So I started this post at 3:15 this morning but even though I was wide awake, I was not wide awake enough to prevent from doing this
and waking up with letters imprinted on your face LOL.
The procedure went well yesterday and I escaped with only a mild headache and minor discomfort from the suture line. This morning the pain is even more minimal than yesterday.
The Good....Most people treated me absolutely fine with the exception of a couple. The anaesthetist was a lovely man and was very pleasant to me. The theatre was huge, clean and full of lots of machines that go "ping" I think Monty python said it best
.
I had minimal spinal headache...in fact I was not even certain it was from that. I was kept very comfortable throughout and a lot of care taken to ensure I position correctly on the table for maximum comfort. The nurses in recovery were really nice, very pleasant and totally professional with me. I was a good patient (I am usually a bad one) and complied with each of their requests...some of which were a little silly but who am I to question!!
The Bad....they had real difficulty finding a vein to insert the Jelco, they rang me the day before to tell me I had to be there at 7am and the woman seemed quite "off" with me when I told her what I had already been told by my Nurses from the PMC. I was expecting Dr Tran, Karen(NUM) and a scrub nurse to be present for the procedure...intead there were over 30 people all there to observe my pump changeover...I did suggest that I should have charged and admission fee but somehow I think the humour was lost on them. I had been asked 4 times prior to getting to the theatre if I have any allergies to which I advised was Paper based tapes, each an every one of them duly noted their paperwork. When I was standing waiting to get up on to the operating table my normal pain management nurse came over and said hullo to me and I quipped with her that we should be fine so long as they keep "those" tapes away from me this time. My Nurse exclaimed something like" Oh hell no, we don't want to got through all that again"
The anaesthetist happened to overhear my comment and asked what the problem was I said the last time they used that paper tape it cost a $20,000 pump because it became infected, my nurse who had to deal with the aftermath last time, pipes up saying "Do not put paper based tapes on her" and the scramble began to find an alternative. It really makes you wonder why they bother asking you all the questions if they are not going to take any notice of the answers
The Ugly...As I described, the woman who called me the day before seemed a bit off with me and became even more irritated when I asked a couple of simple questions about parking etc. When I was called in to be admitted the very next morning the woman was also slightly off with me and I couldn't work out why. As I sat there I saw my case notes sitting there and in big bold black texter was my old name with a simple short line through the Christian name leaving it very visible and Elizabeth written under it. Every person that picked up that file or even glanced at it could see the obvious name change from male to female. The woman I was dealing with was abrupt, verging on rude. She took me out of her office and sat me in the waiting room to be taken through to day surgery. The female orderly comes out with a big smile on her face calls my name and as I stand up she looks at me then down at the case notes and the smile is immediacy replaced with a scowl...she then proceed to walk off not so much as bothering to look back to see if I am following her...I walk with a stick so it can take a bit for me to get up to speed. You can well imagine how dysphoric I was feeling. I think what angers me is that it is such an easy thing to fix so I think I will have to write to the Hospital and ask them to fix this. I am not sure why my old name matters at all but even if they are keeping a record it can be kept inside the folder. I want this fixed before I have my hip replacement.
Despite all that I was still asked when my last period was and if I could be pregnant...so go figure!!! LOL
On the whole the Dr's and nurses were great with the exception of a couple of them. The procedure went forward without a hitch. I am apparently the "poster girl" for these pumps due to the remarkable results I have had from it so as a result a number of the Medtronic Reps from around Australia were there to examine my old pump and see the "Miracle recovery" Hence the reason for the size of the theatre and the number of people.
So I have to take it easy for at least 24 hrs with no walking until tomorrow(boohoo) the rest will do me good. I have my Daughter coming over to watch "It" with me today and then Cindy is dropping over for a visit tomorrow. I had the riot act read to me today about taking it easy. I am under threat of physical harm from Meryl If I don't she has already txt me once to make sure I am doing nothing but resting...
So that is Proceedure number 1 of 4 completed only
97d 23H 13m (BWCA?) til the next one
Take Care
Liz
