tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post3735671499190946711..comments2023-05-24T23:33:57.516+10:00Comments on My Unwelcome Stranger: That first seizure - final partDenis Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-67521695532582481392011-06-08T22:01:58.304+10:002011-06-08T22:01:58.304+10:00Famin: thanks so much for your interest. They did ...Famin: thanks so much for your interest. They did a head CT immediately the seizure stopped. No, it wasn't 2 days, it was 2 hrs. During that time we were at the Casualty section, and I under close observation. For some reason, it took them a very long time to administer the anti-seizure drug by infusion.<br />There are new treatments round the corner. It will be very different within a decade, I think. Positivity and great care have done a great deal. We will deal with things as they come along. I don't pretend they are great right now but I have been at this point before.<br />Lovely to talk again after all these years, even if not under great circumstances!Denis Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-81115011398989630152011-06-07T10:02:53.664+10:002011-06-07T10:02:53.664+10:00Hi, Denis,
Wow, what a journey! I guess I'm wi...Hi, Denis,<br />Wow, what a journey! I guess I'm with Tracey on the idea that the surgeon could stand to work on his people skills. Granted, surgeons aren't known for their people skills (and oncologists are usually better at giving this sort of news), but still. It's his job to be delicate. AND taking a phone call in the middle of it all was inexcusable. You weren't having a conversation about your dry cleaning after all.<br /><br />I guess I was also surprised they didn't do a head CT or PET when you first went to the ER, since they clearly had no idea what was causing your seizure. I guess that's what I would've done (not that I'm a doctor). But I suppose you were jerking around too much to be able to get a decent reading. Just reading about your two days seizing made me exhausted. I've seen epileptics go through that and their seizures don't usually last as long.<br /><br />I'm so sorry to hear you have GBM. It's a tough disease and prognosis is always poor. I suppose that means every second, minute, hour, day, and month is a gift. Like with the news about the new targeted therapies for melanoma they've been talking about this week, there's always something new around the corner.<br /><br />I'm glad to see you're still blogging--and fighting! All the oncologists and onco teams I know have said this--they don't know why but they've all seen the positive results of a positive attitude in patients. No one knows why, but it's made a difference!Faminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-77597247880360450642010-10-07T07:49:09.878+11:002010-10-07T07:49:09.878+11:00Aaahhh.... "First Do No Harm", Dianne -...Aaahhh.... "First Do No Harm", Dianne - what an interesting way of putting it! How widely we can interpret that epithet....Denis Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-67087971709559289442010-10-05T15:45:36.694+11:002010-10-05T15:45:36.694+11:00Anne - I thank Facebook for letting us all blurt o...Anne - I thank Facebook for letting us all blurt out scraps of our lives, sometimes with no context, but just letting each other know we are around, we're listening, and we care.Denis Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-61214950504396166732010-10-05T09:04:24.409+11:002010-10-05T09:04:24.409+11:00livid! ;)livid! ;)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-45985975820631867962010-10-05T09:03:32.024+11:002010-10-05T09:03:32.024+11:00I can relate to Tracey's sentiments - I'd ...I can relate to Tracey's sentiments - I'd be equally livd - and was, as I had a similiar experience with my mother. Doesn't the Hippocratic Oath say "First Do No Harm"?! For me, that extends to all aspects of the relationship/communication betweens physican and patient/family ... to be able to empathise - especially on Christmas Eve (!) ... to not lose your humanity ...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-20569185835028496052010-10-04T20:52:36.245+11:002010-10-04T20:52:36.245+11:00Dear Anne, there WILL be more postings, unless fat...Dear Anne, there WILL be more postings, unless fate decrees otherwise. I meant that I was finished only with describing that first seizure. I have other things to say and I hope you continue reading! <br />Today has been a very difficult day. I will write more on that soon. The goalposts have shifted in the past 24 hours.Denis Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-71886909506669447602010-10-04T18:30:53.345+11:002010-10-04T18:30:53.345+11:00Dear Uncle Den,
