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Michelle_Richer

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  1. Hi Janet I think it depends what meds you are on, this is shortened version of the NHS Guys and Saint Thomas's guidelines: 4 days before your colonoscopy Stop taking any medicines that contain iron, I take 300mg twice a day Continue to take all other medicines as usual. Eat and drink as normal. 3 days before your colonoscopy Stop taking any medicines that contain codeine phosphate (which is used to treat pain,a cough and diarrhoea). Stop taking any medicines that contain loperamide (which is used to treat diarrhoea). Im not sure but this may apply to Aspirin which I take as a blood thinner. 2 days before your colonoscopy It is important to drink plenty of fluids. Try to drink 2 litres (about 8 to 10 glasses) in aday. You need to start having smaller meals. The things that you can eat or drink are listedbelow. This helps the bowel preparation solution to work properly. Do not eat foods containing fibre. This is found in fruit, vegetables, pulses and grains,such as wholemeal bread and cereals. 1 day before your colonoscopy Medicines Take your regular morning medicines, unless you have been instructed otherwise. Try to take your usual morning medicines before 10am and your evening medicinesafter 9pm. Your body may not fully take in medicines between these times. This isbecause of the bowel preparation solution that you will have. Stop taking any bulk-forming laxatives (which create a heavy, more liquid-like poo thatis softer and easier to pass). These include: isphaghula husk (such as Fybogel®) methylcellulose (Celevac®) bran sterculia (Normacol®) Food and drink Have a light breakfast, such as boiled egg on toast (white bread), no later than 9am. After breakfast, do not eat any solid food until after your test. Drink clear fluids only today. Try to drink 2 litres (about 8 to 10 glasses) in total throughout the day (not includingthe bowel preparation solution). You can drink tea or coffee with a small splash of milk. Do not drink alcohol. Bowel preparation You need to start taking bowel preparation solution the day before your colonoscopy. Follow the instructions and timetable you are given for the solution that you are taking.Do not follow the instructions on the packet. The solutions taste better if they are served chilled. You may want to mix the solutionsin advance and keep them in the fridge. You need to use them within 24 hours ofbeing prepared. The day of your colonoscopy Food and drink Drink plenty of clear fluid. You can drink up to 3 hours before your colonoscopy. Do not eat anything. Bowel preparation It's important to take your bowel preparation solution at the right time. This dependson if you have your colonoscopy in the morning or the afternoon. If your colonoscopy is in the morning, take your bowel preparation solution at 6am. If your colonoscopy is in the afternoon, take your bowel preparation solution at 10am
  2. I'm still hanging in there doing pointe work, even though I don’t seem to be progressing very much, I am at least holding my own. The new meds “isosorbide mononitrate”,with their slow release do seam to be helping as it extends to 10hours, yes I do notice the difference then and especially at bed time when the effect is really depleted. That said, although I still get the arm angina, the pain is somewhat less than it was but I still get the breathlessness with exertion. Also since I’ve been on the new meds, I’ve stopped taking the GTN spray and that is now reserved for real emergencies. I have finally got an appointment for my 3 month follow-up with my Cardiologist specialist at 5 months, even though the appointment letter has lots of false assumption in it, it clearly was constructed in a hurry, but alas that's been taken over by more recent events. My original stool test was rejected by the labs as I think the container leaked and I had a second FIT (Faecal Immunochemical Test) to do, the result from that was positive, that together with my iron deficiency I guess flagged up the possibility bleeding due to Cancer. Last Friday evening I got a phone call from my GP telling me of the result, and making it clear I was at risk of cancer. He ask me to call into the surgery Monday morning to pickup a 2 week urgent referral letter, and someone from the Hospital would be getting in touch with me by phone. I have no other brief than that. Oh poo, there is a conflict at the end week 2, Adrian and I will be in Liverpool. My referral letter has a phone number for me to ring, if no one has contacted me during week 1, I have to ring on Monday of week 2, however I tried today to try and get things in before Adrian and I go to Liverpool, but without success. As I have very little to go one as its virtually impossible to get a face to face with my GP, I have to do my own homework and try and make sensible assumptions. If a FIT test is positive and iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) The British Gastroenterology Society recommends that IDA should be investigated with both upper and lower GI endoscopy. The lower GI endoscopy otherwise known as Colonoscopy requires a 4 day prep before the procedure according to the NHS Guys and St Thomas's Guidelines, I'm really not sure how the NHS this end will handle this with the 2 week referral, especially if the documents are sent out by post. Lets just hope what they find is not down to the big “C”, but something that's more treatable, fingers crossed.
  3. Hi Angela Thanks for your comment in your last paragraph, great minds think alike. Hi Linda As for joining the Silver Swans, bless them, they wont have me. In any case although I'm not making any real progress I have been doing a hour and a half pointe work session with Kim my ballet coach for most weeks as I suspended working on the La Bayadere Rep. You could probably add another 5 or 6 hours at least of steady pointe work in my own studio each week. So just doing your 10 to 15mins pointe at the barre isn't really practical. As you know my real passion is performing rep, rather than doing 45mintes at the barre or attending a Silver Swans type of ballet class. However about 3 or 4 weeks ago I was inspired by Giselle at Ballet in Cinema, particularly the first pas de deux, which appeared to be quite gentle in spite of a few soft grand jetes. Kim and I decided to see how feasible it would be for me to dance the most significant steps, our first session didn’t go too badly, this last week we danced it up to and just past the ballottes a couple of times before I was exhausted. Kim my teacher thought my stamina had improved from previous weeks but was still along way short of what I need to dance it from end to end. I really do think it has possibilities, although I know it will be a bit of a struggle at first. At least its captured my imagination out of the doldrum for the time being. To be fair I don’t think Adrian and I would have sufficient Giselle rep ready for our annual showcase this year, so we can take our time to develop it slowly as my body starts to mend, hopefully it may. After Thursday I thought thing were beginning to go really well. However Friday morning that feeling was soon dashed as I had one of my regular physio sessions, unfortunately it about 10mines walk from the town car park. I was reasonably ok walking there after a couple of stops to catch my breath, but the return journey wasn't as nice, I was seriously very breathless by the time I got back to the car, in-spite of using the GTN spray on the way, probably made worse with the very cold weather. Hi NeverTooOld Thank you for answering my questions, not an awful lot I can hang my hat on. However I find it quite interesting that your pulse rate managed to reach 120bpm, when my Rehab nurse advised 107 was the aiming point and especially as you are on Beta Blockers too. When Kim my pointe teacher and I was measuring responses against exercises I reached 120 doing Echappe en croix for a full music track, as we do for most pointe work exercises. New updates Whilst having a conversation with my Cariology consultant's secretary, I manage to get an email address so I could email in 4 pages of questions for my consultant. I managed to do that and got an acknowledgement from his secretary, but no reply from him to-date. However my GP received a request from my consultant from Cardiology to issue some new medication “isosorbide mononitrate”. Reading up one it, its slow release tablets for preventing angina rather than reacting too it. I haven't got any yet or instructions associated with it, but I’m presuming it may replace the GTN spray. The results of my latest blood test are showing things up since the op which needless to say I'm not happy about: 1) My glucose level is a couple of points too high indicating I may be at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. 2) My Serum ferritin level is very low, so I have been prescribe iron tablets twice a day. 3) There are 5 levels associated with my Full blood count that are low, according to a telephone conversation with my GP I could be loosing blood somewhere, consequently I have to submit a stool sample to see if there is any blood in my poo. So things are not going as well as I first thought.
