Woman Suffers Kidney Failure And Cervical Cancer Inside The Operating Theatre Full Episode S1 E3

Zoe was diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer. I thought I had a water infection, went to the doctors and my kidney function had gone down to 19% so they wanted me to go straight to hospital. They put me in ambulatory emergency care. They'd done an emergency stent which worked but they found I had cervical cancer. I have ulcerative colitis and that is an inflammation of the bowel. That is basically where you get ulcers on your bowel. I've had it since I was about 10 years old. My heart was beating at 150 a minute so they rushed me straight up here and that's when it sort of all started. They said it was through the death of my father that it brought it on. Are we allowed to request our own soundtrack when we're on the telly? Could I have Smooth Operator by Sardine? Mack the Knife maybe? There are specific individuals and, you know, jokers in theatre. What do you fancy being this year for Halloween? This year I will be Matthew. Crazy surgeon. And the first comment of the day. There's always banter. Some of the procedures can be long. Without the banter it can feel a lot longer. I'm taking the old man to see the full Monty for his birthday. Oh well, I'm sure he'll love that. Has he got front row seat? We knew each other really well. Our humour's probably a little bit more darker than others. So the first bloke ever to invent a spinal anaesthetic decided to test how numb the patient was and he grabbed his gentleman's vegetables and gave it a yank. And was it a good spinal? It was a good spinal. He didn't feel a thing. But did his heart slow down? We're on form this morning. It's 8.20 in the morning. Five theatres are prepped and ten surgeons are ready to operate on over 40 patients today. Morning. I'm fine, thank you. Front love. Okay, thank you. Well it was strange really because it was after my father's funeral I was sort of just sat at the table and I just didn't feel well and my wife being an ex-nurse said, you know, you should go to doctors. Lovely, thank you very much. My heart was beating at 150 a minute. So they rushed me straight up here and that's when it sort of all started. They said it was through the death of my father that it brought it on. You all right there, darling? He has what is known as atrial fibrillation where the top of his heart is not working as it should be. It's not pumping correctly. He's having a cardiac version done where they will be stopping his heart and restarting it with electric impulses to get it back into a normal rhythm. Frank's ward neighbour Chris is waiting to have his wisdom teeth removed. I see you wear the bandage, are you ex-forcers? I'm still in as a reservist, yeah. Oh, I'm an ex-forcer. Oh yeah? I'd come out in 79. Miss it, still do. Wait, you missed the bandage? Yeah, I've missed the bandage. The runs are short. Frank's condition is life-threatening. I just want him to get back to how he was before this all started. He does get a lot tighter than he used to and a lot quicker. Because they plan to stop his heart, Frank will need a general anaesthetic. Hello. Good morning. Hello. So I need to introduce myself. Dr Stuart Greenhill, I'm an anaesthetist. Sit down. Nice to meet you. Sit down, it's fine. You don't need to, it's very kind of you to stand up, but you don't need to. So you're 61 years young, 62 years young. Yeah, I'm 62. My colleague has miswritten your age, sir. Is he? Is he probably 61? I like him. Yes, he's trying to knock that. No, I like him. Don't scrub it out. So you're in a funny rhythm and you're here to be zapped. I am. See you in a bit. Yeah, thank you very much. There are risks associated with this procedure. He could have a stroke. He could have a massive heart attack and end up on coronary care. So we just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. Some patients visit day surgery regularly. I'm not nervous. I've had it done before, obviously. I don't know, really, just want it to be over with. I can feel now, I've been six months since my last one, I can feel the tiredness now setting in. Zoe's health problems started nearly two years ago. I thought I had a water infection, went to the doctors, and my kidney function had gone down to 19%. So they wanted me to go straight to hospital. They put me in ambulatory emergency care. They said if it hits down to 15, I'd be on dialysis. It hit 12, which is in, obviously, panic stations. They'd done an emergency stent, which worked, but they found I had cervical cancer. Zoe was diagnosed with stage three cervical cancer. It was daunting. The cancer treatment was really daunting, but I