Well, he's in hospital. They have put a dressing on which apparently removes liquids from a wound and should help with healing. The infection is local, apparently, so it's antibiotics and a day or so on the ward. He's actually very happy about being back in - I think he feels less vulnerable than at home after the surgery. Medical care on tap if needed.

The out of hours doctor did turn up - 8 hours after the initial call was made, which would have been around 12:30pm. Even if my dad could have been got to A&E sooner, he wouldn't have got past A&E's care. The out of hours GP has some kind of way to get a patient into a ward quickly that A&E don't. Apparently he was very good, took one look and said that hospital admission was necessary. This made my dad feel much happier about the situation.

Clearly a busy time in the hospital. An ambulance got him to hospital at around 12 midnight - so it took 12 hours just to get him into the building. He was seen at around 5am by a registrar who was rushed off her feet with other emergencies to handle.

Most of this info is what my mum told me this morning, and she's tired. Hopefully all will settle down, dad will respond to treatment, and he'll be home again when the infection has cleared up and the wound has shown signs of healing properly.

Pleased he's happier with the situation than being stuck at home. Hope things heal up quickly for him.

Not really. Several issues here:

- If you go to A&E, you may wait up to four hours to be seen. Someone (these days, it may not be a doctor), will see the patient and then decide what to do. If they decide to admit the patient, they refer to the appropriate team and instigate any treatment eg start antibiotics. There may be a delay before the patient is transferred to the inpatient team and then a further delay before they are seen.
- If your GP or OOH doctor sees the patient, they can ring the specialty involved and arrange a direct admission to the ward. The problem here becomes transport - if an ambulance has to be arranged, they can take several hours.
- I don't know exactly how many hours since discharge your father went back in, but if they are re-admitted within a certain timeframe (eg 24 hrs, 48 hrs, depending on hospital), they are deemed a "failed discharge" and go back to the team they were under prior to discharge. This can be even quicker, depending on bedspaces, than any referral.

We'll keep our fingers crossed that it's all cleared up quickly.

Things moved on in a pretty odd/alarming direction over the weekend. The problems experienced early Easter morning were caused by a reaction to the painkiller Tramadol. Apparently he had some bad hallucinogenic reactions and nightmares, and was in a bad state Easter morning. By then, they had taken him off it, but he was not doing well because it was still in his system.

So he was kept in a couple of days, and was sent home yesterday. He was far, far happier about being home that he was before, which was just 4 days after the operation. That was, in my non-medical opinion, wrong. Thinks like that infection could have caught and handled on the spot. I think he would have been far happier recovering there than at home.

He also had the reasons for the infection explained to him by the surgeon which put his mind at rest. It seems that there are times when a colonic stump with traces of colitis can trigger an infection when removed. This was explained to him beforehand, but when you have a post surgical infection, it's quite easy to think that it's one of the real nasties the media like to go on about causing it. It's been cleared up. So that's good.

So, back home, sleeping for England, I'm told. And hopefully now on the right road to recovery. He was almost swaggering around the hospital ward on Monday afternoon!

Tramadol is a bit of a dirty drug. I tend to go for morphine based medication as it is "purer" and hence less likely to cause side-effects.

I imagine a lot of patients are scared of Morphine, but less so of Tramadol which they're not aware of and sounds more like Paracetamol!

Morphine to many people is what they give you when your leg is blown off on the battle field and you're probably going to die anyway. Or something famous people get addicted.

I slept for 3 days when I had morphine. Sleepy sleepy nonsensical edd.

It's always made me feel really queasy. Better than the alternative though.

Saw him today - he's very chirpy and happy now. He's also got itchy feet - he wants to get out of the house for a walk. He can't quite yet, but he's clearly well on the mend now.

Most excellent news!

Yes it is. After last week, which was rough for him, he's bounced back very well. He's able to stand up properly - he is planning on taking himself down stairs today to watch the telly for a bit.

I think he may be disappointed with what's on and go back upstairs to his Dad's Army box set he's working through his MacBook Pro.

I approve - provided laughing doesn't upset any stitches...

Good news then. Glad he's on the mend.
Mind you - the Dad's Army thing? I'd recommend a lie down until the urge passes.

Great news