  4. Thank you all for your kind comments, as it is I haven't quite given up, I'm a bit in no man’s land as I really don’t know what the future holds or what to expect from those that could possibly help. About 3 weeks ago My GP said she would try and pull my 3 months follow-up appointment forward, I didn’t hear any thing from that. The three months is now passed, so last Monday I contacted my consultants office, they had no record of my follow-up, they advised me to contact the clerk at the Intensive cardiac unit at the hospital I had the Angioplasty at. I contacted them and clerk assured me that my consultants office had been notified, however she did say she would pass the info through again and someone would telephone me on Tuesday to arrange the follow-up appointment. You guessed it, it didn’t happen, Wednesday I called my consultants office again and my details still hadn't arrived, I said I would check the following Monday and if they still hadn't arrive, I would call a Lincoln hospital the following Thursday and walk them through the system myself. I received a phone call today from the secretary of my consultant, they now have the info but they cannot do the follow-up appointment until April and that is a long time to wait for answers to questions I have. Hi NeverTooOld That's fantastic that you already have experienced some of what I am going through, I guess the only difference is my rehab nurse said she couldn’t offer me the sort of exercise program that they normally offer as I was already doing more than enough( training 5 days a week). However I wonder if I can pick your brains, and ask if you don’t mind to share your experience of the following: How long did it take you before you started to see an improvement in stamina? Is there anything specifically that you have found that improves stamina? How long were you before you started to do grand allegro in class? Do you use GTN spray, if so how often do you use it? Do you use the GTN spray in anticipation of exertion in class? Do you only use it, if you get Angina chest pains? Do you know what the maximum pulse rate you have experienced during exertion in class or rehab exercises?. Many thanks x
  5. As it been quite a while since I last posted, this is a bit of an update and so so sorry for its length. Firstly Adrian my partner had his second follow-up appointment at Moorfields eye Hospital just over a week ago, this was quite a worry for us, as the cancerous growth in his eye at the first follow-up had actually increased in size and the specialist weren't sure if the Proton beam therapy had been effective. The natural progression if the cancer continued to grow was removal of the eye, which would have been very traumatic for Adrian. Adrian and I had spoken about this before hand, and we agreed if the wort came to the worst we would push for a second session of proton beam therapy if it were humanly possible. On the day we had a phone call from Moorfields asking if we could come an half an hour earlier for our appointment, and of course we said yes. We arrived in time to grab a something to eat at the Hospital cafe and checked for the appointment about 15mins earlier than our new time. We even got to see our first clinician ahead of time, our second shortly after, the second did a scan so I was keen to ask him how it compared to his first follow-up, but he declined to answer and said we would have to wait and see the doctor. You can imagine what we thought, he also told us with an apology that there would be a 30minute wait before we would see the doctor. That 30 minutes turned out to be two and a half hours. Finally we see the doctor a very switch on young lady, first she carried out quite a detailed scan which clearly displayed the growth in green, the measurement thankfully showed shrinkage had finally started, she also followed it up with an ultra-scan which checks the depth of the grown. She was very happy with the progress so no more therapy, but the growth will be continued to be monitored at Moorfields every 4 months, with cancer guard monitoring of liver and kidneys at Addenbrooke's every six month as a precaution. Although we had to wait two and a half hours to see the doctor, for that news, it was worth it and my eyes couldn’t help but well up when the doctor gave us that news. Now Adrian truly is on his way to full recovery, its his turn to look after me. About 3 months ago I was in Hospital after a heart attack, if someone had said, when did you have a heart attach and what was it like, I really couldn’t answer that question. I guess to a large extend its probably been the way I have been living as if I’m indestructible. Thinks of note was during the summer we needed to replace our oil tank for our central heating system, I had arranged for 4 of us to do it as it weighed 136Kg. Various things happed where Adrian's prostrate op had been moved and he wouldn't be available, similar where my brother was no longer available. As this tank was sat on our drive strapped to a pallet, the thought crossed my mind “I wonder if I could move it”, you guess the rest, with scaffold boards across the lawn I could push it, scaffolding and pulley's I could lift it, with pipes underneath it as rollers, I could position it on its platform. Hey presto this ballerina did it all by her self, but I guess it did take its toll. Something probably more relevant was pruning our laurel hedge, as it had got well and truly out of hand as Adrian wasn't able. Most of it was no problem but the top was quite wide and difficult to get at, also it needed 4 to 5 feet removing from it. That took me the best part of 2 weeks during the summer break, perched on the top of a 12 foot set of steps with a long reach set set of pruners. I noticed I started to get a pain in my left arm, the arm that was extended and doing all the work with the pruners, it even still ached in bed at night. At first I thought is was a pulled or overused muscle, but it didn’t really go away. In the back of my mind I remember one of my brothers having a pain in his arm which turned out to be a heart problem which was many years ago but it wasn't at the forefront of my thought. Finally Adrian and I took a late holiday to Scotland in September as Adrian was about 5 weeks post of from his prostrate operation. One of the days we decided to do the rail journey from Oban to Glasgow, as I had never really explored the city before. As Adrian was still recovering and couldn’t walk very far, I found him a nice seat outside a cafe in one of the shopping centres and left him there while I did a quick rekkie round the City centre for future reference. As usual I was power walking very quickly to cover as much of the city centre as I could in 15 to 20min, then I started to get chest pains that I had never had before, it really worried me as I wasn't even sure I could get back to Adrian. I remember priming my phone with Adrian's number in case I needed to call him quickly and noting the street names as I went by them to return to him. Eventually I got back to him, then we returned back to the station very slowly with several stops on the way for me to get my breath. If I had a heart attach, I think that must have been where it was. Once home that incident seamed to be a bit of a blip, however I did phone my brother Pete and his advice was to go to see A and E right away, I declined and said I would see my GP instead. I remember it was a Friday and I contacted the GP’s surgery and ask if I could book an appointment to see my GP Monday morning, it was declined, they don't do it that way any more, I would have to phone my GP to book a call with him, he would phone back later and if he thought it necessary, invite me in for a consultation. Monday morning, it was barely after 8AM, I was 20th in the que, 45minutes later I managed to book the call. When I finally spoke to the GP he said he would put a blood test form out for me but couldn’t see me until the following Thursday, I told him to forget it and I would go to A and E. Adrian and I went to A and E in Boston, as it was possible heart problems we were placed fairly high on the priority list and went through triage quite quickly, eventually one of the nurses came back to us and said “we are going to have to admit you as there is an antigen in your blood test has revealed you have had a heart attach” From Boston I was transferred to the Cardiac at Lincoln and underwent an Angiogram, normal they would fits stents as part of that procedure, but not in my case. I was told I had multiple blockages and it would have to go before the Multi-discipline team to decide the way forward next Tuesday. In the meantime I was assigned a nurse as my representative on that team. Much of my discussion with her was about the options especially coronary artery bypass graft CABG surgery, unfortunately they didn’t do that at Lincoln and I would have to be moved to Nottingham where there was a 2 week wait for beds and a further week for the operation, also the recovery period was much longer. All I could see was, it would end my ballet forever, as the only milestone I had was Christmas 2022 when I had a problem with one of my toes and took a 3 week break from pointe work, which took me 5 weeks to catch up again. CABG surgery from what my nurse said looked realistically like a 6month break from ballet with pointe work. Tuesday came and Adrian was visiting me, the nurse came in and brought a doctor who too was a member of that team and needless to say I thought the worst. However they had decided to treat the two worst blockages with stents and the rest with drugs and blood thinners (Aspirin), the doctor said are you ok to have the procedure this afternoon, of course I said yes. That procedure was out of this world for me, as I arrived at the cath-lab everyone knew my name and were extremely nice, I had a really interesting chat with the professor in overall charge. The guy doing the actual procedure through a catheter up my right arm was asked to give me a commentary, which he did. A cannula was inserted in the left with a drip to protect my kidneys as this was my second Angiogram/ angioplasty. They discharged me the following day. The beginning of the second week back home I was back up on my pointe shoes, the second week back I was back at my pointe class, a week later I had intended to rejoin my regular ballet class at Stamford, but we didn’t make the minimum number of dancer (5) so it didn’t go ahead, since then to some extent my own condition had declined. At the moment I'm still doing one-to-one pointe work at Lincoln and Pilates a couple of times a week. Although I had intended to rejoin my on-line pointe class last December, our BT lines had accidentally been disconnected by the Outreach maintenance engineers from the 4th December until the 11th Jan, im in dispute with them at the mo on compensation, so I never managed to rejoin my online class. At the moment as pointework was a very hard hill to climb, there is no way I want to loose that and start again as I know I would never make it. As for normal ballet class, I very much dought I could handle even a beginners and grand allegro would really floor me. Two weeks ago Kim my Lincoln teacher and I decided to try and run through one of our Shades solos that we originally planned for this years showcase. As its some time since we last danced it, we decided to walk through the first shades solo from La Bayadere at 70% of its normal speed, when we got to the end diagonal, which is a sort of hopping arabesque alternating between flat foot and demi-pointe over something like 26hopps. Once I heard that music I had