I was so lucky that my surgery had been rescheduled only just over a week after the date they cancelled. I started to prepare and was getting nervous.
I forgot to mention I had my pre op a few weeks before, I had an ECG, Blood Tests, BMI, a long list of questions with a nurse.
With a few days to go to the operation I had a thought in the back of my mind that it could be cancelled at any time, someone in my office had a bit of a cold, they moved downstairs in the hope I wouldn't catch it, but it was too late, by 4 days before my op I started to get a cold!
I went to ASDA and got every single cold thing I could think of, Nose spray, Airwaves Chewing Gum, Vitamins, Orange Juice, Veg soup etc.... I spent over £20 just on things to try and clear the cold!
It was getting closer and closer and I kept googling, "What if I have a cold before surgery" not knowing what the answer would be, my boss luckily let me have the day off before my operation to try and sleep and get better!
I phoned the hospital and the person on the phone just said to me, they wont know until the day as it depends if you have a temperature of if it has gone on to your chest, being Asthmatic it going on to my chest was a big worry!!! I was starting to feel a bit of a rattle and was feeling really ill.
My boyfriend kept checking my temperature for me every few minutes, and he kept telling me it would be ok, and just see what they say in the morning!
The night before we had to go to my parents house, I was starting to feel so nervous and scared that I burst in to tears, luckily my boyfriend was there to cuddle me and tell me it would all be ok!
I had to get to the hospital for 7am the next day, so I had an early night! I woke up around 5:30am as it was nearly an hour drive, we got down there so early! We went in to the hospital, it was getting scarier and scarier, but if I am honest I was so excited about the potential of having small boobies I wasn't showing it too much, when I got in I needed the toilet, I was desperate!
We sat in a waiting room until the ward opened up at 7am, then I can't remember if a nurse came to get me or if we all just sort of walked in the direction of the wards, but when we got in to the ward all the nurses were so friendly and made me feel at ease, they took away my nerves completely!
When I was shown to my bed I was told to sit there and await an assessment, not long after a lovely trainee nurse came over to talk me through everything, I told her of my worry about my cold, she was so nice and took my temperature and blood pressure and all.
She had to go through the list of things like in pre op, but then not long after my surgeon turned up, I was expecting to not see him until 10am or a bit later then maybe go to surgery around 11am, he came in to see me at about 8:30am maybe a little earlier, and said I was the only surgery he had that day as he wanted to put all his focus on my operation!
When he came in I felt instantly relaxed and slightly nervous, I didn't know what to say.
Not long after he came around and bought a pen with him to draw on me!
I sat there on the bed as he drew on me and explained what he was going to do, I asked if I would be able to have the surgery due to my cold and he said yes, I felt instantly relieved.
The surgeon left me there with my mum and boyfriend, then a nurse came in a few minutes after I saw the anaesthetist, and said I will be going down in a minute, I noticed in the hall way a man with an Elvis style hair cut, I pointed him out to my mum and boyfriend, and found it funny!
My dad had gone outside to put more money in the ticket machine for the car, the nurse said they were ready for me to go down, all of a sudden a rush of fear went over me, I was thinking what if I can't give my dad a hug before I go down, I hugged my mum and boyfriend, then my dad came around the corner (I am a bit of a daddy's girl), I gave him a hug then I went down, and guess who took me down!!
THE MAN WITH THE ELVIS HAIR!!!
He was nice, trying to talk to me to distract me from the fact I was about to have an operation, but with me being shy as usual, I wasn't the most talkative, he took me in to the room where they put you to sleep, said goodbye and left me with a nurse.
I was told to get up on a bed, and she started to stick different things all over me, in the end I was covered in so many monitoring devises I didn't know what to do!
The anaesthetist came in and said she was going to give me something to relax me, this wasn't the stuff to make me sleepy, she injected it in and said I would start to go all dizzy, and felt a bit sick then before I knew it I had fallen asleep, before I had any anaesthetic. I think I was really tired as I didn't sleep well!!
The next thing I remember was kind of coming around and choking and urging and trying to be sick, someone putting a bowl in front of me then being injected with something, I have no idea if I was going to be sick or if they were taking something out my throat was such a weird feeling.
I do not really remember much of that evening, other then having to use a bed pan every so often.
I started to wake up about 2am or 3am the next morning, feeling a bit more awake, the nurse said I would probably go home that day.
The next morning I noticed I had drains in, and I was just feeling uncomfortable, not real pain or anything just because the bed wasn't the most comfortable! I was starting to get really bored and my phone battery kept dying!!! Who would of thought that would be my worry, but there was no tv nothing at all to look at other than a lady asleep opposite me and the ceiling, my highlights were going to the toilet once I got used to walking again! It felt like 4 days! but it was only one day!!!
I was told I could go home!! Best news I had heard!!!
My boyfriend came down to visit me and finished work early and just sat there keeping me company, he had bought me some present the day before but I didn't really look at them as I wasn't really with it! I felt bad!
He is so sweet!
My grandparents came to visit and I still wasn't very awake so all I could hear was my grandparents quizzing my boyfriend on if he ate liver, kidneys and all other disgusting things, and he does eat all those weird things!
Later that day came the time they were to remove the drains! I was told it would happen at 4pm!!!
Watching the clock was absolutely HORRIBLE!!!
The nurse came in, she wasn't my favorite, she seemed a bit stressed and grumpy!
She started to pull and told me to breath out as she did, on the left side the pain was so bad! I think it was quite far in, where as on the right side I felt nothing really!!!
Once the drains were out, I had to walk to the car, my first proper walk, it was horrible, I felt so tired, I had no energy! I had hardly eaten as I am so fussy!
The car journey home was horrible, I get car sick, and this was a time I felt so bad the whole way home, there was a long traffic jam, the journey took a whole 1 hour and 30 minutes when it should of taken 40 minutes, and when you feel sick the whole time, it is not great!
I got inside and laid down, I had a little nap and my boyfriend came in and sat next to me.
I was so happy to be home! It was time to build my pillow nest and have a nap!..........
You can read the rest in my next post about my recovery!
