Pectus Excavatum: Date Change
8th Feb 2010 02:22amThe feeling of crapping myself that I mentioned in the previous post ended up taking over and a week and a halfs notice was a tad bit too soon for me, so I have re-arranged the operation and stuff for the middle of March 2010, so that gives me a month and a half to sit and chill myself out about it all.
I'd like to personally thank everyone that has been supportive along the way - family, friends and blog readers - for your excellent pieces of feedback, suggestions, questions and comments about the up coming operation.
0 Comment(s) -:- PermalinkTags: pectus excavatum, operation, nuss procedure, birmingham heartlands hospital
Pectus Excavatum: Almost There
1st Feb 2010 16:02pmOn Saturday afternoon, my Mom called to say I had some posted and one was marked "Private & Confidential" and it looked more like it was from the hospital. So I tottered off to my Moms house and opened it... I saw the NHS sign and four pages stapled together ... my arse went 10-pence-5-pence. Reading it over it says that a bed is available for me on Wednesday 10th February 2010. Then it goes on to mention about not having anything to eat or drink from 3am that day (other than clear water till 7am), then it just goes on to say about the "No Smoking" policy that the hospital operates, yadda, yadda, yadda...
Before I do go for this operation, I do have to be tested for MRSA (quick and simple nose swab) and also have my Pre-Op Assessment (including an ECG), which they all take place on Thursday 4th February 2010. Luckily they're in the afternoon so I don't have to worry about waking up early in the morning. :D Then the other two pages just jabble on about visiting times, no under 12s allowed to visit and the stuff I need to take with me.
All in all, it's a bit scary that I've only been given a week-and-a-half notice, but hey-ho... that's life. I'm kinda really crapping it, but will be fine. Also a huge thanks to all those that have been supportive about it all, Thank You! :)
0 Comment(s) -:- PermalinkTags: pectus excavatum, birmingham heartlands hospital, operation, nhs, preop, mrsa
Pectus Excavatum (7)
31st Jan 2010 05:28amWell after a long time of no updates, today has brought my biggest shock so far... a letter from the hospital dating when my operation is ... 10th February 2010!
At the moment it hasn't sank in properly yet, but I am a tad bit scared at the moment... I will do a proper write up about it tomorrow morning.
1 Comment(s) -:- PermalinkTags: pectus excavatum, birmingham heartlands hospital
Pectus Excavatum (6)
3rd Sep 2009 00:29amOk, so since I last spoke about my "journey", I've visited George Eliot Hospital (in Nuneaton) and had to revisit Birmingham Heartlands Hospital. With a result of still not being sure of my exact operation date (though, it's predicted sometime late-October / early-November ... I should put a tenner down that it'll likely be on my 22nd birthday - he he).
On 21st July 2009 at 5pm, I ended up going to the George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton for my CT Thoracic (Pron: four-ass-sick) scan which was something I've not had before. I've had an ultrasound before and a normal XRay, but having a CT scan wasn't ticked off in my list of hospital machinery that I've experienced personally. So off I plodded into the hospital - hungry may I add, as I had to be nil-by-mouth for hours (I didn't even smoke during that period! Good me.) - along with a digital camcorder (cheers Peter) and headed around the few corridors to the XRay department - obviously I had a little play with the hand washing things (oh so childish!), then proceeded to the reception desk and told them I was booked in for ??.??pm. They told me to take a seat and as I did I noticed the sign on the wall "estimated XRay waiting time: 1hr 30min" - I thought "Oh wonderful!" ... so I'm sitting there thinking an hour and a half with no puzzle book with me to pass the time and only a bunch of elderly people in front of me nattering about something prehistoric (VHS, German's or something).
Though within sitting there for less than 5 minutes, I got called in - the nurse didn't say my name loud enough, so when I got to her I did ask her "You did just call Dale Hay, yeah?", just to make sure. Anyways, she guided me through more corridors and finally I was in the small area with about 5 seats for the next lot of people to go into the rooms. She told me to put a gown on my top half of my body then come back out. At this time I told her that I'm basically following along my journey by filming it and also asked if it was possible to allow a camera in the room with me, because I was originally afraid that the radiation from the scanner would malfunction the camera. She wasn't sure, so to be safe she asked her boss and (s)he said that it was fine - as long as no footage of any staff was present. So with that in mind, I got my gown on and sat in this small area. Had a cannula placed into my arm (short sharp shock that was!) - I'm fine with needles, but I felt a bit whoosy with this one, though after speaking to the nurse about Coors Light beer, it was in.
