Day 30 - No more chocolate!

Well, it's been a stressful couple of days - that's why I requested no visitors for a few days, but please feel free to visit again :-)

Let me give you a run down of the events over the past few days.

Last Wednesday night, Dad was told that on Thursday he would be going in for another operation. This time it would be a very significant one - amputation. This news came about 10 minutes after we (Mum, sister and I) had left his bedside, so we turned around and went back to comfort him. As you can imagine this news was pretty sad and traumatic for us all. Mum stayed overnight to keep Dad company - he was very anxious.

Thursday came around and the docs came to chat about the procedure and what would happen. We discussed an amputation just below the elbow, but would all depend on what the surgeon decided after looking inside Dad's arm. The surgeon looking after Dad is one of the top surgeons in Australia, if not the world!! So that's pleasing. That was about 10am, and they said about an hour until Dad would be called to the operating theatre. After 4 hours had passed, I thought we could ask what was happening (had they forgotten about Dad?). As it transpired, another patient on the ward had a life threatening situation arise and had to be rushed to surgery delaying Dad's procedure. After several more hours, and an absolutely starved Two Wheel Rosella, the operation was postponed until the following day. This turned out to be a bit of a relief because it meant Dad could eat again for a while.

On Good Friday morning, Dad was taken to theatre (about 7.30am) however due to another emergency case coming into the hospital (I think it could have been a car accident that morning) Dad was delayed again and taken back to his room. There he waited anxiously until about lunchtime when he was taken to theatre again, and this time his operation was undertaken.

Sister and I went to Federation Square for a beer to kill time until Dad was in the recovery room. We returned when the time came and saw Dad in the recovery room, expecting to see slightly less of a man. To our surprise Dad's arm was still complete, with a splint and different bandage around it. Later the registrar surgeon came to explain that during the operation the surgeon had found the flesh to be quite pink, and not as bad as first expected (although still "shitty") so skin grafts were done instead to try to close the wounds. By mid week we should find out if they have taken hold and what the next steps will be.

This is a most positive sign and perhaps there is hope yet that some good will still be to come.

Now the biggest problem (in my opinion) is the lack of 'positiveness' Dad is exuding. He has a nasty rash all over from the medication he's on which can be irritating at times. So he is complaining a little about this (combined with a heat rash on the back from the crappy sheets left under him after surgery) as well as complaining about being in the hospital and being bored and everything takes so long, and not getting help when he needs it. This is putting a lot of pressure on the family to be there, but of course this isn't physically possible with normal lives to lead as well (ie work, households to maintain and some time out).

I'm just hoping we can all pursuade Dad to be positive and think about how he can help himself. I've tried bringing him things to keep busy - puzzles, games (which are in the drawers next to his bed if anyone wants to play), books, magazines, music. But he doesn't want any of these - which I am finding extremely disappointing. Nevertheless we will press on helping and encouraging him to be positive. I hope you can too.

This has been a very long entry, so let me just finish by saying that Dad isn't a big chocolate eater, so don't bring anymore - I'm gaining pounds eating if all for him!! ;-)