Wednesday, June 16, 2010

And the tides turn

So I arrived in London about 2ish on Sunday. Took mum out to Prezzo for dinner, it was very yum. I had rissotto and she had chicken.

Got to the hospital just after 4, where I was addmitted to ward C, funny to be on C ward considering the ward I have been on at home was C ward. I was addmitted to what I reffered to as the fish tank! It was like a glass room so that you could be seen easily from outside. Kinda daunting at first as it was technically a HDU/ICU so all the monitors and charts where around the room.

There was a lot of uncertainty about who I was and where I should be and it was decided that first thing in the morning I would be moved to another ward. This was later changed and they decided to keep me where I was as I was booked in for a HDU bed post op.

The next morning I was awoken at 6 to get ready as I was first on the theatre list. My old ward used to insist on a shower with anti bacterial soap and fresh towels, followed by clean gowns and surgical socks on and the bed was changed so that that was also clean. But in this hospital it was more so heres your gown, im going to pull the cutains while you get changed and that was it.

So I sat around for ages and at about 11:45 they finally said ok we are taking you up now. Got up there and they said, sorry not ready for you just yet, we will call you back in about 30 mins. 2 hours later they finally came for me. Canula went in fairly easily and I was off to sleep.

However, I hated waking up. Usually it does not bother me much but this was the worst wake up I have had. When I was first coming around, it felt like there was something heavy sitting on my chest. I tried telling the nurse this, but I just couldnt get my arms to work enough to get my hands near my throat. They kept telling me to relax. Eventually I was awake enough to tell them, so they sat me up and listened to my chest and such. Nothing sounded out of place so they just monitored me. The pain control was better than my hospital at home and soon I was back on the HDU.

Slowly the IVs came down, as they had been pumping me full or hartmens solution and then the monitors came off. Slept a lot but managed some food and drink then got a major craving for McDonalds. My friend came to visit, which was fun, so I got her to bring me a shake and fries. yum yum

So anyway, I spoke to one of the registras as my surgeon was busy. Bascially they now think that the way forward would be reconstruction using a piece of my rib to graft the cartilage.

They want to fit me in as soon as possible, so there talking of doing it in 6-8 weeks. It will be a day in surgery to do it, IE at least 4 hours and I will have a sore throat as well as a sore chest.I will also be in for approx a week.

I dont know a whole lot about this procedure yet. I have a vague memory of looking into it when I was first diagnosed but it was ruled out fairly quick. We shall see. I need to do some research and see where it leads.

But overall positive. They think they can do this rebuild and think they can get the trac out in about a year. So yeah, good news.

1 comment:

  1. That sounds great. I know how agitated this makes you. I hope that the doctors can finally do something for you that makes you feel better and not experience such discomfort.
    I am thinking of you and hope your recovery is fast and painless as possible.

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