to give it a try, I must have missed the first 6 or so hops before I decided to go and managed to get through it. I remember before COVID dancing this pieces as part of the BBT performing group, several of our dancers complaining how difficult this was, although in those days I could dance through that section twice and think nothing of it. As Kim and I had this music on a loop, when the track restarted I tried to dance through it, I managed to get to where there is a little combination that has a grand jete, attitude turn, pas de buree and pirouette repeated 3 time, I managed twice and was totally breathless laid flat out on the floor. At the moment I almost having to treat my medical own condition as a scientific study, Although I have a rehab nurse allocated to me she contributes nothing other than politically correct statements that are more appropriate to an infirm geriatric old lady. Firstly there are some strange conflicting observations, If I go upstares to make our bed I get a really nastie ache in my left arm, at worst it extends to my thumb where I can feel the pulse in it. I have a bluetooth pulse rate detector which should be strapped around my abdoman just below my breasts and the results read of a smart phone, as the results were not as reliable as they might be , the strap was moved to above the bust which works well. I set a start point from being fully relaxed lain on a settee which give a pulse rate of 60bpm, walking up the stairs pulse rate rises to 80bpm and breathing rate increases too, by the time I get into the bedroom and start making the bed the pulse rate reaches around 95bpm, at that pointe the arm ache comes on, it remains on until the pulse rate drops too below 65bpm. Now the conflicts: I can go outside in the garden and start work, I feel really tired and short of breath to start with including the arm ache, after a while (about half an hour) those symptoms go away and breathing becomes more normal. I have had several instances of this, its quite repeatable. Kim and I have measured heart rate against various pointe work exercises and have set a heart rate of 80bpm to represent a resting warm-up rate for measurement between exercises. According to my rehab nurse I should be working toward and not exceed 107bpm, all but one exercise we well exceed it. The model I’m using to predict my heart rate is Fox and Brawner, specific for Coronery Artery Disease with Beta Blockers which I am now on. I'm also applying endurance banding according to the Karvonen method which this estimates ideal target heart rate in 10% intervals through range 50% to 100% maximum predicted heart rate for ones age. That fits in well with what we have measure. My theory of the left arm pain is in fact Angina with referred pain into the left arm from the left side of the heart due to the confusion at the nerve bundle where they both converge. A more common occurrence is left arm pain with chest pain from the heart in heart failure or Angina which I do not have. This is also accompanied with shortness of breath which is also consistent with Angina. One of the medication for treating Angina is GTN Spray, which is supplied to me on prescription, at first I didn’t take it as I had no chest pains. As the instruction provided with are inadequate for me I'm having to test it to find out the full dynamics behind it. First test: As there was a lot of walking involve travelling via underground from Kings Cross to Moorfield hospital I knew my arm would be aching and I would be short of breath by the time I got to Moorfields hospital and noted the following GTN spray instruction before an event : “To prevent an angina attack the usual dose is one or two sprays under the tongue immediately before you do the activity that is likely to bring on an angina attack, for example before doing exercise or going out in the cold.” It worked, however I noted an unpleasant event when I took it. I was on the train just past Stevenage and I took 2 puffs of the spray and it was a bright sun shiny day, I started to feel nauseous and the brightness started to close in, I thought I was going to faint, slowly it pass off by the time we got to Kings Cross. My thoughts behind that was, I really shouldn’t take that if im going to drive. Second test: I wanted to see if any of the desirable effects of the GTN spray remained when we left Moorfields, there wasn't, it had gone out of my system. Just before I got to the Oldstreet underground entrance my arm was hurting like hell and I was extremely short of breath and I really hadn't travelled very far. This time I took a single puff of spray and waiting at least 3 minutes for it to take effect, it should have been 5, by this time I had recovered, I had even got a spring in my step as I went into the underground. By the time I had got to Kings Cross I was well ahead of Adrian, and Adrian said “I thought you were going to take it easy”, we looked at the time, we only had 12minutes to catch our train and still quite a way to walk, so neither of us lost any time. By the time I sat down in the train I could just feel the presents of the arm ache starting, but it didn’t really develop. I liked the idea of the GTN spray as a precursor to exercise and decided to use it ahead of pointe practice in my own studio. As I wasn't driving I though I would go with 2 puffs so I could check its endurance. Firstly I felt the same effect that I had on the train which worried me, I know it supposed to expand the blood vessels and drop the blood pressure to a degree, so I measured it. The diastolic reading which normally sits around 80, for me about 75 because of the medication I'm on, was reading around 45, I took a second reading and it was 51, they are both extremely low and would explain the feeling of going to faint. As the effect wore off I tried some pointe work at the barre, my balance was rubbish it had never been that bad ever, it just wasn't normal for me. There is no way I will use GTN if I’m going to do pointe work. Almost every activity I do I scrutinise medically to try and understand my new body dynamics as they are so very different. The stamina I once had has completely gone and I cant walk very far without getting breathless. I had an extreme test of that this weekend as Adrian and I went to see Come Dancing on tour at the 02, the long walk and stairs at London bridge underground station was quite crippling, I had to stop many times to get my breath. When we got to the 02, the walk from the entrance to the H entrance was extremely long, but not only that, the seat Adrian had book was only one row from the very top, in this instance GTN spray didn’t help with the fatigue. Saturday was really challenging and said to me, it will be a really long time before I'm back performing on stage in London if ever. It really does feel like a completely new chapter of my life that I don’t know how to write it with ballet as its central core.
  6. Last week Adrian and I snatched almost a weeks holiday in Scotland, as the days were getting shorter and of course the summer temperatures were due to fall. We were also conscious of the serious flooding that had taken place the previous weekend and various road closures due to land slides and bridges washed away or damaged, but never the less we decided to go. We travelled up to just north of Glasgow on our first day to Dumbarton, needless to say it was dark when we arrived although we know the area well. We had pre booked an evening meal at a very pretty spot on the banks of Loch Lomond called Duck Bay, this was our first encounter of flooding. Although the Duck Bay Hotel and Restaurant is situated right next to Loch Lomond, the other side of the road has a large park of several tens of acres, all we could see in the headlights was water as if it was a huge lake. The overspill car park was also situated on the same side as our lake but fortunately only partially flooded, at least after we parked we didn’t get our feet wet getting to the restaurant. We called there the following morning for breakfast and could see the full extent of the remaining flood water. During the week we see lots of road / bridge repairs down to a single lane with traffic lights and also some major rock rebuilding out from the side of the road. I guess what was most memorable for me was the state of the stream and river beds that flowed under the roads, they were shiny grey, almost mirror like as if they had been highly polished with water and debris flowing down them. No trip to Scotland would be complete without Adrian and I visiting Gillian our Ballet Coach of many years and it was really nice to see her again. I did take my pointe shoes and resistance band up to Scotland with me, but our hotel room didn’t have anything high enough to utilise as a barre. While we were there we kept an eye on the weather, particularly the tracking of Storm Babet , not only for Scotland but for home too as we live next to a river. Although we had really beautiful weather from the weekend up to and including the Wednesday, it was clear the storm was going to hit where we was Thursday and Friday, so Adrian and I decided to travel home on Thursday morning. The night before we had seen amber warnings displayed on the road side. When we got up at the hotel it was clear the wind and rain had arrived, my worry was crossing the Clyde on the Erskine bridge, Adrian checked the predicted wind-speed on his phone and it predicted a fall around mid day. It was right , as we left the Oban area we had high winds, by the time we reached the backs of Loch Lomond they we considerably less. As we approached the bridge, there were sighs to say it was closed to high sided vehicles, but there were several cars crossing it which made us feel happier about crossing it, as we crossed over I noticed the trees on the south side, they were barely swaying. We continued to have fairly heavy rain until we reach the English / Scottish border junction M74/M6. Once we arrived home everything was bone dry, the storm had not arrived yet. First thing Friday morning it was still fine, there was just enough time to secure our two landing platform on our river, as they tend to float up on high flood water, at least if they are well secured to the bank they cant float way and simply settle down again once the water lowers. Similarly we had to make sure our boats are properly secured against fast flowing flood water too. Friday the storm hit, however the water authority had lowered the river level in anticipation, so far up to Sunday evening there is about a 3 foot rise and fall and a very fast flow, but no flooding as yet. However it takes about three days for the catchment area of our rive (River Glen) to flow thorough. After our short holiday , its back to Hospital follow-up appointments for Adrian, we have two this week, the first is on Monday at Addenbrooke's for an MRI scan, as something was detected in either an Ultrasound Scan or PET CT Scan both of which was done on separate days the week before our holiday. Unfortunately we have to be there by 7.40am Monday morning, which means getting up at 4am Grrrr. Our second follow-up this week is on Thursday at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, Thursday is usually my busiest ballet day of 4 classes, needless to say I have had to re-arrange my 2 one-to-one classes to Tuesday, however I have very little prep time this week for them, but that's life. On the good side Adrian continues to make progress but I think that is going to be longer than we both first thought, especially while we were on holiday he does tire easily on long walk, but he is getting there bless him.
