Worrying times

Why 'Fluff's Journey' you've been asking, hehe, all will be revealed soon.

So Andy has explained the scary event in my arm and hand with them doing their own thing that resulted with me ending up in A&E, I truly wasn’t overly concerned at this point but when they started suggesting TIA’s as I had spent a huge part of my working life as a healthcare assistant I realised I’d probably been 'lucky' but equally as I knew I was heading for the stroke unit for observations and follow ups I was beginning to feel something wasn’t right,  I knew though that I was in the best place for now.

Overnight I had a relatively peaceful night but it was a hot summer and hospital wards aren’t renowned for their air conditioning and stroke wards are often full of the elderly who are confused & frightened too, it can and it was in this case a noisy combination bless them.

Next morning I was sent down for a brain scan, later that day I saw consultants and doctors none were unduly concerned beyond still believing I’d had a TIA they decided though to  keep  me in for another day. On Day two the team said they felt  on checking my scan the definition wasn’t clear and so wanted to arrange another, they felt I was well enough to discharge me asking me to come back the next day, for the scan and they’d then be in touch with the results. I went home and slept well in my own bed, there really is no place like home! Saturday morning we were back at the hospital for the scan and we’d already had a social commitment meaning an overnight stay in Bolton. I felt fine so we saw no reason not to go. We had a great night but I was tired by about ten p.m. so we retired to our room and I had a decent night’s sleep. Next morning, we had a leisurely Sunday breakfast and we decided to drive the 50 miles to Morecambe where one of my brothers was then living to catch up with him. After an hour or so we said our goodbyes. By now I was starving and ‘Ben & Jerry’s’ as I had nicknamed Franky & Bennie’s American restaurant was just around the corner  & we headed there for lunch.

We’d been in the restaurant long enough to order our food, drinks and to have eaten our first course. Andy & I were romantically holding hands across the table, I suddenly felt my arm going into its flipping mode again, OMG I was petrified, I was shouting help me, help me, please I begged out loud I don’t want to have a stroke. I was frightened, Andy yelled at the Restaurant Manager to call for an ambulance and was trying to console me, from nowhere, well an adjacent table actually, a young lady came over, she was it turned out a GP & she calmed me explaining I wasn’t having a stroke, by now Andy was also dialling 999 and was talking to the emergency operator, 3 minutes later an ambulance was outside and paramedics were taking control of the situation. In minutes I was in Lancaster Royal Infirmary A&E department where an excellent (but typical of the NHS) but overworked and over tired Doctor began to do tests on me. He sent me for a scan and confirmed there was something showing, their Radiographer was suggesting it was likely to be a ‘Meningioma’ basically a benign tumour more common than we think, that sits on the membrane between the skull and the brain (Click on the link below for more Meningioma information) People can have these for years and not be aware of them and live perfectly well. The A&E team kept me under observation for around 6 hours and during that period I was fine and showed no signs of further problems. The team felt there was no reason to admit me and so I was discharged, I really didn’t want to be in hospital miles from home, I wanted my bed………

Meningioma Information

 

PS. Despite the A&E Doctor comment (that Andy added, he'll explain his reasons for this in one of his posts) we both felt I was at all times in very capable  & caring hands both of the Doctor & of the Nursing team at Lancaster RI A&E, my sincerest thanks to them.