Sliced and Diced

And so to the morning of my surgery, except it wasn’t. No I was actually having my surgery in the afternoon now so some more of that waiting stuff had yet to be endured. Arthur was the first of the three to be called for at about 9:30 and Patrick and I wished him the best of luck as he was wheeled toward theatre. He left with a smile on his face and a look of utter relief that there would be no cancellation for him this time. This left Patrick to sit and talk before Gill and his Mom arrived to help offer moral support.

Patrick was due in for his surgery at 2:30 and to be honest wasn’t looking forward to it I the slightest. He wasn’t really able to put his finger on why beyond the feeling he was suffering from ‘fear of the unknown’. I tried to offer some of my experience and knowledge about the workings of hospitals and just what goes on in them and I think I helped clear up a couple of misconceptions he was under and ease his trepidation a little. I think at this point I realised just how helpful working in the Hospital had been for me and I was able to dissect the information give to me, cutting out the crap and concentrating on the facts. I was helped by the knowledge that despite my condition and it’s repair being total outside my ken it was just very much routine for the team who would be looking after me.

Prep for the surgery required me to have a shower at 10:00 using Hibiscrub. Hibiscrub is the bright, pink stuff you see by every sink in hospitals in square plastic bottles and I think carries the quintessential hospital odour. Yep, when people tell you that something smells like a hospital what they usually mean is that it smells of Hibiscrub. Duly refreshed I was also required to put on my gown which was of the usual ’flash your arse’ variety and remain in my bed from that point on.

11:00 saw the arrival of my pre-med and at this point I think I thought for the first time that this was really going to happen. I really was going to undergo major surgery, let someone slice open my side, collapse my lung and start slashing my bodies main artery with a scalpel. This was big and there was no going back now but still I felt no fear, only a desire for it to be over with. Gill accompanied me to the theatre doors and I remember about 2 minutes of conversation with the theatre staff before….nothing.