Prince Philip in Hospital for "Exploratory Operation": June 6-17, 2013


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corazon said:
he is already ok?
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An "exploratory laparotomy" is done to find out the exact stage or extent of a disease, when it could not be made out by scans. They may inspect the organs in detail, take some biopsies, take some lymph nodes or some peritoneal fluid and all. These will be subjected to pathology studies.
I am telling just one case, where its all done to grade and stage cancers.
There may be other scenarios. If they have done any other procedure (like hemi-colectomy..removing a part of intestine etc. we ll probably never know).Since it is not an emergency (like appendicitis/bowel perforation) this operation will be neither a beginning nor an end to his illness.
And at this age things get very messy and complicated and simply cannot be cured in one shot.
 
When my dad had his mitral valve repair surgery, he had a murmur that he was born with but didn't know about until he went for his annual physical one day. They told him he could have waited 10 years, but the recovery would have been much harder. Fortunately the surgeon who did the repair has done the procedure countless times before. My dad had to lose 30 pounds before they could do the surgery; he was 215 pounds at 5 foot 9. He now goes to the gym on Mondays and Wednesdays after work, and before long his weight dropped to 185. He's gained five pounds, though, since the company he works for moved to a new office 20 minutes away and he has started eating lunch at his desk. When my mom read the results of his most recent stress test, she told him he's too sedentary!
 
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Surgery for any reason at age 91 is very serious.

God bless Prince Philip and the Queen during this difficult time.
 
It certainly sounds like something was removed and a biopsy will be performed However, anytime ANYTHING is removed from your body, they biopsy it, even the littlest thing the doctor looks at and says "meh."
 
Indeed, general anesthesia without the surgery is, of itself, risky at hat age. My 88 year old MIL recently had a perforated ulcer. They gave her light sedation and an epidural, because they would not risk the general.
 
GracieGiraffe said:
It certainly sounds like something was removed and a biopsy will be performed However, anytime ANYTHING is removed from your body, they biopsy it, even the littlest thing the doctor looks at and says "meh."
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That is pretty standard in the states at least. But, as been noted, surgery at his age is serious, but people do recover. My thoughts and prayers are with Philip, the Queen, and their family and friends.
 
scooter said:
Indeed, general anesthesia without the surgery is, of itself, risky at hat age. My 88 year old MIL recently had a perforated ulcer. They gave her light sedation and an epidural, because they would not risk the general.
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Update on The Duke of Edinburgh's health, 7 June 2013
The most important phrase from the Buckingham Palace Statement (link above) is "...At this early stage he is progressing satisfactorily."

I would surmise that he is safely out from under the anesthetic and is awake and aware. He's such a tough old coot (and I say that with great affection) I suspect that he will recover, as anticipated, over the next 2 weeks.
 
Peter Hunt ‏@BBCPeterHunt 2h
The Queen will spend the weekend at Windsor . She's said to be concerned and is being kept informed.

Peter Hunt ‏@BBCPeterHunt 2h
Prince Philip is said to be "comfortable". The operation is said to have gone "as planned".

Peter Hunt ‏@BBCPeterHunt 2h
Prince Philip will remain in hospital for two weeks and is likely to be out of operation for a while longer after that.
 
An Ard Ri said:
The operation has gone as planned but thats all we know for now,I'm sure we'll know a bit more later this evening.
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we have to wait ome days to know exctly the duke¡s condition
 
O.k. It was stated that the Queen is "concerned". That does not sound like its just a little thing. When will we know more? If she is concerned then there must be something more going on right? Oh my. Okay, lets stay calm here. Im telling myself that.
 
Anywho...

I will be sad not to see him at Trooping the Colour, the Garter service or Ascot but he is in the right place and deserves a rest. At almost 92 it does take your body a bit Ilonger to recover from major operations.

I am sure the Queen will visit in her own time, and it may be done privately. I am in no doubt that she is being kept up today constantly.
 
Paul Harrison ‏@SkyNewsRoyal 1h
#royal Prince #Philip's consultant has just left the London Clinic half an hour after arriving - unclear whether he has seen the Duke

Paul Harrison ‏@SkyNewsRoyal 12m
#royal Professor John Cunningham left with Surgeon Satya Battacharya, specialist in gastro-intestinal & colorectal surgery #philip
 
rominet09 said:
At 92 any operation is major operation.
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EXACLY! Some people think b/c the Duke's been very lucky to have excellent medical care and be fit and active into his 90s, that it's not a big deal. Hardly. At his age, just about anything besides a runny nose or a minor scrape can become a big deal. A small scalp laceration from a fall can kill if you bleed to death. And we have to keep in mind, he'll be 92 on Monday (MY birthday! :)). These sorts of significant procedures become more routine, even in someone like the Duke. I know I hope he recovers well. But we should be prepared that he's going to decline at some point, and sooner rather than later. That's simply the nature of time. B/c it's an exploratory operation on his abdomen and he's had bladder infections, my guess is prostate, bladder, gall bladder, stomach or intestinal, in no particular order. Of course that's just speculation. :)
 
