Getting Put Back Together

The morning bustle of the hospital woke me from a strange dream where a helicopter circled over my head but never landed...

It all worked like a well-oiled machine. Various people came to see me to set up my operation. I was assured that my tendency to vomit after general anaesthetic could be dealt with and the doc who was going to do the operation promised me that he would put the bones back in exactly the right place, "Because if they are even a few mm out, you'll know".

A nurse helped me to wash and produced a toothbrush for me (bliss!), and suddenly it was time for my op. I was wheeled in to the anaesthetists who gently diss'ed their colleague's difficulties in getting my "baby" cannula in. "Don't worry, once you're asleep, we'll sort you out a good one."

The next thing I knew, I was in recovery, with a brand new cannula, and not even a hint of queasiness. I had 2 lots of metal work holding my tibia together, though the fibula would sort itself out, apparently. I also had that instrument of torture known as a backslab attached to my leg. It's very heavy, lies behind and at the sides of the leg. It's tightened with bandages and is designed to keep the leg supported whilst it's still swollen.

In almost no time at all, I'd been returned to the ward and the loving embrace of my family, who had come down from Crianlarich and were in to say hello before leaving to sort out a room in a nearby cheap hotel. They also needed to explore train ticket options as we needed the whole back seat of the car for me to go home with my leg up.

The afternoon rolled by in a haze of the fun painkillers you get in hospital, though the fix on the tibia didn't even twinge, which made me hope they were good at jigsaws and had put everything back in the right place. Though there was a somewhat unnerving clunking sensation in the area of the fibula when I moved my leg. The hospital still seemed to be an oasis of calm, as all kinds of weather hit the windows, but I was told that they'd got busy so they needed to move me to the Day Case ward to make room for someone needing more care.

I crossed my fingers that this wouldn't be a multi-bed crazy ward, and was rewarded with - a room of my own! As my bed had an amazingly comfy mattress, it was all quite deluxe. If the tv screen arm had reached far enough over my bed to see it, it would have been perfect! J turned up and we had a nice companionable evening - as much as you can when one of you hasn't slept for a few nights and the other is wrapped in a happy cocoon of pain killers.

Lessons learned today:

No1. It's great if the surgeon who puts your leg back together is a perfectionist - even a small difference can mean more pain and arthritis for you.

No2. A comfy mattress really helps when you can't move about much.