What a contrast

Following on from my first ever stay in hospital, time for episode 2 and how surprising the experience was when your inmates and staff are from different areas.

We went to see our GP and hand over the documents from Ruse hospital, Neli read the documents intently, occasionally lifting her eyes above her glasses, I could see this is a person who cares deeply for her patients, when she had finished she looked at me with some sadness, I said "well it could be worse?" she smiled and said "yes it could be"

The consultant at Ruse had recommended 3 surgeons, one in Sofia 329km one way, one in Pleven 158km one way, and Varna 130km one way, for reasons of professionalism and access to the best equipment Neli chose Sofia, I’ve no more to say about this other than it added to the stress, pain and expense.

So Neli booked us a consultation with Professor Georgiev in Alexandrovska University hospital Sofia. We shared driving over to Sofia which takes about 4 hours, when we arrived we were a little early so waited a while then were called in. Georgiev spoke great English and read through my papers from Ruse then declared he wanted to do an ultrasound to check the condition of my kidney, he declared it very big and asked me about family medical history, from this he pondered a while and declared that I should have a full prostate blood test and a pre-procedure, kidney embolisation, which involved closing off the arteries with silicon to starve it and make it shrink, making it easier to remove, which he wanted me to stay and have done then. Whilst at Ruse we had been told there were 3 ways in which the kidney could be removed: open surgery; manual keyhole surgery; robotic keyhole surgery, I was adamant I did not want robotic keyhole and was leaning towards open surgery. Georgiev stated quite plainly the only option was open surgery, because of the kidney size.

Well that was easy! So we were led to the cardiology dept with our new documents from Georgiev along with all our paperwork from the Bulgarian NHS, to be asked "where is your green certificate?" We were not given a final piece of paper with a green stamp on it to prove exactly what the other receipts do, that is prove, we have paid into the system. Much complaining and disagreement led us nowhere, we had to drive back 4 hours to get a stupid piece of paper.

Anyway after a drive home, then to the GP to have a note to explain what we needed, off to Targovishte NHS the following day we had all we needed. We had been given the suggestion in Sofia that we could phone a friend, or neighbour, to go get the document and courier it to us, this wouldn’t have worked as my I.D. documents and signature were required. We tried to phone Prof Georgiev to reschedule the mini op, we both had the phone put down on us, ever persistent, we called up a good friend who speaks like a native and she got through and explained the situation to Georgiev and was told we can arrive on Monday in Sofia and the op will take place. After calling us back our friend said that they told her that we had just upped and left with no explanation

Ok off to Sofia again. This time it was Sunday, Tracey in her wisdom had booked an Airbnb so she could stay there with my son Jim while I was in hospital. Monday arrived and off we went to the cardiology dept back to the room we were told to return to, which was cardiology admin, which we found out was not the place to be but we were directed to what I can only describe as a triage dept, I was hooked up to an ECG after an age waiting, then much more paperwork was made, then off to the Cardiology admin where much more paperwork was invoked with much stamping, gluing and signing took place. I was told I would be in ward 2 bed 4, so off we go to room 2 and empty my stuff into the bedside locker.

My roomies were just one when I arrived, I wished him good day but got no response, oh well. I settled down to the expected BP tests, blood samples and IV being fitted. Over the next few days inmates came and went, no connection was made with any no matter how much I tried. Due to me taking a blood thinner tablet that morning, they told me that the embolisation wouldn’t take place until tomorrow.

After a good night sleep I was prepped for surgery went in to the theatre at 11 am , I was shocked at the difference between the ward and surgery department, which was like the Starship Enterprise blue floors and yellow walls all properly sealed, no broken fixtures or fittings and what looked like all the medical equipment you could possibly need, at the side of the bed was a sliding gantry which housed 4 massive flat screen monitors, above was a scanner which took live images of my innards, it being that modern I wouldn’t be surprised if it could also look into my soul and past history.

The surgeon spoke with an impeccable English accent which did much to put me at ease and ran me through what the procedure entailed. He was to run a catheter into my artery and check out my heart and good kidney to verify their condition, before heading off to Keith to block the supply and return pipes and start the process of degenerating the cancer within. I was awake all the time and was engaged in banter with a nurse about my life in Bulgaria and why I chose there, etc. When Keith was blocked (the procedure took just an hour) the pain really started and didn’t stop for 3 days, no matter what they injected me with, I was literally moaning and wailing almost constantly. It was agony, the next 3 days merged into one, at last there was light at the end of the tunnel the pain was slightly being subdued and I noticed pain from my hip, this was caused by the bed which had an old thin mattress and equally old chassis. I was due to stay in another day but I begged to be released as our airbnb was running out and would be stuck with Tracey and Jim with nowhere to sleep if I was to stay another night.  I was subjected to more tests to check my wellness and it was deemed I was fit enough to leave on that Thursday. I really couldn’t leave there quick enough but had the nightmare to look forward to of 4 hours of travel with a kidney which felt like it had been in a liquidiser .

Tracey and Jim were fantastic, we were all stressed out and showing signs of anger but we made it out of Sofia and eventually home, even being able to stop at the chemist to pick up pain killers. Again our GP, Neli, proved to be a godsend, the prescribed painkillers were on the restricted list and although the prescription was on hospital paper we didn’t have the ‘right’ papers again, a phone call to Neli, out of her working hours, and she got the pharmacy to give us the drugs on the understanding we would collect the correct paperwork from her, and give to them, the following morning.

Next stage, after recovery and feeding up at home, is back to Sofia for Keith eviction.