head injury

Recently, I decided to leave Melbourne and head north to work in indigenous schools.

My first choice was Northern Territory since there is now a whole swathe of remote schools there that have introduced the Zig Engelmann Direct Instruction approach, imported into Australia by Noel Pearson and first implemented in a handful of Cape York schools. I wrote a report about this method in 2012: Direct Instruction observations at Djarragun College

Fate and luck intervened. I was offered a great job at Djarragun College, near Cairns, and decided to accept.

In the meantime I had booked a flight to Adelaide and went ahead with it.

The unusual headaches started on Monday 1st February and although not severe they weren't going away. So eventually I visited a doctor and he suggested a CT scan.

This revealed a chronic subdural haematoma which requires an operation. The problem is that blood has leaked into the brain cavity which puts pressure on the brain. The surgeon drilled some small holes in my head and then I had to lie flat on my back for 48 hours to drain out the old (motor oil) blood. I'm an active person so lying flat for 48 hours was the hardest thing for me about the whole procedure. I had the operation at the Royal Adelaide on Monday 8th and was discharged on Thursday 11th.

I'm still going to Djarragun but my start has been delayed to March 7th

The surgeon and nurses at the Royal Adelaide were brilliant. I'm reminded that we have a great medical system in Australia for urgent cases, even though waiting times could be improved for non urgent cases. Many thanks for the support I've received from friends and family during my brief hospital stay.

The first pic shows me still smiling straight after the operation.

The two other pics show the stapled wounds on the day of my discharge.

Reference: Chronic subdural haematoma in the elderly

Some points from this article which relate to my situation:

• Presenting features in my case: headaches, drowsiness
• Risk factors cerebral atrophy in the elderly, increasing space between the brain and the skull by 6-11% of total intracranial space. This stretches and can rupture the bridging veins and they haemorrhage into the subdural space. A history of head injury is absent in 30-50% of cases
• Complications - recurrence can occur within 4 days to 4 weeks but this appears to be associated with inadequate expansion of the brain back into the void where the dead blood was. My surgeon says in my case this is unlikely since my brain has moved back to where is should be. But I won't know for sure until my next CT scan on Thursday 25th February.
• Update, March 2nd: I had the CT scan on the 29th February and received clearance to fly to Cairns by the neurosurgeons on Tuesday 1st March. My flight is on Thursday 3rd March.

donating blood

I received 15 units of blood after a routine procedure (prostate biopsy) that went horribly wrong, a year ago. I've booked into Red Cross to begin giving some it back next Wednesday. Give some thought to donating blood.

I remember the old Tony Hancock joke in The Blood Donor- blood banks are just like other banks, you put some in, then take some out.

good health

This year I've had some quirky health scares (major bleeding episode with complications), lost one kidney and have had my prostate gland trimmed

The way things turned out I have neither prostate cancer, nor kidney cancer, so, for me, things are great

My final TURP (Trans-Urethral Resection of the Prostate) has been very successful. I would have been better off getting it done earlier. Don't delay guys.

Anyone with prostate or kidney issues who wants more information then drop me a line. billkerr (at) gmail (dot) com. I do now have some experiences and also did do some research. For more information on this blog start with a search on the health label.

From Graeme Goodings (bowel cancer patient and Channel 7 presenter). He said to a doctor who was performing a rectal examination with his finger.
GG: "This must be one of the least pleasant parts of your job"
Doctor: "It might be shit to you but its bread and butter to me!"

I've been on leave and will be going back to school at the end of January

the law of probability in my "year of the hospital"

I'm going back to hospital on Friday (19th October) for a TURP, a "trimming" of my enlarged prostate gland. This is what I initially wanted 6 months ago.

When I visited recently I discovered that I was famous. Papers have been written and seminars delivered about my prostate biopsy bleeding episode last April. Also the Urology Department is changing their procedures so that in future prostate biopsies will be done in house, partly as a result of what happened to me.

Not everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame for something they intended. LOL.

My health in my "year of the health" remains good. They checked me for prostate cancer and despite nearly killing me in the process found that I didn't have prostate cancer but thought I had kidney cancer. But after taking out a kidney it was found I didn't have kidney cancer either. I've been lucky compared to many others.

I understand the law of probability but am hoping that the odds will go more my way this time around

I have the greatest respect for doctors and what they do in public hospitals, based on my personal experience.

