Surgery

Tuesday the 20th of January came along with a heat wave, I was up at 6.30 am so I could have my last optislim & coffee before fasting. I played on the computer for a couple of hours, packed my bag, had a shower, got dressed & checked the train timetable again just in case there was any changes due to the heat.
I walked over to the bus stop at 11.27am and caught the 11.30am bus to the train station, I had thought about walking but it was already hot & humid. It only cost $1 and I got a timestable for the start of the school year. Bought my train ticket to Footscray $3.30 and waited outside as it was cooler. The train arrived at 11.46am and was packed at least I managed a seat. The train arrived in Footscray at 12.24am, I started to walk to the hospital as it was only 4km, I got about 10 minutes down the road before I could feel I was getting dehydrated due to no water, I saw a cab waiting at the lights & yelled out to him "Are you free?" "Yes " he replied so I ran across the raod and jumped in, he was wearing a jumper, he was from Africa and didnt feel the heat. On the temperature monitor in the car the outside temp was 42c. He dropped me off at the Western Hospital, my first thought was my god and this is private it was a dump. I went to information to find out where admissions were, I went upstairs and introduced myself, the clerk said " your not on my list, take a seat & I'll find out what is happening" I sat down and thought about where I was, I went up & asked if there was another admissions area. she said "Are you private or public?" I said "private" She replied "you need to go across the road to the Western Private Hospital". So I followed her instructions on how to get there and got lost, by this time it was 12.55pm & I had to be at admissions by 1pm. I was hot & bothered my pulse was racing & my blood pressure was up, my face was red & sweaty. I finally found an exit where I went down a ramp out onto a street & across the road was a lovely new hospital. I went in and sat down waiting to see the admissions clerk.
I was taken upstairs to the ward where I had a room with another patient with a ensuite, our own tv.
I was put into my gown, had an ECG done & finger blood test to check my glucose level which was 4.9. My pulse was fast & blood pressure was high but soon came down. I laid down and watched tv waiting, I was the last on the list which made me feel uncomfortable.
Finally at 7.22pm they came and took me to theatre, I was given a nebuliser & antibiotics before being operated on around 8.15pm. Jason came in before hand and saw me and calmed me down.
I woke up back in the ward around 10.30pm and was up out of bed by 11.30pm then every hour I got up and went walking to help move the gas in my chest. At 4.30am I asked for some pain relief the nurse brought in 2 Panadol which did nothing, another nusre came in afterwards and could see I was still in pain and brought me back an Endone. I managed to sleep for an hour which was good. Breakfast came at 8.45am I was given a glass of apple juice & black tea, I left it on the tray, Jason came in to check on me and asked if i was hungry I said
"yeah starving", he asked why I didnt have what's on the tray, I told him I cant drink apple juice it makes me vomit & I need a little skim milk in my tea, and when I asked the kitchen staff for some milk she snapped at me saying your on clear liquids. He turned to the nurse and asked her to get me a glasss of orange juice & some milk. He was happy with my fluid intake as I had already drunk 2 litres and kept it down and as I was walking around the ward I could go home. I had a shower after breakfast & was ready & waiting by 9.45am, I was escorted downstairs at 9.55am and John was waiting for me in the foyer, he had brought the Nissan to make it easier for me to get in & out of.
We arrived home at 10.45 am, I changed into a nightie and made myself a cup of tea, took an Endone, rang Bec to let her know I was okay then spoke to Dave, went to bed for a couple of hours then sat up & watched some tv. Dave rang wanting to know if I needed anything from the shop, so I asked for some custard, Codalgin & a pill cutter.
He came home around 6.30pm, I had 1 cup of warm runny custard for tea, it was lovely.
Watched tv in bed till Dave came in wanting to sleep so I watched ER out in the lounge, then played on the coputer till 2.30am, went to bed and slept till 6.45am, got up took some pills ,had a drink and went back to bed till 8.30.I got up and got dressed, I'm feeling worse today, all the bruising is comming out and the gas is still trapped under my ribs & between the breat bone feels like really bad heartburn. Sometimes it hurts to breathe.
For breakfast I had a Sanitarium Up & Go breakfast drink which took half an hour to get down, I then had an Optislim for lunch. At 3.30pm I went over to Bec's for a cup of tea & to get out of the house. I stayed for 1 hour then came home. Poor Paige wanted to get onto my lap for a cuddle and she couldnt, she was so upset which upset me in turn.
Tonight I'm having 1 cup of chicken soup for tea & I'm looking forward to it.
I have to stay on this liquid diet for the next 2 weeks.