cataract surgery was very successful and he can now see quite well and is able to read his paper and watch TV - which makes his life much more pleasant .
He lost a lot of blood because of the fall - bloody Warfarin and needed two units of blood as Hg very low and his Mircera ( epo ) dose has been doubled .
On 6th March he will have more surgery to do something about the gangrene on his toe and they are going to do a procedure to try and increase the blood flow to his legs - involving an angiogram and balloons . Hope it works .
On Saturday morning one of his dialysis buddies passed away . R.I.P. Ahmed such a nice man . So sad .
Just thought I would pass on he news . Brenda

[jeannea]

Laurie sounds incredibly strong and determined. I would probably be a puddle of tears after all that. Good to hear the cataract surgery went well.

[MooseMom]

oh my...your life sounds just so very hard.  You and Laurie are very strong people.

[drgirlfriend]

Laurie sounds incredibly strong and determined. I would probably be a puddle of tears after all that. Good to hear the cataract surgery went well.

This! You two are amazing.

[boswife]

I pat you on the back and send hugs...  these stories these days are sounding so 'close to home'  Whats goen on with our loves.  I wish you the best recovery and strength.... 

[MaryD]

So good to hear from you, Brenda.  It is very good news about his eye - it will make a tremendous difference to his life.  The bathroom episode sounds rather frightening.  Even a little bit of blood on the floor looks scarily like gallons of it.  I will be keeping my fingers crossed on 6th March and hoping you will have a new man thereafter.

 

[brenda seal]

Laurie had his surgery on 6th March - they did an angiogram  on his right leg and put in a couple of stents to increase the blood flow. They also had to amputate his big toe as it was gangrenous . He tolerated the anaesthetic quite well but his blood tests were not good and he developed slight infection so the hospital stay was a little longer than anticipated . After a few squabbles with the physio , he eventually was able to walk to the bathroom with the aid of his walker and was allowed home this afternoon . Hooray !

[MaryD]

I was wondering how his surgery went.  It's good to hear it turned out OK, and that he is home again.  Think of you often!                 

[boswife]

 

[MooseMom]

I'm so glad he's home!!!!