And a nice almost symmetrical date for my op!
Yesterday was Russell Watson day and i will be blogging about it, but i have to do op day now.
I was NBM (nil by mouth) from midnight last night and managed to get back home from RW at 11.55pm. Just in time to eat something before i passed out! Grapes and a piece of stollen!
To bed, and hoping for a good nights sleep after the hectic day id just had.
Yes again i was wrong, and i was denied.
Eventually dropped orf but reawoke (is that a word?) at 5.30am. Medication taken with water allowed until 6am.
Woke Sam to take me to the hospital at 6.30 after a wash and brush up.
Got in his car and he had no petrol!
So we went in mine, me driving, and he returning it, probably far too fast and taking bends on 2 wheels!
Got to the waiting room on the day ward to find a whole gaggle of inmates waiting for some medical intervention.
Time for people watching.
One deaf man accompanied by 2 very talkative women (a bonus i'd say!).
Two young girls examining their nails in great depth with talk of red varnish being difficult to remove. You never get young men talking about their nails do you?
Someone absolutely reaked of garlic, which when you're starving is not helpful!
A girl in a long leather coat and a large floppy hat, i think she thought she was at Cannes film festival. I don't think she realised she had to roll that nice coat of hers up and shove it in a locker along with her oversized floppy hat.
Then the nurse walked towards the waiting room, clip board in hand... slowly, very slowly, and all us cannon fodder all watched and waited for her to call our name.
'JILL FIRMIN'
Result! First on the list. Some may say not good cos he'll have cold hands, others say, he's fresh and wide awake, and not bored with yet another lymph gland or carpal tunnel to sort.
I was taken to the changing cubicle and as the nurse gave me instructions my friend Jenny (Staff nurse on the ward) came past and gave me a hug and greeted me, etc, so i didn't take in what the nurse was saying.
But i got the gist. Took my clothes off and put the gown on, bent over to put my shoes on and had a worrying thought.
'Did i shut the changing cubicle door!!!!!'
If i hadn't, i would have given everyone a nasty shock.
'Anti-emetics all round!'
Luckily for everyone, i had.
I was taken to the waiting bay....to wait.
Admitted by Iris, a lovely lady.
Seen by the anaesthetist, who was quite tasty, but about 12 years old.
Seen by anaesthetists boss who was also quite tasty, and more my age group.
Seen by the surgeon, also tasty, who groped my lymph gland where Fergus (Dr Jack) once groped, also tasty!
All this tastiness and I'm NBM!
Back to the waiting bay and within one Sudoku, i was gathered up and taken to theatre.
I was layeth down and reassured i would not be getting a whiff of the knock out gas, just some oxygen. I remember as a child being knocked out with Halothane and i was so sick. Even the thought of it makes me feel sick.
So i was cannulated (i thought id made that word up, but its in the dictionary!), maybe cannularised (oh thats in the dictionary too), and i waited for my cocktail.
In the meantime, one of the sisters asked if 'Ann the agency nurse' was in the operating room, and could she come out, to which my resident nurse replied, 'she can't, she's scrubbed up'
'She can't be scrub, she's not had her induction.'
The silence was deafening!
The ODA (operating department assistant), who was entertaining me, and was very tasty, but very married, looked at my anxious face apologetically and reassuringly and left the room forthwith, to have a word!
To be fair, no induction didn't mean i was in any danger. She was a qualified nurse who was 'au fait' with everything 'scrub'.
Its like having an induction at the gym, we all know how to ride an exercise bike and if we don't have our induction, we're not gonna run anyone over!
The discussion of where the ODA was gonna take his wife on holiday continued until the anaesthetist delivered my cocktail of drugs.
It was a quite jolly and humorous. I was advised the first fluid into my cannula would feel like my drink of choice, Prosecco, but he was obviously unaware of me drinking it from a schooner rather than a flute! So a little more was administered to which i replied, 'Oh yes, i remember that feeling' and then i was gone!
I awoke 10 seconds later (it felt like 10 seconds anyway) to my name being called, i hate that!
I was returned to my ward and was given some water, shortly followed by coffee and toast, and then advised to ring for my chauffeur!
And i must say, ALL the staff that i came in contact with were nothing more than helpful, reassuring and friendly. My whole experience today has been fantastic, which after having been a private patient, i was not expecting.
So i was packed off home, thank you to Phil who was my knight in shining armour, after chatting with Staff Nurse Jenny before our departure.
Home to the lovely Chloe who is staying with me this evening to look after me. I have a little list of a few necessities whilst she's here:-
Clean the bathrooms, both of them.
Ironing
A bit of gardening (i have a brolly she can borrow)
Cook my dinner
Rub my feet, and
Sing me a song
She's been a darling, and dinner was gorge!
Im sure theres so much more i could waffle on about, but to be fair, I'm losing the will to live with all this typing. So I'm gonna go now. Hurrah, i hear you shout.
But before i go, photo opportunity!
Me modelling the NHS operating theatre gown, suction and oxygen not included!
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