Operation

So I had my operation yesterday. It was a very L O N G day. I’d planned to be up at 5.45am but ended up waking up at 5.20. I got to the hospital by 6.45 and checked in. The receptionist gave me a funny look and was like you’ve come in your pyjamas? I was like well yeah the letter said nightgown and slippers etc. She was like well you should be wearing normal clothes. So I sat there in my pyjamas as the room filled with people in regular clothing. We weren’t allowed anyone with us so I was totally alone and my appointment was at 7am. I wasn’t called down to theatre until 11.30. By then I had already been up for 6 hours. I laid on the bed and they hooked me up to a heart monitor. One nurse was chatting to me and being lovely and I could just hear this rapid beeping. Two drs came to see me and one commented on my heart rate (that was the rapid beeping and believe me it was very rapid lol) one doctor said “well wouldn’t your heart be racing if you were about to have an operation?” the other doctor went “not like that no. Here’s something to calm you down” He put a cannular in my hand and I watched him inject this small amount of clear liquid (plus I was given oxygen). Then he put in ‘the milk’ which makes you sleep.

As he did this I was thinking I wonder when the drowsiness will kick in. Next thing I know I’m hearing voices. One mentioned I knocked my cannular out of my hand as I was coming around. I remember trying to open my eyes but I couldn’t. They wheeled me to my room and I started feeling very sick and I remember asking them to take the mask off because I felt like I was going to puke. They went ok we’ve given you something to take it away. I kept trying to move my arms and legs to jolt myself awake and I asked for water because my lips were so chapped and my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth because it was so dry. Then when I came around properly I realised I couldn’t see properly (one risk was eye damage) and I rubbed my eye… They’d put Vaseline on my eyes and not told me.

Once I rubbed it off and came around my mum was there and she was only allowed to see me for 3 minutes. I’d been in theatre for 2 hours (the nurse said 40 mins if I didn’t need too much work maybe less so I obviously needed a lot of work) mum went and I looked down to find a cannular hanging out of my arm where they’d left it and a patch on either hand (which is now two very colourful bruises) I also had a bandage under my nose (and over my lip) I was given some soup and I got it all over my bandage and I said to the nurse I can feel my nose bleeding a lot. Her reply was “it’s just soup” I was like no I mean under the bandage! She went “that’s just hot air” She soon realised how much I was bleeding when she had to change it 3 times because I kept bleeding through.

By the time I got home I had been in hospital for 12 hours and then I had to change my bandage 3 times and to be honest I did it better than the nurse because it took much longer to bleed through and it didn’t get in my way. I wasn’t given anything for pain or any drops for my nose. Instead I was given a recipe and a syringe to make the stuff myself to douche out my nose. I asked the nurse what would I do if I sneezed her reply was don’t sneeze… I’ve sneezed like 30 times and fuck all happened. The nurse also gave me bandages to take home but no tape (thankfully I had some micropore surgical tape from when my dad cut his leg when he fell off the ladder, unluckily for me it was in the car and dad was at work until 11pm so I just dealt with sticky tape) I also wasn’t told to sleep with my head propped up to avoid blood going into my throat but luckily mum told me and I said I’d sleep on the couch so as not to slide flat on my back. I didn't sleep until about 1.30 because there was good TV on haha

Right now I have a bit of a stuffed nose and sore throat and I can’t bend over in case it sets the bleeding off. Cant go out for two weeks but luckily its 2 weeks and a day until I see my friends (I think) so I should be fine to go out. I’ve really missed my friends and haven’t seen most of them since Easter or last Christmas where I’ve just not been well enough to go out.

I was told the operation wasn’t guaranteed to work but so far it seems much better I just have to wait and see.