kept a positive attitude. I didn't watch anything negative on telly. I was so, so tired, and having four children, two with ADHD and one with autism, that literally, that's the one thing that took it out of me. After nearly six weeks of chemoradiation treatment, Zoe was given the all-clear, and has now been free of cancer for 14 months. I didn't really take on board how ill I actually was. The NHS have been angels. Zoe's urethra is damaged as a result of her cancer and treatment, so she needs a stent to allow her kidney to drain into her bladder. This has to be replaced every six months to minimise the risk of infection. Hello, Miss Carol. Hiya. Hi. My name's Kezia. How are you? Tired. Are you? Other than that, I'm fine, yeah. Every time the stent is changed, I do get tired, just naturally tired. I know that once this is done, I'll start to pick up in general life, really. I've had this JJ stent change six times. It's basically like a bendy plastic straw that is there to support my waterworks, basically. Zoe's surgeon is consultant urologist Mr Eaton. This is Zoe Carroll. She is a change of a JJ stent. Surviving cancer isn't just recovering from the initial surgery and the chemotherapy. It is something they have to live with for the rest of their lives. In Zoe's case, the stent is essential to her survival. Zoe will be put under general anaesthetic by Dr Hay. So you must be Zoe. Yep. So you've had cancer and you've had chemo. How long ago was the last chemo? May 17th of last year. Last year? Yeah. OK. And you've got one kidney, is that right? Yep. Born with one. OK. Zoe didn't realise her body was different until she was having a caesarean section with her third child. When they cut me open, they didn't straight away pass the baby over and then said to my mum, we've just got to have a look at something that, you know, is quite strange. And then they said, you've got a unicornic uterus and basically half your organs. On my left side, I have my heart and my lung, obviously. On the right side, I have my tube, my ovary, the half a womb, the one kidney and on the left down there, there's nothing, just space. Without the stent, Zoe's one kidney would not be able to drain correctly. So you're having a general anaesthetic for this? Yeah, they usually give me oxygen to anti-sickness, which makes me feel drunk and that's great and I can cope with that. It is a bit of a miracle that I've had four children because I've got half a womb and I've gone through the change through cervical cancer as well. How old were your children? My oldest is 17, my next one is 12, next one's 10 and then I've got my four-year-old baby, he's autistic and he's a handful. I have no partner, it's just me. My family to me are the world, yeah, my entire world. You can start feeling yourself become a little bit drowsy soon, OK? As you drift off in the next few minutes, it's something nice to dream about. Frank Luff is in hospital for a life-saving heart procedure. So today we are doing the elective cardioversion. Specialist cardiologist Dr Bin will stop and then restart Frank's heart in an attempt to shock it into a normal rhythm. We'll put you to sleep and then we'll give you a shock so to change your heart rhythm so that your symptoms will be lesser. When a patient's having their heart shocked, of course it carries risks. Cardiologists like Dr Bin are very well trained but you can still always have problems restarting the heart and there's always a possibility that the patient can have a stroke as a consequence of the procedure, which is obviously a devastating thing. I just want him back beside me, fit and well again. I won't be worried while he's away all week, thinking that at any time he could have a heart attack or a stroke and keel over. But hopefully now I won't worry so much about him. Still worry whatever. You're showing a bit of leg there, boy. Best pair of legs on the ward. Whatever. I met Frank 33 years ago on a blind date which my brother and his sister had got us to go to. Absolutely hated the sight of him and I said to my brother, I never want to see him again. I must admit, we hated each other. I was sort of glad to get home and I can remember my mother telling me off about it and saying, you know, you shouldn't have done that and I took her out the following week. And here I am 33 and a half years later, married to the man. We've never left each other's side since we've been together so just a strange beginning and great ending sort of thing. Chris has just had four wisdom teeth removed. You'll be bruised and battered a bit, won't you, for a couple of days. I've got mine to come yet. What is it you haven't done? Had my heart stopped and