Then came the call for me to enter the room. As I entered I saw a bit of clutter from boxes at one end of the room and this big doughnut shaped thing with a bed on it, quite pleasant looking to be honest. I set up the camera and put myself on the bed. The nurse told me that she'll be speaking instructions through the glass and I have to basically take a deep breath and hold until told. Oh and she also said that I will have Iodine flushed through my veins, so the other nurse that was there connected my cannula upto the Iodine machine and they left the room, with the nurse pressing record on the camera. The scan started, the bed rose up and started going in and out of this doughnut and I could see in the bit by a laser that said "Do not look at this laser", that the machinery inside the doughtnut was spinning ... it was mad. Anyways, they told me to hold my breath a couple of times during the scan and took scans of that - along with scans when I was normal. Then came the most bizarre moment... the Iodine flush! Now if you've had Iodine flushed through your body, you'd know what it feels like... well for those that don't know, it's te most weird/relaxing/niggly feeling. Basically you get a warm sensation flood through your body, but you actually feel it gaining around your body - mine went left arm, left hand, right arm, right hand, underneath the testicles, left leg, right leg, left foot and finally right foot. When this stuff reaches your feet you want to itch them, but you can't. The sensation is like getting into a lovely warm bath, but without your skin touching any water - that's the best way I can describe it.
After a couple of minutes, the scan was finished. Though there was one minor complication - which was when they were supposed to fill me with Iodine, the machine didn't seem to want to give any away, though they came in and tilted the machine a bit more and then continued with it, then once the results were sorted, they'd be sent off to my surgeon over at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, then I just had to stay on site for 30 minutes - just incase if my body went manky due to the Iodine, though it didn't so I was allowed to go home.
Once Birmingham Heartlands Hospital received these results they contacted me by post and had an appointment ready for me to see my surgeon. I attended and after finding my way around the millions of floors and corridors (this time though, without the guided instructions from the receptionist) I was there and got weighed (not sure why). I got called in, but this time it was a different surgeon (along with a student nurse/doctor). He showed me the book of photos that my surgeon was supposed to have had shown me last time I was there and some of them are horrific! (One was really bad... the persons spine was poking out like a sharp mountain because of how his dent in his chest was!!) Then he was speaking about the procedures and I said "Nuss Procedure" straight away, with him asking if I knew about the different ones and I told him my surgeon explained them all on my previous visit and I also know some from research and personal stories from people online. That kinda hurried him up, however he kept wanting me to go with the Ravitch Procedure - and no offence to Dr. Ravitch (if he's still alive), but mate, your procedure may have been a break through in its time, but now-a-days I'd rather call it "The Bludgening Procedure" ... the amount of crap that's done to your pectal area is awful, not to mention the huge band of scars left afterwards, I'll just prefer to have the 2 small scars on the sides of my body when I have the Nuss Procedure.
So once he knew I wasn't going to be budging about what procedure I want, he and the student went off for about 20 minutes - leaving me in the room ... I think he went to speak to another surgeon about it. When he came back he said that I'd need to come in again and see the surgeon and then more-than-likely I'd be placed on the waiting list. So I was told to wait a couple of weeks to hear from the surgeons secretary and if I don't hear anything then phone up. So today (2nd September 2009) I phoned up and got told there'll be something sent out in the post soon. So now if nothing comes within the next 7 days, then it'll be another phone call. SO judging by it all, my operation might be as soon as late-October / early November.
Right, I believe that's me all rattled out. Speak soon! :-)
1 Comment(s) -:- PermalinkTags: pectus excavatum, george eliot hospital, birmingham heartlands hospital, nuss procedure, ravitch procedure, ct thoracic scan, iodine
Pectus Excavatum (5)
2nd Jul 2009 08:29amNot really much of a major update, but on Tuesday I got my letter from my surgeon asking the George Elliot hospital, if they're able to book me in for CT Thoracic scan. Today (well technically yesterday - Wednesday) I took it into the hospital and gave it to them.
