Surgery!

I was so scared on the day of the operation. I knew that revision surgery had a higher risk of complications and I was worried about whether I was doing the right thing. I had to be at Southampton hospital for 6.30 in the morning, which meant leaving my house at 5am. I decided to set my alarm for 3.30am so I would have time to shower and wash my hair, but to be honest I don't know why I went to bed - I don't think I slept at all!
Everything went smoothly at the hospital. I was admitted, saw the ananesthetist and then the consultant to sign the consent form and found out I was first on their theatre list. What a relief!
The surgery went well, and the surgeon said he had experienced no problems. The only real hiccup came in the anaesthetic room - as usual my veins were awful and the anaesthetist started talking about central lines. Eventually he managed to find a very small vein so he could send me to sleep, but had obviously decided that would not be adequate as I woke up to find a line in my neck. A bit gruesome but obviously necessary, and as they could also take blood for blood tests from this line as well as using it for several medication drips at a time it saved me any more jabbing and poking. The worst bit was having it removed before I went home!
After the operation, I woke up in recovery. The pain was unbelievable but they soon had a pca (patient-conteolled-anaesthesia) set up and after a few presses of the button I began to feel more comfortable. I also felt really cold and was shivering uncontrollably until they inflated a lovely warm air-filled blanket over me. I want one at home!!!
I was soon taken back to my room, and installed in a not-very-comfy chair. I was also set up with a very glamorous pair of inflatable boots to help prevent a deep vein thrombosis (dvt). Although in some ways the boots were a quite annoying, they were reassuring too. The hospital's policy is not to allow bariatricsurgery patients in to bed after the operation for at least six hours. It makes sense as sitting up helps with breathing and lowers the risk of complications such as pneumonia, as well as encouraging mobility. It was hard to sit in a chair for so long feeling so tired and in pain however, especially with a very inviting looking bed next to me!
Despite the discomfort, I was glad that the surgery was over and had gone well. I felt able to start looking forward to the future now that I had survived the operation! I didn't want to jinx it in any way beforehand!