We got there early (we always do), at about 11:15, and so we were shown to my room early. Physio saw me first, told me what exercises I needed to do afterwards etc.. fine. Nurse came in at 12:30, asked me a few questions and took my BP (129/74), Oxy (99%), temp (36.8 C), stats etc. Then my anesthetist came in at 13:20 and checked my stats, my pulse and listened to my heart.. nothing wrong there. Told him that last time I had quite bad itching in recovery and was being sick *a lot* in my room post op. He said that the sickness can sometimes come around and sometimes not, but he will add a little something to my anesthetic to relieve that. That was vital!
Hurrah, saw my surgeon at 13:30, all dressed up in his surgery gear (minus the blood). Told me that I was meant to go in at 14:45 but I will need to wait a bit longer as there was a complication in someone else's surgery earlier in the day and it's pushed back all after that - no problem. So we signed the consent form (my god I couldn't read his handwriting, luckily he was talking while writing!) and he marked the leg that needed to be operated on with a big arrow in
My named nurse came in at 14:10, again reiterating my surgeons plee to stay calm due to the delay - they must be used to having some nasty people but we're like "*shrug* that's fine". She gave me a lovely white DVT stocking.. my dad finds them funny, especially on me.
She came in again at 15:15, I quickly hid my phone as I was checking out Southend's scores (they had just levelled!). She saw this and quickly told me that I wasn't going yet, but it won't be long.
At 16:40, after watching two (!) cooking programmes - this is especially mean as I hadn't had any food since 7:00 and they were making giant meringues filled with strawberry cream! - I was greeted by my nurse and the porter. She said that I should be back in an hour.
Taken to the "sleepy room" and had ECG pads stuck on me (I always cringe when I see those things - I have a hairy chest you see). Everyone said hi to me while I was watching my heart beat on the monitor. My heart rate had gone up to a huge 92, was I that nervous? I didn't feel it.
Anesthetist stuck the IV into the back of the left hand and then said that he was putting the relaxant in. My goodness that felt nice, it was so cold, could feel the coolness going all through my veins. Then came the anesthetic, that felt warmer, still nice. I closed my eyes and waited for the weird "going to sleep" sensation.
I started to wake up again. I thought "oh crap, he didn't give me enough anesthetic - I'd better tell him." Then I thought, "why's my leg hurting?".
I love anesthetic.
Unlike last time, I came around and I stayed awake. I looked around, waved at the nurse and then felt down at my knee - all done. I noticed how lucid it was this time. I suspect that the effect of the morphine the first time round was actively waking me up so that I could scratch the hell out of my face before the right time.
I was taken back to my room at 17:55 and the nurse got me a pot of tea.. lovely!
What that missing? Oh yes! No nausea! Hurray! Now I can eat. My dad brought me 2 (not at the same time - I'm not that much of a pig :x) hot chocolates. Hmmm, I don't feel like inviting those back from my stomach any time soon. I felt amazingly good.
Nurse came in to check on me, she said I looked like I hadn't even had surgery yet. I felt that way, trust me. I was so happy from not having to empty my stomach into a bowl every 2 minutes that I was literally glowing.
She checked by BP and pulse again. 119/65, pulse of 55. Nice.
Foooood. Weirdly though, I didn't feel hungry. If I didn't know any better I would have thought I had already eaten but that was a lie. So I climbed right into my vegetable soup + rustic roll, tuna sandwich, banana and another pot of tea - and it was only an hour since I got back (19:05).
Nearly there. They left me for 50 minutes to recoup before getting me out of bed and forcing me to walk up and down a flight of stairs. No probs. Nurse made sure I could pee. Check.
After trying to decipher my surgeons notes with the nurse we gave up and left the room at 20:10. She did point out a marking which said "Gd II" and she informed me that that would be the tear shown in the pictures on the other page. Booked to see my surgeon on April the 1st as he has gone on holiday for March, which is also why I didn't get to see him after my surgery.
So there you have it. Private hospital, check. Less than 12 hours, check. New knee and feeling great? Check!
I've got to write a little thank you letter and appreciation on here to the team at Spire Wellesley Hospital, Southend. Thanks guys!
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