restarted. Well, this is a normal everyday thing then. Yeah. Being your heart, you never think about it. You never think about it when you're younger but when you get to my age, you hear about things and when it happens to you, you know, you've got to really make sure and look after yourself. So I'll be pleased to get it done and just live life normally again. Okay. Thank you. I'll see you later then, love. See you in a little while. See you in a while. Be good. Will I? That'd be nice. Love me my bits. Goodbye, Chris. I'll see you later. Don't enjoy yourself too much. No, I won't. Hopefully, we'll get back to normal. Live our lives as we should. He's definitely done surgery again. Hello. I've got another patient. I know, but you're glad about this. If you weren't busy, you'd be. Biscuits. Hello. Hi, are you all right? Yeah, you? Yes, thank you. If you just take a seat, they'll be with you shortly. Thank you. Robert Tansley has been in and out of hospital since he was at school. I'd miss quite a lot of school due to my hospital appointments, doctor's appointments, being ill. So I'd be just stuck at home worrying about having to go to the toilet all the time. Robert Tansley. Lovely. Are you ready? All right, my darling? In my younger years, that was that bad, that they had to keep admitting me in the hospital on a weekly basis. Have I? Just pull the curtains. It's a bit more private, OK? I had days where I just had to, like, went into school. About five minutes later, I'd be going home because I'd feel that ill. So we are doing, Robert, an examination under anaesthetic. Yeah. Is that right? Lovely. I have ulcerative colitis and that is an inflammation of the bowel and that is basically where you get ulcers on your bowel. I've had it since I was about 10 years old. I'm quite a rare case because normally you don't get it until, like, you're older. Robert is now 28. Colorectal surgeon Mr Easterbrook will lead Robert's operation. Ulcerative colitis is a chronic condition. Robert's suffered with this since being a child and I think it would have made his childhood very difficult. Patients can have very severe diarrhoea and end up going to the toilet a lot during the day. Right, and who's going to take you home today? My dad. Dad, lovely. The problem with Robert's situation was he's also got haemorrhoids as well and because he's got ulcerative colitis, that makes his piles bleed very heavily, which has caused him to be anemic on a few occasions. Robert Tansley is a young chap with haemorrhoids. We just need an Eisenhammer and a bander for him and no antibiotics. This operation is usually done with local anaesthetic but as Robert's condition is so bad, it would be too painful, so he needs a general anaesthetic. I just lose all my inhibitions, really. With colitis, you have to because you have to basically tell your relatives that if you've been bleeding, you have to tell someone. You can't keep it quiet because that could be something serious. And are you working, Robert? Yeah, I do work, yeah. I work for a local engineering company delivering all the bits that they've manufactured because they can do anything, really. If you come up with a drawing, they'll do it. And when are you due to go back to work? Monday. Monday, OK. I think. It depends how I feel. Depends how you feel? Yeah. In the past few months, Robert's haemorrhoids have been bleeding heavily. Because of the piles, I've had to have time off work. I've had to go and have regular iron infusions and blood tests. It just made me feel a bit useless, really. I was actually admitted into hospital recently due to my iron levels being that low. Well, I was in hospital for about five days for that. Morning, hi. The plan is to put you off to sleep for about 10, 15 minutes and have a look whilst you're asleep so you don't have any pain, of course. Yeah, that's fine. And, well, I presume that it's piles that have been bleeding, so I'm going to put little tiny rubber bands on. Yeah, that's fine. So when you go home, things to expect are some soreness in your bottom and when the bands go on, you can bleed quite heavily for up to 10 days. That's completely normal. The bands are designed to fall off and they're very small. You won't feel them. They're very high up inside the back passage. Very unlikely, but we always mention it. There's always a tiny risk of blood clots in your legs and lungs. If this operation doesn't work, Robert will need a haemorrhoidectomy. A haemorrhoidectomy is actually a bigger operation than most people realise. It's essentially cutting the piles out. But it's extremely painful, so it's very much, in my opinion, a last-ditch operation. Just be glad to get it