Since the Colonoscopy on the 6th February things stayed much the same until the 13th, where I woke up in a lot more pain than usual. I shrugged it off as coming from a bad night’s sleep but it was bad enough for me to start taking OxyNorm throughout the day again, which I wasn’t happy about.
Having discussed the best options for my knee and pain with my Consultant it was decided that we would give a cast a second chance. This time it would be a full length one to include the foot, but unlike last time this one would be removable. On Friday 14th February I was heading back down to the cast room for fitting number 2.
The process of putting this cast on was the same as before. They started with the Tubi-Grip fabric type stuff over the padding they had put on my heel and knee. Next came the cast material, then the fiberglass strip was placed along the front and back of the leg, with the final layer of cast material finishing it all off. This time I chose black for the colour, a complete contrast to the glaring yellow of last time. It took two people to hold the leg up during the plastering process, which was better for me as it was slightly less painful because the leg was more supported. After it had been put together the lady cut down both sides of it, this meant it could be removed. Straps were made up with Velcro so that it could be secured back together again. It was a reasonably snug fit, which was what we were after, only time would tell if it would help the knee or not.
On Sunday 16th February I was started on Kleann-Prep, which was dissolved in a Litre of water and had to be drunk within an hour. This was because the day after I was going for a second Colonoscopy, as I wasn’t completely empty when they tried the first one. I had been off the Iron tablets for 7 days as per instructions and the prep they were using this time was stronger than what was used before. The taste was weird and like nothing else I’d tasted before. It’s one of those things that tastes like one thing to start with then has an after taste to it. It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever drunk but it was nowhere near the best thing either, it also had a richness to it, which made it really sickly by the end of the jug.
Monday 17th February and at 06:00 I had another jug of Klean-Prep to get through. It seemed much stronger than the day before and I knew it was going to be hard going. I got down to just under a quarter of a jug left when I was sick and there was no way I could drink any more. The Patient Transport Crew arrived to take me over to the John Radcliff Hospital for my 09:00 appointment. I had only been to the toilet a few times since I’d been started on the preparation drink, I was worried that again I wasn’t empty enough. I expressed my concerns but they were happy to try, I was wheeled into the room and sedated before waking up in recovery having completely sparked out again. My fears were realised and they were unable to complete the procedure, they won’t risk doing it a third time so it’s been recommended I have a Colon CT Scan. It’s not quite as good as the Colonoscopy but should be good enough to see if there is a bleed that would be causing the Iron Deficiency, which I don’t think for one minute there is. They want to get my bowels working better than they are at the moment (because of all the medication) before they send me for the scan as you need to be relatively empty for that too.
I’d been taking the cast off at night but wearing it throughout the day. Because of the pain I was still taking more medication during the day and I needed help to transfer to the wheelchair. In the end I felt that the cast was actually doing more harm than good and I stopped wearing it. Where the Consultant had cut the strap off of the Cricket Split that didn’t give me enough support anymore so got rid of that one too. I ended up going back to the splint that I had the last time I was in, I just locked it to straight and the foam is under all the straps on this one so they don’t dig in anywhere. I’m supposed to wear the splint while mobilising but it is so painful I am on the bed all day every day. The only exception to this rule is going to the toilet, I have the commode parked at the bedside all the time. I can get on it on my own as I reverse on and can drag my leg backwards, I need help getting off though as someone has to lift the leg while I manoeuvre myself back onto the bed. I’m still on OxyNorm during the day and the pain hasn’t eased at all. Considering I’d got to the point of transferring on my own, going off to the toilet and even making my own bed, I have taken major steps backwards. When are things going to start getting better??????