The lady on the reception desk of the X-Ray department wasn't sure that they do CT scans (or that she wasn't sure they did CT scans for the thoracic area). So she asked someone else, who said "Yes" and she just confirmed my name, date of birth and address... took my landline / daytime number and then told me that they'll send an appointment date out in the post.
So, that's all that's really happened since I've been to Heartlands Hospital. Oh, something slightly on-topic, but not.... those alcohol gel-based hand things... my goodness, don't hospitals go a bit over the top on them... there must have had been about 4-5 bottles that you can use on just the reception desk itself! Let alone loads of big signs saying "Please wash your hands with the gel provided upon entry and exit of this area" ... I mean, yeah OK, it's nice to stay safe from infection... but I was just handing a letter in! However, once I get started on them things... I can't stop... I find them brilliant! :p
Right, I'll stop blabbing now... I'll update you all soon on further progress!
Oh, one final note... Thoracic is pronounced four-rass-ick
0 Comment(s) -:- PermalinkTags: pectus excavatum, heartlands hospital, birmingham, hospital, nuss procedure, george elliot, nuneaton, ct thoracic, xray
Pectus Excavatum (4)
28th Jun 2009 21:14pmRight, another update is due about my current Pectus Excavatum journey...
Last Thursday, I ended up going to Birmingham Heartlands Hospital at 9.30am to see the surgeon (who is actually the surgeon that will be doing my chest). He spoke to me about the different procedures that can be used, which included:
A) Ravitch technique - Loads of incisions, small bar, very invasive. 5 and half hour operation.
B) Nuss Procedure - Bar through the chest, the one I want. 1 and half hour operation.
C) Filling the dent with a collagen type solution. (but that's not correcting the bones, but correcting it cosmetically)
D) Pulling the stomach muscles up, and stretching along the two breast muscles, meeting at the point of the dent and attaching them to my breast bone. (Also cosmetic, but not what I want)
I'm going to be wanting the Nuss Procedure. That is my definite choice! Now as the surgeon was explaining to me, the possibility of death during the operation is not what I originally read up of being 1 in 300, but it's around 1 in 100 - yes, one hundred! His exact words were "you can die during the operation" ... not exactly what you want to hear, but they do have to tell you. So, because I'm slightly morbid, I'm actually thinking of arranging a "Pre-death Drink", just incase I pop my clogs on the operating table.
Anyways, so once we went through all the usual stuff and he checked out my chest, he wanted me to have a photo taken (so I can see the before and after from a different point of view and also for medical research / educational use). I signed the form for them to use them under my permission and only for educational use and then off I went to the photo room over in the Education Centre. After arriving at the education centre, I was thinking that I was just going into an office where someone will just use a normal digital camera, but no... it wasn't!! It was a full on photography studio - the white and black backdrops, the big lights with the umbrellas on them hanging from runners on the ceiling. One of the pictures that they did take of my chest is a really really good one and I want to find out if it's possible to get hold of a copy to show you all.
After having the photos done, I ended up going. Also the surgeon is now sending me for a CT scan just to see if everything in my chest is all good and fine, which I have been told I can have it at the local hospital of George Elliot in Nuneaton, then it will be back to the surgeon to see him one last time to get my final bits and bobs prepared and my operation date given, then it'll just be a 6 - 8 week wait. Yay!
I will also be video documenting the journey, when it gets closer to the time and also I will be keeping you updated on here too.
6 Comment(s) -:- PermalinkTags: pectus excavatum, heartlands hospital, birmingham, hospital, nuss procedure, george elliot, nuneaton
Pectus Excavatum Update
6th Jun 2009 19:43pmI received my appointment for Birmingham Heartlands Hospital today. *yay* ... still bricking it though.
My appointment is on Thursday, 25th of June to see a Mr Steyn in the Cardio Thoracic Medicine bit (whatever that means!) ... at a kinda silly time of 9.30am ... god knows how I'll make it over there though at that time, I think I might have to get a later appointment in the daytime... I'll give them a call on Monday.