over with, really. Hopefully, that'll cure the problems that I've been having with the bleeding and the haemorrhoids. Hopefully, I'll stop. After you. Hello. Help yourself and lie down. That's it. Right, so just put a small grip in your hand, OK? Just give it a little squeeze on your arm. All right there. You feel nice and warm? Yeah, I am. I'm always warm. Are you? All right, mate, so we'll just give you a bit of oxygen to breathe, OK? Now... You're just drifting off to sleep, Robert. You're doing just fine. BEEP People regularly joke about piles, but actually, they can be quite debilitating, in fact. They can bleed a lot, and sometimes people find that when the bleeding's very bad, it actually saturates their clothes. So it can be quite a serious condition. Legs up. Mr Easterbrook starts by assessing the severity of Robert's condition. So this gentleman's got very large, prolapsing piles. I didn't realise they were going to be as big as this, actually. Once somebody has an anaesthetic, the body's a lot more relaxed. It's only when he was asleep I realised that they were actually prolapsing a lot more than I'd anticipated. These are very big, aren't they? So I'm going to attempt to band these, but I'm not sure how successful it'll be, in fact. If it's not successful, we're looking at a formal haemorrhoidectomy at some point. 50 banding operations are done here each year. The haemorrhoids are pulled up into a rigid tube, and tight bands are placed over them. Firstly, it disrupts the blood supply to the haemorrhoid, and secondly, it causes some scar tissue just above the haemorrhoid, which pulls the haemorrhoid back up into a position which shouldn't cause any bleeding for the patient. So we'll come over this side now and try and get this banded here. It's meant to be very straightforward banding, but it's actually more difficult than it looks. So one's fallen off. Do we have a spongy stand available in case we need it? I think this gentleman might be heading towards a haemorrhoidectomy, actually. That was the jelly, by the way. It was. I think we're good, actually, here. Is that all the bands finished? Yeah. Okay. It's looking better already. That's it, thank you very much. Hello. We're back. Okay there, Robert. You're just waking up. It's all done. All right? Yeah, it's all done. You're just in the waking up room. That was quick, yeah. Don't take too long, this procedure. Mel is taking care of Robert in recovery. I just need a bit of comfort with you. That's all right. You can hold my hand if you want to. Thank you. Love you. So I might know what I'm saying. Quite high. Some people say some really strange things when they've had a general anaesthetic. I haven't had a proposal yet, but you never know. Sorry if I said anything untoward. That's all right. You're okay. While you're chatting to me, I know you're okay. Yeah. Oh, it's quite painful. Oh God, it's painful. Is it? Yeah. Out of a score of 10, one being no pain at all and 10 being the worst ever, what would you give it? Eight and a half. Right. We're going to get you some nice strong medication. Will it be painful when I go to the toilet? That might be. I can't promise you it won't, but you mustn't strain or do anything like that, because then it will hurt. Oh. You've just got to let nature take its course, as they say. There we go. So I've got a small tablet here. Open your mouth. That's it. And then swallow that one. Yeah. All right? Right. Let's get you back. You've got a window seat. You don't sound too impressed. I'm just a bit groggy. Are you a bit groggy? Painful. Yeah, that tablet will be working shortly. Irrigation on, please. Thank you. Zoe Carroll was diagnosed with cervical cancer a year and a half ago. Although she's clear of cancer now, she needs an operation every six months to replace a stent tube between her kidney and her bladder. In Zoe's case, she has one kidney, which has been severely damaged by the cancer and the treatment, and is totally dependent on the stent to keep that kidney functioning. If the stent is removed, the kidney will fail very rapidly, and she will be in end-stage renal failure. Mr. Eaton needs to locate the old stent. He uses x-rays to find the exact position. Okay, can you come across the midline slightly now, please? And down a bit. I can't see her existing stent. Tell me where the stent is. There, okay. It's quite low, isn't it? Yeah, it's curled up right in her kidney. In cases when the stent has been in place for a long time, the ureter and bladder can become very inflamed, which can make the procedure more difficult and more uncomfortable for the patient afterwards. Okay, let's have the balsam stent, please. I'll just