  7. Hi Angela I'm not with a performing company right now, although Adrian and I do work on our own annual showcase each year with my one-to-one coach at Lincoln. I had a mail drop recruiting adult amateur dancers from the London Performance Company in Holloway road. LPC is run by Lisa Probert, she has been one of my teachers at London Amateur Ballet and also at ENB. When London Amateur Ballet closed, Lisa formed LPC from several of the Ex LAB dancers, I didn’t go there as I was already a dancer with The Alive Ballet Company and at one stage I did try dancing in two different ballets with both companies on the same day, even for me that was pushing things a bit too far. Initially I replied to Lisa to join the company for the Autumn term, then Adrian's operation was postponed for three week, and I said I would try and join at half term. However I didn’t anticipate the amount of hospital follow-up appointments Adrian would have covering both his issues, also I had expected the rail dispute to be over by now. So starting at half term is a non starter and I will review things for the new year. Slightly off topic, does anyone know where I can buy draw string for ballet slippers from, as Adrian lost the draw string from one of his black ballet slipper, fortunately we recovered one from an old slipper, but only after I had bought him a knew pair of ballet slippers.
  8. Just a quick update, Adrian on Saturday was 4 weeks post-op and I'm glad to say is doing very well. At 2 weeks post-op each Sunday morning I started him off with some light Pilates exercises, a little PBT, some resistance band work and some light barre work and of course a little port de bras to finish, he has really enjoyed that. Each week as his strength and fitness has improved, I’ve either added a few more exercises or made the exercise slightly more challenging. I wont start Adrian's PDD training with me until after Christmas when he if fully fit and ready. On Saturday ( his week 4) we took the bikes out in a effort to strengthen his legs, that went like a dream for him, not quite so for me. We were cycling down some leafy lanes with a few miles from home, when a fly went into my eye Grrr. Naturally I stopped and tried to clear it with my finger and my bike toppled over with me underneath, we were resting on the side of this dyke, fortunately I didn’t slide in to it, luckily I didn’t hurt myself, not even a brews. The rest of the journey 5 or 6 miles was uneventful other that lots of flying bugs about and several coliding my face, I guess it was that time of year. It was really nice to be out and about with Adrian again, with a real sense of normality. Two more weeks to go and he can start to pick up some of the heavier work in the garden as there is plenty that needs doing and take the pressure off me a bit. On the downside Adrian still has a lot of follow-up hospital appointment coming up covering both his Prostatectomy and his eye cancer, so its unlikely I will be joining a Ballet performing group after half term. That's going to have to wait until after the Christmas break, I'm also hoping the rail travel dispute has been settled by then too. I have had one of my Friday classes close which has released some time for me, plus a few weeks ago I see a thread on this forum on Cecchetti, in that was a clip from the Cecchetti Diploma on pointe work, that gave me an injection of enthusiasm to pick up my Cecchetti Advanced 2 studies which now are extremely rusty. Certainly a least half a day of Fridays will be spent on my Cecchetti Advanced 2 syllabus, but at the same time where the differences aren't too great would like to incorporate the Cecchetti Diploma exercises too.
  9. The last 3 days have been very traumatic with very little sleep, our first day for Adrian’s Prostatectomy operation, we were up at 4am, as we had to book in at Hinchingbrooke Hospital at 7.45am. After booking in Adrian disappeared to be prepped at around 8.30am when I asked one of the nurses “What time he was likely to be out and where could I wait for him”, I was told just after lunch time and assumed, just after mid day, and I could wait in the Surgical reception area where I was. It wasn't until 3.15pm that he arrived, then he had a knee bag fitted and the contents was a bright rich red indicating a high blood content. He showed me his release note which indicated that blood would appear in the urine for several day before it gradually diminished to nothing. When he got home I noticed he had 2 pieces of gauss knoted around the catheter very close to urethra exit point of the body, I guess to catch the blood that leaks out of the urethra on the external side of the catheter, it really didn’t look very nice as it was absolutely soaked in blood. I ask Adrian how long is he expected to keep it on, he was told until the next morning. As he was back to using a bag again, he decided he would have to sleep downstairs in the easy chair almost sat up as in the past it was the only way he could guarantee the bag would drain properly. I fitted a 3litre night bag as he was constantly drinking to flush his system out. Adrian ask me to stay down stair with him as he didn’t want to be alone, so I slept on the settee. When we turned in the colour of the fluid in his bag was beginning to lighted towards pink, obviously the water he was drinking was starting to have an effect. Just before 3am Adrian woke me very distressed, he complain he was feeling sick and very unwell, also the blood in the urine had gone back to more richer colour, he complained he should have never been discharged from the hospital and insisted I call an ambulance. I dialled 999 and spoke to the ambulance controller, we ran through a check list and the controller said he would arrange for the duty doctor to contact us but it may take up to 6 hours. It was a lot less and the duty doctor finally suggested it may have been a reaction to the antibiotics Adrian was given and suggested we contact his GP when they opened at 8am. As neither of us could sleep, around 6am I decided to clean him up and remove the awful soke ridden gauze around his catheter. There was no way I could release it with surgical gloves on, I tried sterilising some scissors but they wouldn't cut it either, in the end I found a new sealed pack of Stanley blades, so I took one out and sterilised it, whoopee it worked, then I could really get him clean, I think that was a boost to him too, we also noted the colour of the liquid was getting lighter too, I ask him about feeling sick, that was subsiding too . 8am came and I ask him about contacting his GP, he declined and said he was feeling much better, so I suggested he restart his antibiotics and see what happens, he now takes them with food and the effect is much less. Friday our last day to go to the hospital, here his catheter will be removed and we have to wonder around the hospital for 4 hour before they can scan him for retention of urine, the criteria set by his surgeon was no more than 300ml. The brief from the nurses was he must drink and pee, drink and pee and move around, they started him off with a large jug of water and a glass. We stayed around the Surgical reception area until he had drank the whole consents of the jug and then move on to the restaurant where he continued to drink and pee. Finally we arrived back at reception at the appointed time and Adrian was take away for his retention scan, when he appeared back he had a big smile on his face and gave me the thumbs up. To be fair from his anxious state of Wednesday, I was expecting the test to have failed, not only did he pass, it was an exceptional pass, he only retained 98ml. His brief now : he can take short walks from 1 week, he can start to cycle from 4 to 6 weeks, no heavy lifting or gardening until after 6 weeks. After week 2 I will commence some light barre work with him, mainly to for general fitness and staminer but more importantly to correct his posture as that has really gone in a very big way. I wont be starting any serious Pass de Deux work with him until the new year, however I'm pencilling in getting back to London to an amateur performing company around next half term (October) would be good. Hopefully we may get a chance to go on holiday to Scotland before then, but sadly we are not likely to make that for his Birthday holiday this month as originally planned. At least this nightmare is over for us both.
