Not a time to panic

I was transferred yesterday from the visceral surgery department to Ear, Nose & Throat. They are trying to stabilise the problem of excessive saliva flow which tends to gather during the night and block up the cannula, leading to breathing problems. I've got a much smaller room in this part of the hospital, but I suppose it will do for two or three days.

The doctor in charge here appeared for the first time this morning and gave me a very nasty shock. He started talking about getting the problem stabilised and then sending me straight home. I said I didn't want to go home until I could start eating and drinking "normally" again. That seemed to startle him. It led to quite a long discussion. He said we had all known that it was going to be an extremely difficult operation and lots of things could go wrong. No-one foresaw the problem with the massive saliva production and no-one expected that to lead to other problems, like the saliva that wasn't spat out sliding down the windpipe into the lungs. No-one expected the vocal chords to be damaged, although it was always a possibility. It was conceivable now that I might have to live with this horrible cannula for the rest of my life, and there was no guarantee at all that eating or drinking "normally" would ever be possible again. They would try to find some way of creating a swallowing route, perhaps with another stent, but that would all have to be discussed with the gastroenterologists and others.

I don't accept all this negative nonsense. It might take a long time before things are put right, but I refuse to accept that there are no feasible solutions. I haven't suffered 3 months of hospital for a negative outcome. Time to fight even more now.