pull it out, and then I'll put a wire up. Do you want that smallest one? Yes, please, yeah. Mr. Eaton uses a guide wire to thread the new stent into the right place in the ureter. Okay, so there's the old stent. Okay, so we're just going over the guide wire and into the ureter. Fantastic. Okay, another shot, please. Finally, Mr. Eaton uses an x-ray to check the stent is in the right place. Yeah, it's way up into the kidney, isn't it now? Okay, we're in and done. Okay, thank you. Okay, legs going down. Take her up. Ready, steady, slide. Lovely. All right. Okay, let's go. I know it feels like you need a wee. It's because we just filled your bladder up with fluid. You okay? Any pain? You just need a wee, okay. Happy? Hello. Mr. Eaton needs to let Zoe know what he's seen. Because the stent was there, the bladder's really quite inflamed around the old stent. The old stent was all coated in nasties, like chalk coat, et cetera. It's pretty nasty in there. And of course, I've just been putting instruments in. And I've left you with some water in the bladder. We'll get you up here in a moment, yeah. Okay. Frank Luff is about to have his heart stopped and then restarted in the hope of shocking it into a normal rhythm. Ease yourself back down. Thank you. Okay? Yep. This procedure is not without risk. It may never go back in a normal rhythm. He may be like it for the rest of his life. But that's a chance you have to take. And hopefully it does go back. Frank, we're going to put the drip in the back of his hand. Okay. The heart can only really stand to be shocked about three times. Any more than that, and the strain that you put on Frank's heart would really increase the chance of having a heart attack on the table. Are you ready? Yep. Yeah, you know what I'm going to do, don't you? Ready, scratch, come out. One, two, three. Did you get it in there all right? Yeah. I've done this before. I think you have, yeah. Once or twice. If you put it to your ear, you can hear the C. Can you? Being the next Royal Navy man, that's nice. It brings back memories. Brings back memories. Right, I'm going to put that over your nose and mouth. If you could take three nice big deep breaths for me. So this is the stuff that sends you off to sleep. Lovely. Go with it. You're doing a great job. So Frank's atrial fibrillation meant that the top bit of the heart, the atria, instead of contracting in a nice coordinated fashion, they're just wibbling about like that and they're fluttering. How are you doing under there? Are you comfy? Yeah, I think you are, aren't you? What Dr. Ben needs to do is pass a strong electrical current through the heart in the hope that that will shock the heart such that when it restarts, it will restart in normal sinus rhythm between 60 and 100 beats a minute. Righty-ho. If you would like to proceed, sir. Yep. Frank's heart rate is over 150 beats per minute. So I'm going to charge. Yep. Stand clear, please. I'm going to give him a shot. Looks sinus to me. P wave is there. Sinus? Yep, it's converted. Blood pressure is fine. Yep. Heart rate is 73. 63, he says. This is good. Which is a whole lot better than it was before we started. Just 10 minutes after going into theatre, Frank's heart is beating healthily. Happy? Finished? Yeah, finished. Fine. I mean, you know, all right. So they do die because we do stop their heart. 100% success today. Yes, you're in sharp shooting today, doctor, aren't you? And sometimes there is a little moment where you have to hold your water a bit because the period of time between the shock and when the heart starts again is perhaps a little bit longer than we might like. But they always start again. Hello, Frank. My name's Jill. Can you open your eyes for me? That's it. I'm feeling like Carol Forderman. Carol Forderman? Wow. I'm feeling better now. You're feeling better. That's fab. Here we go. Are we still here? Are we? They got bored of you already, didn't they? And there we go. Thank you for looking after me. No hopping out of bed? No, I'll do as I'm told. Yeah, do as you're told. Sir, thank you. Make a change. Take care, and I'll just go tell the nurses what you've had done. Lovely. Thank you, my love. Are you all right? Yeah. I'm done. Yeah, chest a bit sore. Well, it will be, won't it? I can feel the difference already. My heart. Can you? Yeah, I feel brighter. Hopefully that's done it. I was just reading about Carol Vorderman, and I won't tell. Oh, you and bloody Carol Vorderman. Jesus. But never mind, all good things have to come to an end. Yeah, unfortunately. Yeah. I could think of somebody better to dream of. No. Yeah. Okay, my love. Anyone? I hope it's good. So I'll leave it on there for a