Yes, yes, yes. I’ve been back ages and should’ve been writing this ages ago 😉 To be honest I’m trying not to think about it, it’s so very stressful. But anyway, here I am.
Going back to the day I left, we drove up in the car. Got there at about lunch time and navigated our way through to the correct ward. Lovely ward – bright yellow with seaside themed curtains and a matching freeze. It was a small ward so there was just the one bay with about 8 beds in. There was another bit to it which was day surgery, but that was a bit like the bays in A&E, if you know what I mean. I had the bed next to the nurses station which was quite nice.
Got admitted and then this student doctor came and examined me. As it was more than a month ago now and there were so many people coming and going that first afternoon it’s a bit of a blur, but after that a woman who was something to do with the surgeon turned up. She went through the consent form and explainined roughly what would happen, at which point I learnt it was a general anaesthetic! I know there are (at least) two ways of doing a muscle biopsy, one is under local and one is under general. I had no idea which it would be, though I was leaning towards general from the letter they sent originally, but everyone else thought it would be under local so I’d pushed it to the back of my mind and been convinced it would be a local!
I hadn’t eaten that morning because I was too nervous, hadn’t eaten at lunch time (well, I tried, had a mouthful of sandwich and then couldn’t eat anymore) because I was getting a bad headache which comes with nausea and then being the ultra-paranoid frog that I am (I’m terrified of being sick) once I found out I was having a general anaesthetic the next morning I couldn’t bring myself to eat at tea time either. So having eaten nothing since the day before I was feeling somewhat weak and grotty anyway.
The ward was short stay (for surgery) and day surgery so children were coming back from theatre all the time, some of them were quite distressed and one was sick and it was distressing me, especially as I was having my op the next morning, so mum asked the nurse if we could go out for a bit. She was fine with that, but on the way out of the door we bumped into Mr Student with a qualified Neurologist, who of course wanted to see me 😛 I wasn’t too happy at first – tired, poorly, hungry and wanted to get out of there! – but obviously I didn’t have a choice, so I went back to my bed and the neurologist poked and prodded me, repeating many of the same things the other chap had done earlier. When they were finished we made a quick exit and had a nice walk round Bristol. Saw a mounted policeman in the centre with a few others on foot, one was wearing surgical gloves so goodness knows what’d happened! We went up to Christmas Steps (though not up them, obviously) and also went across to the fountains. Apparently on Friday nights they’re often filled with soap…
When we got back thankfully everything had calmed down. That night was absolutely horrendous though, I was so worked up about the operation I slept very badly, got a patchy 3 hours or so. By morning I was in such a state – lack of sleep and food, I wasn’t thinking very clearly or rationally. I was very upset and adamant I couldn’t do it and wanted to go home, though even if I’d had the option I wouldn’t – couldn’t leave after all this! By about eight in the morning I was calmer. Had been up for four or five hours by this point! Luckily I had the second slot of the day (would’ve been the first but that was too early for the neurologists) so I didn’t have to wait too much longer. We were told 9:30am, though at about half past eight someone came down and said it should be 9-9:30, which meant I was on tenterhooks from nine!
It was actually closer to ten before they came down for me, I’ve never been so happy to see anyone! By this point I just wanted it to be over asap. Logically as it was actually a surgical ward it was literally next to the anasethetic rooms. I really didn’t like the idea of a needle in the back of my hand, but the numbing cream actually worked really well for once and it was okay. They won’t use gas because of “my condition” so it had to be done! Whilst I waited for them to get organised so she could put the anaesthetic in I was feeling sicker and sicker and willing her to just get on with it so I’d be asleep! She must have done, because the next thing I remember is waking up in the ward (I don’t remember recovery or being moved back) with a sore throat and surprisingly painless leg! Oh, and no trousers on…
The problem was moving – largely because of where it was Before the op we’d spoken to the surgeon and asked her if I would be able to be moved or if being catheterized would be a good idea. She assured us that I could be hauled about as much as mum wished, so that was that. After all, they know best, right? 😛 I don’t think she’d appreciated my full circumstances. So anyway I’d been lying there a few hours when I needed to go to the loo, it was one of the most awful experiences I’ve ever had! Took mum and a nurse to get me out of bed into a chair, then off the chair onto the toilet and then back again and back into bed. So incredibly painful. Though of course me being me I wouldn’t take anything, which they kept telling me off about. But it didn’t hurt unless I moved it…! Even though it was much better after 3 or 4 days I would still definitely insist on a catheter next time.
On Tuesday evening they moved me to another ward – had enough of me already! 😆 No, they had a busy day scheduled for Wednesday and needed the bed, or at least that’s what they said…
I could’ve done without that really, staying there for at least one more night would’ve been nice, but, as we found on Tuesday morning, children start coming in about 7am! So it would’ve been a bit late really.
Moving to this new ward was a bit of a culture shock, it looked quite adult – white walls with a blue patterned freeze and blue curtains round the beds with only one or two of the seaside style. Lots of individual rooms – it was a 20 bedded ward and of those 20 tweleve of them were side rooms. Then there were two 4 bedded bays, of which I was in one. This bay had solid walls between each bed. Like this:
Imagine standard hospital curtains round each end and a bedside table and that’s about it! The fold down beds were for parents and folded up into a wardrobe thing during the day. The window on the wall was made of plastic and had a dark blue blind over. My bed was the one in the top left corner.
It didn’t help that it was around eightish when I got down there (so dark), the toddler in the bed in the bottom right corner was just being discharged, the bed opposite looked like a forgotten storage bay – it had a couple of chairs and broken toys, lots of bits and pieces – and the next next door had the curtain drawn round. Later that night a cleaner came and cleaned the bed opposite and removed all the bits and pieces which helped.
A toddler came in at about 11 or 12 that night (into the newly cleaned bed opposite) , they weren’t British and the parents were gabbling between themselves in their own language which was quite bizarre to listen to! The toddler was quite upset and so that interrupted that nights sleep! Plus as I was post-op I was on relatively frequent obs.
The next day an older boy came in, I think he was fourteen. I didn’t really speak much, but it was nice to have some similar age company after all the toddlers and the child in the bed next door was only about six. This ward is generally for under elevens and then you go into the adolescent ward, but apparently that’s very much in demand and was full. The toddler opposite went home that evening, I don’t think anything else happened! That night a boy who’d just had his 10th birthday came in, with severe asthma. I think it was 1 or 2 in the morning. He was on an incredibly noisy oxygen machine which made sleeping difficult! At this time of year I think you’re fated not to get a decent nights sleep 😉
Again, nothing of note that day. The 10yr old went home for the day and came back that evening, as they wanted him to sleep there. Full bay, decent nights sleep! Yay! 😀
On Friday at about lunch time we were told that I was booked for my nerve condition and electromyography tests in about 15 minutes time! The nurse I’d had that morning was meant to tell us and..er..didn’t 😛 I was still suffering badly from the anaesthetic and wasn’t really in any fit state to have them, but it was now or next week and they couldn’t free up their beds fast enough(!) so now it was.
Then, as they couldn’t free up their beds fast enough, we were shooed out on Friday evening and came home. Voila! It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a city, I can honestly say I am not a city girl!
This has taken me over a week to type, but there we are, it’s done now! Oh, and no results yet.
When we got back I had the next week off because I was incredibly sore and suffering from the anaesthetic effects. Then I’ve been for the last 3 weeks, and now it’s half term! Voila!