  10. A very inspiring thread. I guess one piece that caught my eye was from the Video promoting the Enrico Cecchetti Diploma at 2.55, a gorgeous pointe work enchainment with beautiful music. Whilst I have that DVD , I have never noticed that piece. But then I only bought the DVD to give me some idea of the style and interpretation of the Advance 2 syllabus when we were only using the set book as no video were available for the old 2004 syllabus. Then for a single enchainment we would have to go through something like a dozen pages of descriptive text, it was awful and long and painful way to learn. Later I located a full set of Cecchetti Advanced 2 videos for download from Cecchetti Inc of Australia, but the UK wasn't on their country list, bless them they added it for me. Although there were some differences it was still hugely helpful. Unfortunately the release of the 2019 new syllabus was inevitably delayed by COVID as it came out in drips and drabs with DVD last. Whilst the new Syllabus is a bit bigger than the previous one, its a bit more challenging too, but I loved it. Sadly 2 years ago my Cecchetti teacher retired and soon after I let it fall by the wayside as I started to focus far more on Rep. I think this thread has given me a bit of a kick to make time and recommence my Cecchetti studies, be it without a teacher. Just to add to the Cecchetti resources, it worth looking at Julie Cronshaw’s websites: www.thececchetticonnection.com http://www.balletsecretcode.com and of course her documentary : https://youtu.be/ZGT4g7FHSvA
  11. Just a quick update: We got a new date this morning, its the 6th of September, 3 weeks today, at least that has got the uncertainty out of waiting. The only downside is we only have a week of recovery before we had planned to go away on Adrian's Birthday holiday after the operation, as it is I certainly wont book anything until the day before we are due to go and then only if he is fit enough. In the meantime I'm on break from ballet with just enough maintenance mode practice to maintain my level pre-break.
  12. We though that things had turned out well for the timing for Adrian's Prostrate operation, as I would be on break from my ballet commitments. Things we going really well, we had a Telephone Pre op consultation on Monday of last week, followed by pre-op tests at Hinchenbrooke hospital on the following Thursday which were fine. We were all good to go for his operation tomorrow (Wednesday the 16). When Monday morning came round he appeared to have a bit of an infection flare up, we manage to get a morning appointment with his GP as we needed to clear it up by Wednesday so it couldn’t compromise his op. While we were with his GP Adrian phone rang, it was Hinchenbrooke Hospital, it was bad news, his operation had been cancelled due to his surgeon being off sick, Adrian had is phone on speaker-phone so I asked when would the operation be reschedule, the lady on the phone didn’t know but she thought is may be within the next two or three weeks. When we had a consultation with the Surgeon a couple of months ago I remember him telling us he would be away on holiday for 3 weeks in August, in which case he could never have covered the 16th, so I’m very suspicious of the reason given for the cancellation and also the integrity of the original schedule. I did ask if Adrian would have to repeat his pro-op tests, the answer was “no” they remain valid for 3 months. My last week of term was particularly memorable for two thing : Firstly I had been nagging my pointe work teacher / rep coach to bring her pointe shoes in, as I know she wears them to demonstrate at a beginner pointe class. The very last week she did and for the most part danced the pointe-work exercises with me, needless to say her technique was much cleaner than mine, however much to my surprise and especially as my right foot little toe had been playing up, my teacher bless her couldn’t keep up with my stamina on certain pieces. Gosh that was an eye opener of just how far I have come with her. For our second session (Rep) we basically looked at extracts I had chosen from La Bayadere to add to what we had already covered for next years showcase, I have found a nice little solo for Adrian, its not very dancy but has a lot of mime which I know he like, Ive already cleared it with him and he is keen to get started when he is back fit again. I have several Nikiya pieces some I would like to cover en-pointe, which will become a significant focus on our pointe exercises. However I have fallen in love with the Pas de Quatre which is quite lively, but I will need to re-choreograph it to a solo by editing the music and shortening the sequence. My second most memorably event was meeting up with “Rejane Linford Garcea” on the Tuesday lunch time in London, Rejane was my Artistic Director and founder of The Alive Ballet Company, she has since emigrated to Australia. That particular week she was hosting 2 intensives at Danceworks, One for classical ballet, the other for Contemporary with various well known teachers to help cover her classes. It was really nice to see her again as we go back a very long time to 2013, while I was with her Alive Ballet company I took on several rolls for her as well as one of her dancers, I was also Music Editor, Head of Costume and Production Manager, I was extremely sorry to see her move to Australia, however she has done very well over there in setting up both Ballet and Contemporary Amateur dance companies. Her and a business partner have set up a fledgling professional ballet company “Adelaide City Ballet” , at the time we spoke she had 8 professional dancer and 2 sponsors. It wouldn't surprise me to see her back in London running other intensives in the future, may be next time when Adrian is well I will get to attend it.
  13. Hi Fiz I feel for you, this is always in the back of my mind for Adrian, If his op is postponed I know it will really knock him back, fingers crossed it wont. Hi Angela Currently I get my pointe shoes from “Starlite Direct” which also trades under “Dancing in the Street” at Sleaford, mainly because its on my way home from my classes in Lincoln although they do pointe shoe fitting, my pointe shoes was initially fitted by Sheila of “Just Ballet” when she had a store in Wisbech. As Starlite Direct is very close to me I'm a frequent visitor sometimes popping in for a chat and seeing whats new. Although I have not had any refitting done, my feet have changed considerably, but then again I do have a selection of pointe shoes going back along time. All most just after I first started attending ballet classes I wanted to go on to pointe and was first fitted for pointe shoes at The Dance Box in Lincoln , I think I got a month or two pointe work but it never really got any where as it was a bit of a fill in for the last half hour of our ballet class and of course some of that time was spent getting in and out of pointe shoes as we had to vacate the studio on time. My pointe shoes then were Bloch Serenades, I had a second bash for about the same period of time at a ballet class in Wisbech Cambridgeshire, again it was just a fill in, so that didn’t get any where either. Most enquiries I made about starting pointe was refused as they only taught teens, including my then one-to-teacher I had been using for several years and my Cecchetti teacher too. However just before COVID my one-to-one teacher decided to give up teaching as she was to loose the studio building due to redevelopment, we were due to start working on new rep and as it didn’t seam worthwhile, I ask her if she would take me through preparation for pointe exercise, bless her she did, although I never actually went up on pointe with her, she didn’t have a problem showing me where to position my ribbons and elastic on the new pointe shoes I took in, there were Freed fitted by Starlite, but with COVID that never got anywhere. While I was with the Alive Ballet company, a pointe work course was to be held, I organised the studio for it at The Royal Ballet in Covent Garden, as I used to organise most of the venues for that company, I remember it it was 2017. I was super keen to start that course and I had already paid for it. Then it happened, I had sustained a serious injury by jumping of a foundation wall what was to become my new studio at home. For several weeks I had to email in with apologies thinking it was going to clear up, but it didn’t, I still tried to go to rehearsals, but eventually I had to stop. I eventually I got a break just under 3 years ago with an on-line beginner pointe class, with Bloch Serenades again, just after that I decided to go and get new pointe shoes fitted with a trusted friend of mine “Just Ballet”, as she had supplied me with many professional tutus in the past. To be fair we went though lots of pointe shoes in her store and came up with two that fitted nicely, the first was Bloch Hannah’s and the other Russian Rubin Radiance. For the most part I stuck to the Bloch Hannah’s but not all was well, after a while I started having problem with my right foot pinky toe and the only way I could continue with my pointe class was to strap it over the top of the toe next to it. Whilst it allowed me to carry on, I could'nt properly get on the platform for that foot. I went to podiatrist in my local town a couple of times but it didn’t really help. In the meantime I had started with Kim my a new rep coach in Lincoln, I remember originally saying to her when we first met I would never be asking her to teach me pointe. Time had moved on and we frequently spoke about my progress with my on line pointe class, in the meantime the Ballet school in Scotland that Adrian and I used use for our annual showcase had closed, so with no rep to prepare for raised the question with Kim about coaching me en pointe, I think that was September 2021. At that point I was beginning to think working in the centre was as far off as ever, as my on-line class was all done facing the barre and still is. However after my first session with Kim, she said I was further along than she thought I would be and said