HERE WE GO AGAIN 2

The FED is unable to drive for a while so I have been her  personal chauffeur.  And its during one of our outings, on the way to an anaesthetist's appointment, that I notice her grimacing in pain. She tries to explain the short stabs of pain to me but I don't understand them. I'm not a doctor after all.

She casually mentions the pain to the anaesthetist who suggests we get it " checked out". This phrase I've learned is a sort of homonym for "oh oh". She knows it and I know it. We organise another visit to the neurosurgeon who luckily is seeing patients today.

The neurosurgeon looks terrible. He has a very painful knee and is obviously unwell. He looks sad nevertheless to see his " personal project" as he calls her back, and his pain in no way influences the attention he gives her. She explains her pain and he nods trying to piece it all together. He finally admits he has no idea what this latest pain is but he is no longer prepared to wait for surgery. Surgery is now next week instead of next month.

We always try to look for positives and we go through them all. Yes its sooner and we don't have to wait as long. Yes it means she has a longer recovery time which should increase her chances of going back to university next semester....blah, blah, blah... 

I have no idea as yet whether my daughters have inherited the Cowdens gene and I have no idea if the condition the FED is dealing with is Cowdens related or not. What both conditions appear to have in common is the fact that in a very short period of time, the direction of the treatment or the condition itself can change dramatically. One minute everything is going so well and then literally within hours you are in a hospital. This means that we are often on edge waiting for the next bad thing to happen. Its a stressful way to live and it could knock you down if you let it.

Recently a new member to the support group ' Cowdens syndrome- Australia", asked me how I cope with all the things that could go wrong or do go wrong with Cowdens syndrome. Because she is new to the condition and feeling overwhelmed I told her you get used to it. I lied. You never get used to it, you just learn to deal with each situation as it arrives. You just open your arms and take more and more in AND YOU COPE BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO. Its hard.

Before we left the surgeon's rooms, he looked at my daughter and told her about a patient he had treated recently. He told her that he had removed a giant tumour from the woman's brain and now three months later she is playing hockey for Australia in the UK. He promised the FED that her outcome would be equally as good but he couldnt promise that the hockey skills would be on a par with his other patient. It was exactly the story of hope we needed.

Some doctors just have the knack.

Hope his knee is better by next week.

Till the hospital xxx