minute just so it can settle itself down. Okay, thank you. I've beaten anyway. Yeah, it's a bit low. 48 a minute. That's all right. No, not really. A normal heart rate is between 60 and 100 beats per minute. Frank's is lower than Dr. Bin would like. So your heart rate is still 51. So I'm just thinking about to reduce your medication. Yep. So we'll monitor you here for 15 minutes more. Okay. Robert Tansley has had an operation to stop his severe hemorrhoids from bleeding. You all right there? Yeah. A bit discomfort, but... Gonna be a little bit sore, I'm afraid. I won't be walking very far, I can tell you that. No. It'll be a quiet weekend. Yeah. Hello. Come to collect Robert Tansley. Thank you. Patients who've had a general anaesthetic can't go home alone. So Robert's father, Steve, will accompany him. Hello. Are you bored? Or a bit groggy? A bit groggy. How do you feel? Sore. Yeah. Really sore. Did you, um... A lot worse than I thought I would be. Yeah. They've given me all the pain relief they can, but I'm... Yeah. I've just got to take it really easy. Yeah, well... We'll get you home and you can get planted on the sofa. Thank you. That'll be it. Hello. So Robert's follow-up appointment will be in about eight weeks' time, and that'll come through the post. Yeah, that's fine. Lovely. Yep. So you're happy to go home now? Thank you. Thanks a lot. Fancy your fish and chips for tea? I probably will do later. Yeah, you will do. So yesterday, in the page that was done under local, we were playing 20 questions. I said, who was Harry Beck? The page went, oh! It was, are you in pain? Are you in pain? He went, no, no, no. I just can't get this answer. Oh, your questions are always really hard. That's almost like me asking you what my nana's name is. OK. Is it in the first or second half of the alphabet? First. A, B, C, D, E. So is it A to F? No. Mary. No. Joyce. It is. See, we've got it, you see. Oh, dear. Frank's heart has been monitored for the last 45 minutes. Hello. Hello there. So your heart rate is still slow. It's around 55. Right. So you are taking bisoprolol 2.5mg, right? Yeah, 2.5. So I will decrease your medication to 1.25. OK, then. I will let the staff nurse know you can go home, OK? Lovely. Thank you very much for your help. Thank you very much. Sorting me out. Lovely. Thank you. Take care, Chris. Are they kicking you out? Yes, otherwise it'll be another sandwich and a cup of tea. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, mate. You look after yourself. Bye. Take care, mate. Enjoy. Yeah, bye. Thank you. Bye. Three hours after her operation and Mr Eaton's fears are confirmed. Zoe is in pain. How are you doing, darling? I don't know, but I feel really sick. Do you? Yeah. Bless you. Do you want me to get you some pain relief and a sick ball? Yeah, please. I've got two codeine tablets here, which I'm going to give you, all right? I'm really sick. It's 7pm. Day surgery is winding down and most patients have gone home. But Zoe is still here. Sophie has taken over her care. On a scale of 1 to 10, where's the pain at now? 10 being the most excruciating pain. I've got kidney pain and all of that. Mate, I can't cope with kidney pain. I'm just ringing about to see an availability of a bed, please. It's a patient we've got down here, Miss Zoe Carroll. She came in for a cystoscopy and a change of JJ stent. We can't manage her pain. So if someone's in that amount of pain, we will have to start thinking about admitting them for further relief overnight. Yep, okay then. Lovely, thank you very much. Bye-bye. I've got a bet that she can have the trauma bed on gate. But we have to just ring and hand over. So I'm going to go and let her know. I'm going to transfer you upstairs, okay? Because there's nothing else that we can give you, we're going to get you admitted to gate and ward upstairs, okay? It's not something that we like doing, but luckily it doesn't really happen very often in day surgery. Zoe's mother is looking after her children. Are they going to take me up to gate and ward, do you think? Yeah, I'm not there yet. I don't know, Mum, I don't know. Okay, bye. Me and Rachel are going to take you up to the ward, okay? So do you want to take your ball with you? My driving can be quite bad. Robert's operation to have his severe haemorrhoids banded was a huge success. He's no longer bleeding, his iron levels have increased and he's feeling well. Frank's heart stayed in a normal rhythm for two months, but then his atrial fibrillation returned. He's now waiting to have the same heart procedure again. Bye. Zoe had emergency surgery that night to insert another stent. She stayed in hospital for six days before returning home.