0 Comment(s) -:- PermalinkTags: pectus excavatum, heartlands hospital, birmingham, hospital, cardio thoracic medicine
Referral Form
1st Jun 2009 18:45pmThis morning I ended up getting my referral form from the nurse practitioner. I was hoping I could goto the hospital in Leicester (as I've heard good reviews about it there for the Nuss Procedure) but sadly my choices were either the University Hospital of Coventry and Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham.
I have chose to go with the Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham (though I almost panicked when I saw on the website that Good Hope was kinda part of it too... Good Hope, yeah right... you go in and you never return). However luckily the hospitals are far apart and I have just this second finished booking my appointment. The receptionist that took my booking has mentioned that she'll be faxing my information over to the relevant people and that they'll be contacting me back soon (Hopefully in the next few days).
I'm actually suprised that everything is happening so quickly so far. Quite suprising, though I take it once I have seen the relevant people and they've told me everything and I'm put on the waiting list, I'll probably be waiting months - if not, years! Oh well... worth giving it a go.
I'm still very weiry about having the epidural - that's the only thing that's worrying me, as I hate anything to do with the spinal section of the body (I used to keep my ears shut during Biology lessons at school when spinal talk was happening too).
Right, lets see how long it takes for me to be contacted back.
2 Comment(s) -:- PermalinkTags: pectus excavatum, nuss procedure, heartlands hospital, birmingham, good hope hospital, university hospital of coventry, leicester, biology
An Update
17th May 2009 16:37pmI suppose it's time I did an update. Well where to start first... hmm... well I ended up getting a letter from the doctors the other day stating that the nurse practioner that had seen me before about my chest has been "trying to contact me" ... like bollocks has she. Anyways, she wants me to go for a "reversibility testing" thing... not sure what it is - though I have done a good oldé Google search on it and I think it's something to do with breath tests or something like that to see if my lungs are fine, but low-and-behold the usual "you smoke, blah blah" nonsense will dribble from her gob. Also I think she may have like put me on the wrong thing... as a the letter mentions about inhalers... oh well, that's going to be on Tuesday 26th May anyways... but I've (luckily) got another appointment there tomorrow afternoon to see (not my doctor - as he isn't available this week nor next week, as he'll probably be swanning off and living the high life relaxing on a beach somewhere, drowning his sorry life away) ... *cough* ... anywhos... oh yeah, so I've got that appointment tomorrow so I'll see what that bloke says. I think it's the doctor who diagnosed me with epididymitus when I was just turning 16 (and that flared back up just before I was 18) ... it's one hell of a painful thing.
Right, so that's my health out the way... next... oh turd! ... I've just got an email from GoDaddy saying Sound Upload is expiring tomorrow ... oh balls, talk about awkward timing. Suppose I better skank some money from my mother to cover it. Erm... what else is there... erm... oh I've been searching around online to start writing stuff up about all the Open Source / Free Alternatives to "Paid Software" that's lying around on the net. I've mentioned before on here about Spotify [Story: 569], which I'm hoping you've gave a go... though they still haven't got any of The Beatles stuff on there yet. I might even make my playlist and post the link so if you're using Spotify, it'll show all my songs that I've got listed.
Now going back last year, when Britain's Got The Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice was on... well obviously I had to buy the CD, because Geraldine McQueen is like a legend. Well I only noticed earlier when I was looking on WikiPedia about Michelle Mc-massive-anus-Manus that her first album is the same as The Winners Song cover... then it all fell into place, that Peter Ka... I mean, Geraldine McQueen based herself on her. God, I'm so slow!
Been playing my Goonzu Game after redownloading the game client again... half a gig download from a foreign server, with no option to shove it on a download accelerator... I've never seen something as slow since dial-up was around at the turn of the millenium... 2kbps. Though it came down, patched it up too (had to do that manually - grrr!) and also now there's also three servers on there... though I just stick to the Zeus server. Lost my Warehouses and my horse died, so I've now got a horse that has legs that run really fast, yet it only moves slowly... it's so funny... I can't actually ride it as I always end up giggling too much to play properly.
Right... I think that's a big enough update for the moment. Anything else, I will update. (Especially will be updating tomorrow, when I find out what this other doctor says...)
TTFN.
