I'm In

Today I made the trip up to Freeman Hospital for my 10:30 appointment on ward 27, which is the pre-surgical assessment ward. I wasn’t exactly sure as to just what assessments were due to be carried out but I figured if they needed a whole day to get them done I was going to be visiting every department in the Hospital. Of course that wasn’t the case and in the end all the assessments could have only taken an hour and a half to complete. I think the real reason for getting me in a day early was to introduce me to something I was to become intimately familiar with, interminable waiting.

Because of the proximity of the Easter weekend many operations had been rescheduled due to the absence of key staff so the ward was only half full. I shared my 6 bedded unit with a 72 year old chap from Durham called Arthur who was due to have a cancerous lung removed and a 26 year old from Newcastle, Patrick, who had been rushed in after discovering the reason for his recent poor performances on the football pitch were down to a collapsed lung. It was Arthur who regaled Patrick and I with horror tales of waiting around information less as the whole world seemed to ignore us in our isolated little six bedder. In fact Arthur was only here because his operation had been cancelled a fortnight ago due to a complication in the operation preceding his meaning the theatre time over-ran considerably and there was no time to fit him in.

As always happens in situations like this my visitors, Gill, Mam and Dad, were waiting for me as I returned from having a chest x-ray. The ward had an open visiting philosophy which was great as it allowed Gill to spend most of the day with me, easing a bit of the tension we were both feeling. Again, somewhat typically, the nurse specialist, Amanda, visited during the short period when she was away from the ward. Amanda was checking to make sure I was having no last minute panics and to give a rough timetable for tomorrows events, it looked like I was first on Mr Hasans list so an 8:30 start was likely. Amanda promised to return with the surgeon as he made his rounds later.

Gill was at my bedside when Mr Hasan and Amanda arrived a couple of hours later to check how I was allowing her to ask some of the questions we had only been able to speculate on previously like what ward was I likely to be transferred to after Intensive Care and just how long was I likely to be in Intensive Care. I couldn’t have cared less but the information was important to Gill. In fact I was being very blasé about the whole thing taking the attitude that this was something that I had to go through regardless so whatever happened happened and I was just going to react to situations as they arose. I’m pleased I took this point of view because I do believe it helped maintain my sanity over the following week.

Thanks must also go at this point to my youngest sister Lisa who popped in to see me and did a mighty fine job of maintaining my spirits. She was planning to introduce our parents to her new beau that week, a beau who was in his early fifties with kids, Lisa is currently in her mid thirties. Oh boy I wish I could be there.