LadyGabrielle said:
O.k. It was stated that the Queen is "concerned". That does not sound like its just a little thing. When will we know more? If she is concerned then there must be something more going on right? Oh my. Okay, lets stay calm here. Im telling myself that.
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Respectfully, "concerned", could very well simply mean that: She's concerned about her husband, which after 65 years of marriage, one would be. It could be code, but I think it's pretty routine to say that. Anyone's concerned when a loved one goes in hospital. Simply b/c the royals use language differently, doesn't mean in every case.
 
Quite true but, it could also mean that she is concerned because of the possibility of there being something going on that is more serious than expected. I understand what you are trying to say as my husband was in hospital for minor surgery and I was concerned for him. But I am merely saying that it could be a more intense concern than what we are being led to believe. All in all, we have to wait and see.
 
It is usually better not to speculate about medical matters until a doctor has made the diagnosis and everyone knows what they are talking about.
Its like when it was announced that he was going into hospital every media outlet found a doctor to start guessing and prognosing but none of them had ever examined the duke or seen any results from his tests.
 
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NGalitzine said:
It is usually better not to speculate about medical matters a doctor has made their diagnosis and everyone knows what they are talking about.
Its like when it was announced that he was going into hospital every media outlet found a doctor to start guessing and prognosing but none of them had ever examined the duke or seen any results from his tests.
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I completely agree.
 
What a choice - let everyone know your medical history/facts or have your obit prepared ready to go to print.

Poor old devil - love him!
 
cepe said:
What a choice - let everyone know your medical history/facts or have your obit prepared ready to go to print.

Poor old devil - love him!
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My husband is managing editor for a major newspaper. They have obits on file for all important/famous individuals and update them annually so they are ready immediately when someone notable dies. That said, I think Philip is quite a character and hope his obit does not go to print for a very long time.
 
KPWillie said:
My husband is managing editor for a major newspaper. They have obits on file for all important/famous individuals and update them annually so they are ready immediately when someone notable dies. That said, I think Philip is quite a character and hope his obit does not go to print for a very long time.
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Some of them have even been known to print them before their time. My fathers obit story was printed in London 14 years before he actually died. A journalist happened to be at the KE7 Hospital when my father was admitted, overheard a young intern tell me he would die that night but did not stick around to overhear the 2 actual attending physicians come out and tell us the intern was wrong and my father would be fine after treatment. Needless to say the story caused a lot of upset the next morning when we read it over breakfast. When my father actually did die 14 years later they called to confirm before running pretty much the same obit.
 
Actually its not so much the obit but the "pre-obit" tosh written by papers who haven't got the medical info (quite right) so put out articles that imply the man is dying.

Also happens with posters on blogs and forums
 
cepe said:
Actually its not so much the obit but the "pre-obit" tosh written by papers who haven't got the medical info (quite right) so put out articles that imply the man is dying.

Also happens with posters on blogs and forums
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Yes I'm seeing a lot of that lately concerning Mandela as well as the DoE.
 
NGalitzine said:
Some of them have even been known to print them before their time. My fathers obit story was printed in London 14 years before he actually died. A journalist happened to be at the KE7 Hospital when my father was admitted, overheard a young intern tell me he would die that night but did not stick around to overhear the 2 actual attending physicians come out and tell us the intern was wrong and my father would be fine after treatment. Needless to say the story caused a lot of upset the next morning when we read it over breakfast. When my father actually did die 14 years later they called to confirm before running pretty much the same obit.
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Amazing! Your father may have been the only man ever to have had the experience of reading his own obituary in the newspaper! I hope it was complimentary at least.
 
Mark Twain twice
"The report of my death was an exaggeration" (which is usually misquoted, e.g. as "The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated", or "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated").

So many that wiki have a page for them -
List of premature obituaries - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I know this is off topic but my favourite (still laughing)

Fidel Castro (Cuban leader) in the CNN.com incident. The draft obituary, which had used Ronald Reagan's as a template, described Castro as 'lifeguard, athlete, movie star'.
 
I take that back - favourite is for Dick Cheney

Dick Cheney (US Vice-President) in the CNN.com incident. The draft obituary, which had been based on the Queen Mother's, described Cheney as 'Queen Consort' and the 'UK's favorite grandmother'.

I think PRince Philip might approve
 
KPWillie said:
Amazing! Your father may have been the only man ever to have had the experience of reading his own obituary in the newspaper! I hope it was complimentary at least.
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Pretty good actually. He at least got to correct a few factual errors, although 14 years later they still made a few mistakes.
 
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