Today Pete had a hospital appointment with the stroke consultant. He had originally discharged Pete from his care last year when he was doing so well, but when Pete was in hospital a couple of months ago he was called in to see him and it was him who diagnosed the epilepsy and said he had had some mini strokes, so this was the follow up appointment to that. He was pleased that the epilepsy is now under control with 3 tablets and so we will continue on that regime. He also looked at Pete's heel and said it was looking good (more about that in a minute!) but warned it will now always be a bit susceptible to any trauma and we will have to be careful in the future. I asked him if the stroke could have affected the level of pain Pete feels and the answer was a definite yes, it can. He can prescribe tablets that would block the nerves to a certain extent and help relieve it - but Pete was vigorously shaking his head to this suggestion which, I admit, annoyed me a bit as he can react very badly to any pain, and, to me, this seemed a good solution. But no, Pete wasn't having that!!! It was agreed that he will mention it in his letter to the GP and, if at any time, Pete changes his mind and agrees to take them then I only have to contact the GP. He will now see him again in 3/4 months time to keep a check on how things are going. Incidentally, the new GP rang yesterday to see how Pete was doing with the antidepressants as it was 2 weeks since he had seen him - when I had picked myself up off the floor (!!) I said no difference yet. We have to continue for another 2 weeks and if there is still no difference he will try another one. The level of care is now just amazing after the previous doctors.
So, back to the heel!! The nurse came on Monday to check it, said it was doing really well, re-dressed it and would be back on Thursday to see him. Unfortunately, it seemed to give a lot of pain for the rest of the day and I started getting anxious that it would cause Pete to miss today's hospital appointment, having had to cancel last week's appointment for Botox. Yesterday morning he was still saying the pain was bad, so I did call the nurses to see if they could just pop in to check it over before today. When she came she removed the dressing and said as it looks like it is healing very well she would leave the dressing off and just put some cream on it and a heel cup to protect it. She also said she would arrange for the doctor to prescribe some strong painkillers to help, which she did and I picked them up today. I have to check it morning and night, put more cream on and make sure it is not breaking down again - a bit of a responsibility but so be it. They will come again next Monday to check it and also do a catheter change which will be due.
Pete seems to be managing with the pain at the moment, but if he creates too much I will remind him he refused tablets to block the nerves!!
Next week, on Tuesday, he has a hospital appointment in Plymouth - hope we manage to get there alright!!
No comments:
Post a Comment