she would have me off the barre by Christmas of that year, I smiled and thought “no chance”, but she was right. In the meantime one of my physios pointed me in the direction of a new Podiatrist, Whoopee she is brilliant well qualified and had actual knowledge of pointe work from her own ballet training when she was younger. She is now a member of my support team with my 3 physio/massage therapists. July 2022 Adrian and I performed our annual showcase at a new venue, it was in the big performance studio of GoDance in Sleaford, mainly because my one-to-one rep and pointe work takes place in the studios at Godance in Lincoln, and are no where big enough for a performance with a friends and family audience present. As usual I had structured it as an intensive week with the showcase on the last day, and this would be the first time I would be perform a PDD with Adrian with me en pointe. To be fair it was almost a disaster, firstly we had altered the orientation of the studio for the depth of field of the camera, that resulted in an awful lot of re-runs because of orientation and positioning issue of both me and also Adrian. The early runs were never done in costume, when the costume was added around the Wednesday that brought even more problems as part of the costume was a veil which was over my face and wrapped 3 times around my waist. The worst part for me was two separate sets of 3 pose turns and the veil was inclined to slip down, once I had completed the last set of pose turns and Adrian had unfurled and removed the veil while I burred round, the rest seamed much easier. The overall problem was, I had spent far more time during that week en pointe, far more than my feet could properly cope with. I remember on the last evening before our showcase my teacher saying, there is no shame if you decide to dance it for this years PDD in ballet flats. On the final morning I decided to go for it and told Adrian, “if either of us makes a mistake we are going to carry on, and not do a re-run”, I knew my feet just couldn’t take it. That was the first piece we performed and we completed it successfully but not the best as what I could have done, but it was so good to get the pointe shoes off, and yes the feet were bleeding. Even so we still managed to dance the rest of our showcase in ballet flats. Now I wear far more toe protection but I have found it does have an impact on size and you may need to go up another half size. Anther useful tip is to use sued tips on the platform as it more than doubles the life of pointe shoes, as I used to knock a pair of pointe shoes out in a couple of months. My current pointe shoes are Bloch Hannah strong shanks, I’ve trained in Block Hannah’s as the platform are wider and are probably easier to balance on, than the Russian Rubins, but the Russian Rubins look much slimmer and nicer on the feet. “Starlite Direct” if you have a trade account / teachers account which I have, or “Dancing in the Street” for a normal retail customers Sleaford Enterprise Park Pride Parkway Sleaford Lincolnshire NG34 8GL Hope that helps
  14. Things have moved on a bit since my last posting. Having heard nothing from his Urology Surgeon by the 1st of July, I wrote to him on Adrian's behalf, even offering to fill a cancelled slot at a moments notice if it came up, as I was convinced it would be another lengthy wait and we may not even get the Prostatectomy Operation done by the end of September. But with in a week we had a date, the 16th August with a telephone pre-op consultation on the 7th, that's worked out extremely well as all my Ballet will have shut down by the end of July and I'm freely available to take him anywhere that's required, in any case I would have cancelled my classes if it had come up before as Adrians health takes priority. Although my classes are shut down, I must still maintain a certain amount of pointe practice to keep my pointe fitness level up for the next term, but that I can do any time. That news has really perked Adrian up. I'm not sure how quickly he will start to regain his fitness afterwards, but it may be just possible for us to go on holiday during his birthday week, the 18th September, fingers crossed, as I know he would like to go back to Scotland. Another mile-stone passed this Friday, Adrian stops taking drops in his eye after his Proton Beam Therapy Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, that's 25 days, another job I don’t have to do 4 times a day, Whoopee the end to this nightmare is in sight.
  15. Hi Linda Just a thought: I think there is a good chance she will be hosting an evening meal out for the Intensive, I’m not sure how well subscribed its likely to be, I know as she is offering day drop-ins, so there are obviously spaces. The Studios can theoretically hold up to 40 dancer, but I don’t think she will run them over 30. And of course there are two groups Ballet and Contemporary which could be 30 each.. She may also be organising an evening out for the course at a West End Theatre too in a similar way to those of LAB.
  16. Hi Linda I have a full set of email address for our dancers from around 2017 when we did Giselle and I circulated rehearsal videos and costume info, it was also the year of my injury when I had to drop out of the performance and just had be happy with organising things in the background, I know we lost a few by the time we performed at the Greenwood Theatre in 2018. Before we include anyone else to that meeting I think I need to clear it with Rejane, as it would possibly be better with an evening meal as some may be working, however remember she will be entertaining her Australian dancers that she brings over and may not have time for an evening catch-up dinner with her old company. Remember when we were at Saint Petersburg with her, we all eat together most evenings together as she is likely to be with her Australian friends. Personally as she has suggested the day and time I think we should stick with it, but if you really would like to include the others, I'm happy to approach her to try and arrange something. I'm definitely not happy to spring it on her on the day, see what you think? As for Mayara Magri, I see she is only covering the Master class + photos on the Friday morning between 10:45 and 12:30. The majority of the time is with Rejane and Nina which we both know extremely well and also Kim Amundsen who has done the occasional cover in the past, and Kim’s a good teacher, he was also one of my teachers with LAB. Obviously I cant attend due to Adrian, but I can squeeze a catchup meeting in and it would be brilliant to meet up with you too after such a long time. In any case, if Adrian was fit and well, I still would not be attending as there is one criteria for me it does not meet, I have no idea what rep is being taught, for me that essential, so at least I can pre study it and see if it have any value for future usage. That is the one thing I liked with Sander when he did the Juliet Easter Workshop with Sarah Lamb, we knew what we were being taught, we were given a YouTube example of the rep, I also edit the music for it for him. The beauty of that when I came to dance it, although there were minor differences I knew what I was doing, at the end of the workshop when we had to perform it in front of Sarah in groups of no more than three, I went first and on my own and loved it. The workshop version didn’t include partnering with Romeo for the last 30 seconds of the rep for obvious reasons, however I reused that rep but included Adrian as Romeo when we performed the full version at our last showcase up in Scotland.
  17. Hi Linda Yes you are right about it taking a while, I know once he has had the Prostatectomy , it will take additional time to get his strength back, I personally would hope that would be by Christmas. I know one of the first things he would like to do once he is catheter free, is to get out on his bike, which to be fair would be both a good and enjoyable way of building his leg strength up gradually, especially as we have a lot of really nice country cycle route around here. I was one of the nice experiences we shared during the spring of COVID 1 lockdown. As for ballet this year, that's not required for him, but if he would like to start will some gentle barre exercises and a bit of Port de bras, I'm more that happy to restart a short version of our Sunday morning session with him. As for your comment “Best to take it really slowly for the next six months or so anyway.” I assume you are referring to Adrian, as I don’t get that luxury, I'm trying to navigate a full 5 day week of ballet without leaving Adrian for long periods but still fulfilling his medical appointments etc., which means I'm working flat out at the weekend on the house and gardens. I am really looking forward to the Summer break at the end of July, although all my classes will finish, I will maintain sufficient pointe work practice ( 2 to 3 hours a week) so my capability doesn't fall back. This last weekend I was working in the vegetable garden in my old cloths, and a young lady came paddling by on the river on what looked like a long inflatable surf board, Ive seen a few of those on our river recently, she was wearing a bikini and had a small King Charles laid out on the front of the surf board, I was so envious, but I had to work. At least the summer break will give me a chance to catch up with house and gardening issues, and of course when Adrian has recovered he will lighten the load. As for “Glad he has finished the eye treatment”, whilst that is basically true, today we had a telephone consultation with Addenbrooke's, at least we got some info regarding his PET scan, all seams to be well, but there were 3 tiny cysts which have been detected which are very common, however they will be monitored with another scan in 6 months time, we also have another appointment at Moorfields just after Christmas, so quite a lot of monitoring is still going on. Yes I'm really looking forward to our catch up in July and also seeing Rejane our old Artistic Director, have you contacted any other dancers of our old company?