I will miss reading your posts. I ...Dear Uncle Den,<br />I will miss reading your posts. I am not sure why, exactly. Maybe as I seem to remember reading somewhere quite recently, we all have good intentions of keeping in touch...just time seems to get in the way? I can not say exactly why I have felt so compelled to read your blog each day, but I do believe it has made me feel closer to you in some way - to share personal experiences the way you have..<br />Hugs and best wishes coming your way!!!Annenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-60353697476856997002010-10-04T12:21:43.719+11:002010-10-04T12:21:43.719+11:00Thank you dear Denis for sharing, so eloquently, y...Thank you dear Denis for sharing, so eloquently, your diagnosis exerience.Wendynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-73778953295187945942010-10-03T20:12:57.163+11:002010-10-03T20:12:57.163+11:00In a horrible sort of way, your account of the fir...In a horrible sort of way, your account of the first seizure and aftermath is compelling reading. As for the surgeon; well I can quite understand poor Tracey's feelings but judging by several friends and relatives in that profession, it seems often to go with the territory! The greater their surgical skill, the fewer their people skills...in truth I've come to mistrust surgeons who are too charming! They strike me as too much like American actors playing doctors! With Bob's many operations in recent years, it was the most charming surgeon who did the lousiest job! Whereas the rather gruff, uncommunicative even slightly weird surgeon did a great job with a tricky op. Perhaps the constant exposure to other people's pain desensitizes them, in their own defence. or maybe they're just born that way! Reading your account makes me realise just what an appalling shock the diagnosis must have been to you both. Amazing coincidence that your daughter, too, should have had a brain tumour - thank goodness it was benign. Your cool ability to analyse all this and write about it is impressive...so glad to learn the hateful seizures seem to have taken a back seat...Julie Lakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10268676551467882065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-31043989401780989572010-10-03T16:24:42.787+11:002010-10-03T16:24:42.787+11:00In defence of the surgeon, he was the busiest pers...In defence of the surgeon, he was the busiest person I had ever seen in a hospital, called in hour after hour to perform delicate brain operations far beyond what should have been the case. I would not even have asked for a life expectancy figure, except in the vaguest ballpark way, as they simply can't know. It was a mistake on his part to try to be so precise, to take another call, and probably the timing. Still, I would rather have a good surgeon with bad bedside manner than an inferior one who made you feel good. But I can well understand Tracey's resentment. She was the one taking the punch, with a beautiful Christmas tree full of hope crushed in the lounge room...Denis Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-78638498344916940402010-10-03T15:47:11.254+11:002010-10-03T15:47:11.254+11:00How on earth do people like that become Doctors? F...How on earth do people like that become Doctors? First of all to call on X-Mas Eve (though understandably you wanted to know as soon as possible), then second of all to take the other call, then third to not even give you a glimmer of hope. There should be a prerequisite that they have to be good with people, otherwise they can't graduate. I'm very glad that he was wrong on that last count. Much love and hugs to all of you. xoxoxooxoxoxoxoConstance Rolfehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12340944016707446222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-45138636485768029722010-10-03T11:32:00.523+11:002010-10-03T11:32:00.523+11:00Everybody told us he was a brilliant surgeon. We c...Everybody told us he was a brilliant surgeon. We can only assume that he was. But for people skills he gets ZERO.<br /><br />The phone call with the neurosurgeon went more like this:<br /><br />"I have the result of the biopsy (long pause)............."<br /><br />"Is it a GBM?"<br /><br />"Yes"<br /><br />"Grade four?"<br /><br />"Yes"<br /><br />"From what you saw during the surgery what is the prognosis?"<br /><br />"..........um.........I have to take this other call, can you hang on a minute" *click*<br /><br />OK, so this is a most critical moment to me after receiving this terrible, terrible news and I have just asked this guy how long he thinks Denis has got to live and he HAS TO TAKE ANOTHER CALL??? <br /><br />When he finally did get back on the phone he didn't even have the decency to remember where we where up to in the call and I had to ask him again...."How long have we got!"<br /><br />"Oh....um....ten months"<br /><br />"Maybe 12?"<br /><br />"No, ten"<br /><br />Happy bloody Christmas.<br /><br />Well, it has been ten months now and you were WRONG Mister.Traceyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09920294359715307782noreply@blogger.com