(If only we could use technology in Schools the way it ought to be used - Science and Medicine by contrast have figured it out)

related posts:
unexpected hospital stay
return to hospital
kidney tumour
kidney tumour removed

kidney tumour removed

I've been away for 12 days, in hospital having my kidney tumour (and left kidney) removed.

The first 3 days were to restore my blood to normal, since I was on blood thinners for an earlier pulmonary embolism (blood clots in pulmonary artery). This require a heparin drip, since heparin blood thinning is reversible within a few hours.

I had my operation on Tuesday 3rd July. I was unconscious from 8:30am to 3pm. The surgeons told me that it was a very successful laproscopic (keyhole) procedure. Nevertheless, you do wake up at the end of it in a lot of pain and feeling very groggy from the anaesthetic.

However, I made a rapid recovery and was transferred out of high dependency to the North2 Ward within 24 hours of the operation. By Thursday all the drip and wound lines had been removed and I was walking independently again

There were some minor complications (mysterious heart pain for a couple of days) but new tests indicated there was nothing wrong and the pain eventually disappeared.

The kidney biopsy showed that the tumour was non malignant!! A Renal Oncocytoma!! This, of course is good news, I don't have cancer. Also fortunately, I was prepared for this possibility psychologically (kidney tumours are a catch 22 situation) and further research shows that it seems to be best for this tumour to be removed anyway.

I still need more time to achieve a full recovery but certainly my prognosis is excellent.

Many thanks to those who have supported me through this time

kidney tumour

I have a 3.5 cm tumour on my left kidney.

This was discovered by CT scan in early May after a few hours of pain in that spot. There has been no pain and no other symptoms apart from that, before or since.

Recently, I asked to see the x-rays generated by the CT scan and I was shown the slide show (over 400 x-rays) and the tumour was pointed out to me. It looked a bit like these images which I found on the internet.

I'm due for surgery on Tuesday July 3 and the plan is to do a laparoscopic (keyhole) nephrectomy. Due to the position of the tumour and the possibility of cancer the whole kidney, adrenal gland and lymph nodes will be removed.

What I've discovered is that a kidney tumour, which may be cancer, is a Catch-22 situation. In fact, one of my doctors used the phrase, Catch-22, in describing it.

If we don't cut it out then it might be cancer. If we do cut it out then it might turn out not to be cancer

This unsatisfactory situation arises from these factors:

• Chemo doesn't work on kidney cells because kidney cells are designed to remove toxic chemicals!!
• The kidney has a rich blood supply (because its job is to filter the blood) and so any attempt to biopsy a kidney tumour will spread it to other parts of the body
• There is no blood marker for kidney cancer

It is upsetting to have no choice really but to go through with major surgery when I'm not even certain that I have cancer. I am in the process of dealing with that as a psychological issue. I've done my own internet research but at some point you have to trust the experts

My prognosis for full recovery is about 90%

return to hospital

I thought I was making a good recovery from a mysterious massive bleed following a prostate biopsy

However, a few days later, due to sore ribs when I lay down to sleep I checked myself back into hospital, last Sunday morning.

I have been in hospital since then receiving more tests, analysis and treatment

The doctors are now saying that I have a couple of small blood clots in my lungs (pulmonary embolism) and a mass on my left kidney which looks like a cancer.

My blood has been thinned (currently using subcutaneous self injecting clexane) to control the clotting and I’m due for a nephrectomy (kidney removal) in 6 weeks time

Many thanks to visitors, those who phoned and the expertise of QEH staff

With luck I should be able to resume a normal life after that. I’m feeling strong.

unexpected hospital stay

I've been AWOL since last Thursday, in hospital.

I checked in for a routine test (prostrate biopsy) and something went dramatically wrong. I became the one in a thousand statistic that is mentioned when these tests are suggested and which you think will never happen to you.

I was bleeding uncontrollably for many hours and needed a blood transfusion and a couple of operations to fix it.

Many thanks to Queen Elizabeth Hospital staff for their expertise and help. And to friends who visited and left phone messages.

I'm continually amazed by our progress in medical knowledge. I feel I'm on the road to a full recovery.

I was thinking of creating a separate blog to discuss some men's health issues in more detail. Will keep this entry short though.