Stent Insertion

Today, I spent my late afternoon at Dr Vasilaras’ surgery: waiting to see him, seeing him and booking Strathfield Private Hospitable for insertion of a 26cm stent tomorrow, Friday 7 August.  The stent will be inserted between my bladder and my left kidney to prevent the duct that joins these organs from being blocked by a lymph node that has grown in size.  Dr Vasilaras showed me the discolouring of the left kidney being caused by the current level of blockage on the CT scans that I brought with me to the appointment.

I am receiving excellent service in being admitted to hospital for day surgery the day after seeing Dr Vasilaras for the first time.  Why is this happening?  It is so I can begin my third round of intensive chemotherapy on Monday 17 August.  The new cancer lesions growing in my liver need to be dealt with.

Barbara and I are due at Strathfield Private Hospital at 9.30 am.  The procedure will be done in the morning and I should be back home in the afternoon.  Unfortunately our private health cover is for public hospital only, which means we will be paying for the use of the operating theatres and any accommodation at the hospital.

Every six months Dr Vasilaras will have to replace the stent.  Unfortunately, I am becoming a higher maintenance person.  This is the third time this year I have needed day surgery.  I will arrange for the future stent replacements to be done at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, which is a public hospital.

Overall I am glad that the stent insertion can be done so quickly and that I was also able to spend over three weeks on my sixth trip to Uganda before starting intensive chemotherapy for the third time.

I will blog again after I am recovered back here at home.