  18. As its been a while since my last update, several things have happened. Firstly about 2weeks ago we have met Adrian's surgeon responsible for carrying out his Laser operation on his Prostrate. He said he couldn't give us a date as it wasn't down to him, but it would be somewhere between July and September, but he did say he was on holiday for 3 weeks in August. Adrian and I were hoping to go on holiday for his birthday towards the end of September, but that now looks very unlikely. Especially as I think Adrian will need time (several weeks) to build up his strength after the operation when he is catheter free again. Last week was Adrian's week of Proton Beam Therapy at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre on the Wirral. Although the treatment sessions were quite short, I thought we could make a bit of a sight seeing holiday out of it, however that wasn't to be. The session seam to knock him for six and most of the time we stayed in at the Hotel. Although the Hotel was really nice The Village Hotel at Bromborough (about 10minutes from the Hospital), our room was on the second floor with no air conditioning, however we could open our window about 4 inches as it was retained with a security cable. As the weather was extremely hot neither of us got much sleep that week. I took my pointe shoe bag with me together with a resistance band and foot stretcher, hoping to at least get a little bit of basic pointe done. That too wasn't to be, I needed an improvised barre so I tried using a couple of chairs, but they were too low, I tried a partition that screened off the luggage area, it wasn't suitable either, then I finally tried using the wooden surround that supported the hand basin in the bathroom, whilst the height was good, the door frame was in the way to do plies etc. After a short while I gave up and used the resistance band on one foot with the other in the foot stretcher. In the end I had to make do with that which I guess was a little better than nothing. Since the first day of his his therapy we are back to me administering his eye drops 4 times a day and cleaning around his eye lid for debris first thing in the morning and applying a cold compress over his eyelid before bedtime, this goes on for 25days. I think what we have experienced from Moorfields and Clatterbridge is the best of the NHS, however the experience of our local GP’s , the Urologists from Hinchinbooke Hospital to our minds represents the worst of the NHS with totally unnecessary stalling chats as we were in a position in January to go for the Laser Op and now if we are lucky it may be done by September which seam incredibly cruel and a full year later than the even that caused the problem. I really do wonder if I will ever get my lovely ballet dancing Adrian back as my PDD partner, I'm beginning to think it not going to happen this year.
  19. This feels like a new normal, but its likely to be short lived until the next stage of Adrian's treatment. Thursday was Adrian's visit to have 4 tiny markers fitted to his right eye at Moorfields Eye Hospital. Neither of us slept very well on the Wednesday evening so consequently we were up at 1.45am, as a consequence we checked for an earlier train and found one at 4.54am and we made it. According to the Train Line booking app, we needed to change trains at Finsbury Part for Kings Cross, however when we got on the train we found it also stopped at Saint Pancras International, so needless to say we stayed on it as both stations appear to use the same taxis rank. We arrived an hour early for our 7.30am appointment at Moorfields and it wasn't long before there were quite a few people waiting for appointments at that time. Eventually we were all ushered up a registration area where we were directed to our appropriate wards. Adrian's ward had about half a dozen beds, and it seamed as if they were all day patients, usually with a companion with them. Adrian was the only person that day for markers to be fitted in his eye. Initially we were seen by several nurses filling in forms and doing basic health screening checks, eventually we had a young lady of around 25-30 who was to be the surgeon that would be doing the operation. She explained the procedure and risks associated with stitching 4 tiny tantalum markers to his right eye around the cancerous area, I shuddered at that thought and hoped Adrian wouldn't loose it at the thought of someone stitching metal things inside his eye, but he seamed ok. The surgeon asked if we had any questions which I replied I have a list and we went through then. Sadly she did not have the results of the PET CT scan from Addenbrooke's, however I did ask her for the time line for that day, she said his surgery was scheduled around 11am if nothing more urgent came in. Finally another nurse came along squirted some paste type of material to the back of Adrian hand and placed some transparent film over it, apparently it was a local anaesthetic to allow a cannula to be fitted in the theatre, shortly after that Adrian was wheeled off to the anaesthetist for heavy sedation, this would be around 9.30am. I was left on my own at his bedside with screens around, at 11am , I thought he would then be going for his op, but shortly after 11am he arrived back, he was sat up with the right eye all bandaged up, he was smiling and quite chirpy, the opposite to what I was expecting. I couldn’t speak to him at first as I was so choked up with relief and almost crying. I was expecting him to be well and truly out of it and in need of sleeping it off, especially as I had been warned at a previous Moorfields meeting that we needed to take a late train back. Once they returned him to the ward, the nurses brought him a drink and some sandwiches, I cadged a coffee. Once he had finished eating they did a few more basic medical checks and some after care instruction and basically discharged him shortly after mid day. We were back at Kings Cross station around 1.00pm and found no Northern or Thames Link trains going to Peterborough that afternoon. When we checked on the Train-line app for Saint Pancreas, it referenced the LNER trains from Kings Cross, fortunately we found a couple of guys issuing tickets from a portable devise similar to a laptop, they were most helpful, there was a Thameslink train leaving Saint Panceas at 2.16pm and we made it. Our new normal starts first thing in the morning where I have to remove his eye protector which is attached with surgical tape and secured in six places, its probably my worst job as im frightened of hurting him as I release the tape as it sticks so very securely. Once its released it stays off all day until bedtime, then 4 times during the day I have to clean his eyelids with cool boiled water and tissue to prevent any debris matting together his lashes, then I have to administer 3 sets of drops for each of the 4 times a day, for the first week and then only one set of drops 4 times a day for the next 3 weeks. Never the less I still have to do his morning therapy of moisturising his feet, Lymphatic massage of his feet and legs, then finally fitting his compression socks. We are now 5 days in to our new normal, and I have found I have had to cancel at least one of my ballet classes as Adrian had a rough night on Sunday and we were both up in the early hours of Monday morning and I really didn’t want to leave him for long periods alone while I was at class, so soon after his op. A couple of days ago he started experiencing intermittent double vision, so we queried it with Moorfields medical team and apparently it is a temporary common occurrence. I think after this first week when the eye drops are only one drop 4 times a day, things will be more manageable and a lot less disruption to my ballet and fitness schedule.
  20. For once something went beautifully right, I attended my Lincoln pointe class last Thursday, we did an hour and a half, I was expecting it to be a bit of a disaster as I had a bad back after doing lots of gardening and lifting work over the bank holiday weekend. By Thursday it had eased somewhat, the class went like a dream, things I was struggling with after a bit of an injury break in January came good, almost everything I did was the best so far, even my evening pointe class didn’t go too bad either. One little problem I think I have cracked is the long standing issue with my pinky toe on the right foot, I made an extra large spacer from Otoform that I got from my Podiatrist and it seams to have stood the test of time, however I really would like to make a similar spacer using a much softer material like the perfect pointe 2 part mix, but the Kits of course cover both feet and are extremely expensive , but I only require a very small quantity of the material. Update on Adrian now we have some actual dates: Adrian had a PET CT Scan at Addenbrooke hospital near Cambridge, which was ordered by Moorfields Eye Hospital in London to check the Head, Thorax, Abdomen and Pelvis for traces of cancer spread. The results are sent back to Moorfields, hopefully we will get to know the verdict on Thursday. This Thursday the 11th May we attend Moorfields Eye Hospital at 7.30am ( on the road at 4am) where Adrian will be heavily sedated and four tiny metal markers place around the cancerous area in his right eye. We are told to book a late train back home, so its likely to be a very long day. Needless to say I have cancelled everything for the following day for Adrian's recovery. Monday the 22nd May we have to have a Video conference call to prepare Adrian for his first simulation at the Clatterbridge Cancer Center on the Wirral, I will be home for that as he will need to use my studio, we haven't been advised as to how to access the video conference facility yet . Monday the 29th May (Bank Holiday) we travel to the Village Hotel at Bromborough near Clatterbridge Cancer Centre. Tuesday the 30th May First Simulation where a prototype mask is made for use in the Proton beam therapy he will have later. Tuesday 13th June Adrian is to attend a consultation at Hinchenbrooke Hospital Near Huntingdon to discuss his Prostatectomy by laser, hopefully we will get an indication of date. This consultation was to have been on the 21st June which would have been in conflict with his Proton beam therapy, but fortunately they were able to pull the consultation forward for us. Sunday 18th June, we travel to the Village Hotel at Bromborough . Monday 19th June, Second simulation where a new mask is made for actual use in the Proton beam therapy for the remainder of that week. Tuesday 20th June to Friday 23rd June Proton Beam Therapy, each session lasts for about 20mins, but he is advised to rest with a patch over his eye for about an hour before we can travel back to the hotel. Friday the 23rd we travel back home after his therapy. There is a telephone consultation booked for the 21st June with Addenbrookes Hospital, that may be changed as I guess its related to both the therapy he is having and what was found on the PET CT Scan. Once we know what time of day Adrian's proton therapy is, we can decide if the telephone consultation is feasible or even appropriate. Hopefully Adrian will get his Prostatectomy by laser before September, as he is looking forward to his Birthday Holiday and wants to go back to Scotland via a stop off at Hardians Wall on the way up, I do hope I can provide that for him . In the meantime my Ballet Schedule is all over the place, but I’m just about managing my Thursday pointe work classes at Lincoln.
