Now where was I?
I then spent 6 and a half hours waiting for my operation! By this time I had developed a headache from hell and needed paracetamol desperately due to lack of fluids, lack of food, lack of caffiene and too much adrenaline from stress. I watched as the other 3 patients in my bay went for their ops and came back whilst I sat reading a really trashy magazine about 100 times from cover to cover. Whilst waiting my consultant came to see me and asked if I had seen my notes by any chance, erm no??!!
The highlight of my wait was a visit from the anaesthetist who was lovely.
Eventually I walked to theatre down the corridor and upstairs. I then joined 3 more patients in a waiting room for theatre. Times have really changed, last time I had an op in 1992 you were wheeled to theatre and went straight in.
I eventually went into the anaesthetic room and climbed onto the trolley. I was really scared by this point and felt as though my life was being handed to someone else, which in a sense I suppose it was.
A needle was put into my hand and I felt myself drifting off to sleep.
Fast forward a couple of hours I think and I was lying on the trolley with “the shakes” I was shaking uncontrollably and the pain I was feeling was incredible. The lovely anaesthetist gave me morphine which helped, then I heard in the distance a dr saying that I couldn’t go home that night.
It was supposed to be a day case, but I was wheeled onto a ward. Oxygen mask on, iv in place and feeling dizzy, sick and in pain the surgeon visited me and said it had been a difficult operation as I had a duct missing and they couldn’t clip what they were supposed to clip. I don’t know what they did, but i’m assuming it worked. Incidently the ward I was on was a normally closed down ward, it had been reopened due the increase in patients admitted for swine flu. Nothing worked and there was no tv, a rail fell off the wall when I touched it and every piece of equipment squeaked, groaned, collapsed or didn’t work. The staff were great though.
To be continued….
