The second bite at the cherry.....
Firstly, Happy Star Wars day......
....which also happens to be Steph Chaffin's birthday (mother-in-law), so a Happy Birthday to you!
Yesterday went well, despite me not wanting to have to go through it again. At least I knew what to expect and was welcomed back for round 2. This time I was first on the list, so at least there wasn't as much waiting around. Usual drill of surgeon coming round, drawing on me to make sure they operated on the correct side and also confirming that I did need the seroma draining. The anaesthetist wandered in, and I mean literally wandered in, to the point where we thought he was in the wrong room! Not particularly reassuring! He was Aussie, so we put his somewhat laid back approach down to this and tried not to think about it. All pre-op observations were fine, with the exception of my heart rate which was apparently all over the shop. I wasn't particularly surprised.
I walked down to theatres with the theatre nurse, hopped onto the operating slab and laid back whilst they hooked me up to the various instruments to keep me safe whilst I was under. The theatre nurse was the same lady as the previous week and remembered me, probably because I had got quite upset the previous week. The room was absolutely freezing which wasn't exactly helpful when trying to locate a suitable vein to send me off to sleep. Eventually after a little bit of coaxing a suitable one was found. Then the feeling of something cold going into my veins and the anaesthetist trying to engage me in a random conversation whilst I slowly drift off. This time it was about what my favourite BBQ food was. You can take the Aussie out of Australia and all that.
I was only under for about 40 minutes this time and woke again in the recovery room in a completely different bed to the one I started in. This always worries me slightly! Immediately I felt sore, which hadn't happened last time. I was promised some paracetamol. Honestly, as a connoisseur of the range of painkillers on offer (having trained as a pharmacist) I was hoping for something slightly more major than bloody paracetamol. Sadly I wasn't in a position to argue, so paracetamol it was.
I was taken back to my room after about 30 minutes in recovery. Chicken soup, salad and the obligatory cup of tea followed. The pain wasn't getting any better, so the pain killers were upped to (don't get too excited) codeine. Still, better than paracetamol and now at least we had hit the bottom of the opiate ladder.
The surgeon popped in and said that he had now taken quite a large chunk and I would require further surgery for reconstruction at some point in the future. It's a way down the list of priorities to be honest. He also said that they had drained quite a large volume of fluid (200mls) from the seroma in my armpit. I wasn't surprised - it felt like I had an orange wedged under my arm for the last few days. He warned that it may come back. Cheery soul. I am seeing him on Friday next week for the results of this set of biopsies and also to check the wounds and seroma. I'm hoping for a better outcome than earlier in the week.
As we were driving to the hospital yesterday morning, we were listening to radio 2. We realised that Chris Evans wasn't on as usual, although at that point they hadn't said the reason why. The poor guy who was standing in was quite funny. He put one song on and then it stopped abruptly mid-way through and he admitted that he had been "pressing a few buttons" but had obviously pressed the wrong one. Quite amusing. Chris's statement about his Mum was very moving - I particularly liked the line about "ultimately there was no battle lost, only a life won every single day". A good adage.
Briony had crazy hair day at school today. After several discussions around what she would like doing, she decided on hair chalks, glitter hairspray and stars. Memory of the day came when I showed her my handy work and she was delighted, gave me a big hug and said "You're the best Mum ever". These days I don't feel like it, but she is the most resilient little thing.
Yesterday went well, despite me not wanting to have to go through it again. At least I knew what to expect and was welcomed back for round 2. This time I was first on the list, so at least there wasn't as much waiting around. Usual drill of surgeon coming round, drawing on me to make sure they operated on the correct side and also confirming that I did need the seroma draining. The anaesthetist wandered in, and I mean literally wandered in, to the point where we thought he was in the wrong room! Not particularly reassuring! He was Aussie, so we put his somewhat laid back approach down to this and tried not to think about it. All pre-op observations were fine, with the exception of my heart rate which was apparently all over the shop. I wasn't particularly surprised.
I walked down to theatres with the theatre nurse, hopped onto the operating slab and laid back whilst they hooked me up to the various instruments to keep me safe whilst I was under. The theatre nurse was the same lady as the previous week and remembered me, probably because I had got quite upset the previous week. The room was absolutely freezing which wasn't exactly helpful when trying to locate a suitable vein to send me off to sleep. Eventually after a little bit of coaxing a suitable one was found. Then the feeling of something cold going into my veins and the anaesthetist trying to engage me in a random conversation whilst I slowly drift off. This time it was about what my favourite BBQ food was. You can take the Aussie out of Australia and all that.
I was only under for about 40 minutes this time and woke again in the recovery room in a completely different bed to the one I started in. This always worries me slightly! Immediately I felt sore, which hadn't happened last time. I was promised some paracetamol. Honestly, as a connoisseur of the range of painkillers on offer (having trained as a pharmacist) I was hoping for something slightly more major than bloody paracetamol. Sadly I wasn't in a position to argue, so paracetamol it was.
I was taken back to my room after about 30 minutes in recovery. Chicken soup, salad and the obligatory cup of tea followed. The pain wasn't getting any better, so the pain killers were upped to (don't get too excited) codeine. Still, better than paracetamol and now at least we had hit the bottom of the opiate ladder.
The surgeon popped in and said that he had now taken quite a large chunk and I would require further surgery for reconstruction at some point in the future. It's a way down the list of priorities to be honest. He also said that they had drained quite a large volume of fluid (200mls) from the seroma in my armpit. I wasn't surprised - it felt like I had an orange wedged under my arm for the last few days. He warned that it may come back. Cheery soul. I am seeing him on Friday next week for the results of this set of biopsies and also to check the wounds and seroma. I'm hoping for a better outcome than earlier in the week.
As we were driving to the hospital yesterday morning, we were listening to radio 2. We realised that Chris Evans wasn't on as usual, although at that point they hadn't said the reason why. The poor guy who was standing in was quite funny. He put one song on and then it stopped abruptly mid-way through and he admitted that he had been "pressing a few buttons" but had obviously pressed the wrong one. Quite amusing. Chris's statement about his Mum was very moving - I particularly liked the line about "ultimately there was no battle lost, only a life won every single day". A good adage.
Briony had crazy hair day at school today. After several discussions around what she would like doing, she decided on hair chalks, glitter hairspray and stars. Memory of the day came when I showed her my handy work and she was delighted, gave me a big hug and said "You're the best Mum ever". These days I don't feel like it, but she is the most resilient little thing.
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