  21. Things are getting very real now Adrian and I attended his ulcer clinic on Tuesday, there they carried out another Doppler test and the results were normal, they insisted fitting him with level 2 socks as that is what the specialist advised, I check the specialist letter from Peterborough City Hospital, Adrian's appointment there was dated the 2nd of February (3 months ago). Needless to say there is a huge change in the state of his legs. The nurse that fitted them at Spalding Hospital said I was to continue doing the daily Lymphatic massage on them, when he washes and moisturises his legs. However he cant bare them on in bed, otherwise he is wearing them through out the day. That has been another skill I have had to learn as there is a definite knack on fitting them. Monday morning Adrian received an appointment for this Friday at Addenbrooke's Near Cambridge for another CT scan, this time its for the head, thorax, abdomen and pelvis, clearly this is looking for traces of cancer spread as it was authorised from Moorfields. We had yet another appointment, this time a telephone consultation on 21 June from Addenbrooke's melanoma clinic. I guess that's to discuss the results of the proton therapy and if there are any on-going issues to be address. I do hope this isn't going to have any impact on his Prostrate laser treatment as the consultation at Hinchinbrook hospital is on the 23 June, although I do want to pull that forward if at all possible. Goodness knows if we will every get back to dancing PDD together again.
  22. Thank you everyone for your kind wishes, even my Lincoln teacher offered to suspend my classes until Adrian's operations were out of the way. But I have asked that we keep them going and we work around Adrian's appointment days, as that has to take priority. Lincoln is my most important ballet sessions as it consists of one-to-one Pointe Work coaching and one-to-one rep coaching, followed by a regular Pilates class, although the pilates class is quite ballet biased. At home Adrian and I have swapped rolls, he does the inside jobs like cooking and cleaning, I have the outside jobs mainly gardening as we have about half an acre of grounds. To be fair that's turned out to be quite tough with having to grind tree stumps with a root grinder, clear and rotavate our vegetable garden , I even got a couple of large bags of potting compost so Adrian could at least potter about in our greenhouse on nice days, only to find the large bags of compost were 100L and were supposed to be a 2 man lift, and yes it did hurt my back which lasted for about a week. At the moment we cant do a great deal to pull things forward until his next Moorfields appointment on the 11 of May, however we are eagerly awaiting the date of his Proton Treatment as that will set the timeline to when we can get involved in trying to pull forward his Prostrate laser surgery. In the meantime we keep getting silly little annoying appointments made for us which stems back a month or so relating to his swollen legs. Two things had been arranged against my better judgement, he was measure for compression socks and an appointment was being arranged by his GP for the ulcer clinic. Firstly the socks have never arrived and now would be far too large, secondly he now has an appointment at the ulcer clinic for this coming Tuesday. Virtually all the way though I have been using daily Lymphatic massage on his leg to remove the lymphoedema (excess fluid in his legs), little by little it has been diminishing, now the feet and leg are almost back to normal, even the scabs left behind from ulcer that were originally present have dried up and fell off. The colour of his legs are quite normal and his his leg muscles are soft, he can now get his regular shoes and trainers on, at least something has gone right, but sorry NHS its been too little too late.
  23. Just a quick update, we have the first date for Moorfields, its quite a bit later that we thought from our initial visit with them, its Thursday the 11th of May at 7.30am, originally it was supposed to be early afternoon, which would have been good as we could have travelled cheap day return, also this time they suggested we would need to take a late train back, which suggests the procedure is going to take alot longer than we were first told. As this schedule has slipped, I cant help feel that the 1 to 2 week and then the week of Proton treatment , that gap is likely to escalate too, what a mess and of course it possibly has implications on his Laser op scheduling for his Prostrate. I'm just hoping the CT scan he had a week ago at Peterborough City Hospital in connection with his swollen legs some time back, does not reveal any spread of cancerous cells to other parts of the body, especially his liver. Only a week ago, Adrian said to me he wished we could get back to doing our Sunday morning ballet sessions together, that is something I really miss too. At the moment he has his heart set on going on holiday back up to Scotland for his birthday week in September when hopefully every thing is done, as we have both spent many years dancing our summer showcase up there together, such happy memories. At least I did get him out to see Cinderella streamed from the ROH on Sunday night, he really enjoyed that and I guess it was a bit of normality for us both.
  24. I think this is going to be one of my blackest years for my ballet activities. Following on from my last posting in January I ended up taking virtually a 4 week break from pointe work due to my issue with soft corns between my right foot pinky toe and the one next to it. It took me almost 5 weeks to get back to where I was towards the end of December, let alone adding a lot more centre work to support my PDDs with Adrian for our summer showcase. I think the most difficult thing I found was dealing with the lack of confidence when I restarted, it was like the body wanted to protect itself and it just dare not take the risk of stepping out in the centre en pointe Grrr that was really frustrating. I guess probably what didn’t help, I introduced some new pointe shoes (same type) that obviously were not broken in. However I do have a different spacer arrangement between that pinky toe and the one next door, although it shows promise its not the whole answer, however my podiatrist has supplied me with some Otoform to experiment with and allows me to make my optimum size spacer. Adrian and I were looking forward to the removal of the catheter and his laser operation in March, however that turn out to be a horrible disappointment. I was in fact an half an hour chat with his Urologist on the way forward, basically his Urologist wanted him to keep the catheter and knee bag for the rest of his life, he said he wouldn't give him better odds tan a 50% success rate. I was furious, we had had a very detailed conversation with the guys that actually performed the camera up the urethra test and there findings. In the end the Urologist agreed to put Adrian through for the op and also agreed to remove the knee bag and replace it with a flip valve, to help retrain his bladder. The Urologist said he would write to Adrian's GP to get the district nurses to fit the flip valve when the next change the catheter, we ordered the flip valve the very next day and its in and working, we didn’t wait. Adrian releases it every two hours and its given him some sense of normality. We have since received another appointment from the surgeon that actually going to carry out the laser operation, it turned out to be another chat where we have to travel the best part of 2hour to be there for 9am, this appointment is at the end of June, and we are now approaching 1 year from the initial mess caused by 2 of Adrian's GP that would not examine him. This really pushes out the possibility of Adrian and I doing our Summer Ballet showcase this year. My intention was to contact the surgeon and if a consultation was absolutely necessary we could have done it via video link, and also suggest if any patients drop out, we would be ready to step into that slot. In the meantime I have Adrian doing pelvic floor exercises and when his district nurse call to change his in-dwelling catheter, I need her to show me or better still supervise me in changing it, that way periodically we can check to retention of fluid in a controlled way and perhaps remove the catheter before the op date completely, but of course he will still need the op. However we were overtaken by circumstances. As if that wasn't bad enough, Adrian and I attended Moorfields Eye Hospital in London last Thursday, following an emergency referral from Peterborough City hospital as a result of something that was detected at a routine eye test by Specsavers for Adrian. Moorfields detected a small cancerous growth in his right eye, we spent the whole day there going through at least 7 specialist. Next Thursday after the surgical team have met we will be give the date of the first treatment, there four tiny metal makers will be fitted into his eye around the cancerous area while he is under heavy sedation, he will be free to come home with me afterwards, but I have been warned he will be very groggy and should not travel alone. Between a week and two weeks later he will have a weeks worth of Proton Beam therapy at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, near Liverpool, they provide a hotel for us, and pay for the B and B for both of us, but of course we have to pay for our own meals etc. So my normal ballet schedule is up the wall at the moment and my priority is on Adrian, that really wasn't what we were expecting on Thursday. I will at least try where possible to maintain my pointe training as its so easy to loose it and so very difficult to get it back, but now Adrian must come first bless him.
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