0 Comment(s) -:- PermalinkTags: pectus excavatum, chest, doctor, nurse, google, inhaler, epididymitus, godaddy, sound upload, domain name, software, open source, spotify, geraldine mcqueen, peter kay, michelle mcmanus, goonzu, zeus, louhan
Pectus Excavatum (2)
1st May 2009 22:41pmWell I went to the doctors surgery earlier as it was Open Surgery (so no appointment is needed, just first come, first serve) ... other than having to wait a whole 2 hours to be seen, then once I'd got called in, it only lasted about 5 minutes.
I went in and basically explained to the nurse that I have Pectus Excavatum and that it's recently been starting to give me grief. She asked what stuff is happening and I explained it all to her - about the pains here and there, the discomfort, etc.. etc.. and she then listened to my heartbeat while I was breathing on my chest and on my back while sitting. Then she asked me if I do exercise ... and I told her that I am not physically capable of running or jogging the distance from the surgery to the local HSBC branch without being out of breath and feel discomfort. She then asked the usual question that EVERY doctor in the whole of the United Kingdom seem to ask ... "Do you smoke?" ... I said "Yes" and then she ended up giving me the usual "That's not going to help" type of speech.
She then concluded with saying that there is nothing to worry about with it as your body seems to be fine with it and that it could be something that a physiotherapist can look at. (Right... so... the way you find out that your body seems to be fine with things is when they're causing you discomfort?! It's not like having stomach discomfort where you can just goto the toilet and drop a bomb and feel better! This is discomfort that doesn't seem to stop pestering me... and yes I am slowly going to cut down on the cigarettes.) She then went on to say that she'll call me before she leaves work (at 5pm) as she'll be having a little talk with some other doctors to see what they think about it. So I'm now just waiting on a call.
3 Comment(s) -:- PermalinkTags: pectus excavatum, health, operation, surgery, nurse
Pectus Excavatum
1st May 2009 06:51amFor the past few months my chest has started playing up. Not just a tiny bit, but about 5-6 times a week. The things that keep happening are quick sharp shooting pains (that feel like a fencing sword being stabbed into me) around the pectal area, sharp pain when breathing, lack of breathing, pain in the front of a shoulder with very a painful squeeze feeling after breathing in and also I cannot laugh while lying down as the whole of my heart area feels like it's clenching. Oh and also a horrid "pushed down" feeling in the middle of my chest when I breath. So quite a handful of things... other things happen too, but can't be bothered to write them all down.
Now the main cause of it is a body deformality (yay - I'm deformed... what I've always wanted 
). The deformality is called Pectus Excavatum - or as other people mistakenly call it Pigeon Chest (which is incorrect as a pigeons chest goes outwards, so that would be Pectus Carinatum). So basically my chest dips inwards between my nips and is kinda pushing / crushing my heart and lungs - which also does have some effect on my stamina (as I can't get the full lung capacity of what other people can due to it having not as much space).
I've had Pectus Excavatum for years and years and as you may have guessed, I'm not one for doing stuff that involves my chest being exposed, like swimming. Though after it giving me quite a lot of grief, I'm going to see the doctor in the morning and see what he says - though as it's the UK, he'll probably just turn around and say "Oh, it's fine, there's nothing wrong with it, go home and do whatever you do and forget about it". If however he does say that, then I'm going to tell him that I'm not happy with it - which you cannot blame me as I doubt anyone else would like to be in this type of pain so many times a week - and that I want something sorting out about it. Knowing the doctors in this country, who usually don't have the foggiest about anything other than a cough or cold always seem to check Google when I mention it to them as they don't understand what it means. It's not hard... "pectus" is obviously your pectal region (breast area) and "excavatum", just think of excavating - you dig some kind of pit... so two and two together comes out with a pit in your pectal region, or they could just look at my chest.
Now if the doctor does actually think something should be done... then more than likely he'll refer me over to see someone at a hospital - as surgery is one of the options of getting it sorted, though I'm a tad bit sketchy of the NHS. However I've started feeling giddy over it all after watching someones videos about his operation that took place in October 2008... he was hooked up on everything... and had needles and god knows what here there and everywhere... oh also he had a catheter, a vomit tray and also a pain button - which when pressed gives him some stuff via the epidural. It's all freaky... but oh well... lets see what the doctor says tomorrow.
11 Comment(s) -:- PermalinkTags: pectus excavatum, health, operation, surgery, nurse
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