Just thought I'd let all you guys know that hospital phoned me yesterday afternoon and said they had a cancellation and could I get in this Wednesday. Had to ask my boss and phone them back within 10 minutes and he said it was ok, I told them that I was supposed to stop smoking 2 weeks before the op and they said "just stop now" it should be ok (after all that quitting worry).

So I will be setting off to Leicester tonight and should have my op tomorrow morning as long as I pass the medical it should all be done and dusted by Thursday.

Really nervous (and excited), not sure what to expect as I have never had a general anaesthetic before.

All being well should be back soon

John

Congratulations man.. it should all be fine!

Good luck!

Congrats and good luck! Hope all goes well.

Congrats John, give us an update when you're back.

Dennis

Congrats, man!  Hope all went well.

Hi All, I am Janette, John's partner.

We got home from the hospital yesterday after John's chest surgery and he wanted me to let you know how things went.

As you know it was all a rush as we got a canellation. The op was on Wednesday, late morning, and lasted 4 hours. He was brought back up in good humour but unfortunately shortly after he got a haematoma (blood clot) so had to be taken back down again. He was brought back up to the ward at 9.30pm. It was a very long day for me, he said it flew past but he was asleep most of the time!

Thursday morning he was sitting up and walking around his room and by the evening he was able to go to the toilet with me to help him which was pretty amazing considering what he had just gone through.

By Friday morning the drains had dried up and could be removed. The staff said to give it a couple of hours to make sure there was no leakage then he could go home. All was okay and we were discharged at 12 noon. The 2 hour drive home wasn't very nice but he made it. (Insisting on stopping off at work to let them know he was okay).

We got a bit concerned last night because his feet and stomach were swelling up quite badly, probably water retention. It is much better this morning. He is getting about now, carefully. Can go to loo by himself, although I watch him up and down the stairs as he is getting slight dizzy spells occasionally.

All in all I think everything went well. The staff at Leicester were great throughout it all even though they were understaffed some of the time.

John will post his own thoughts when he is feeling more up to sitting infront of the computer.

Take care all of you.

Janette

Sorry bout all the mishaps, but I hope John's okay now!!

Hope he pulls through it  He'll be fine, I'm sure. Just keep him off his feet!

Ouch, that sucks about all the scares and such. Glad he's doing much better now, moving around and so. Is he in a lot of pain or is it just an uncomfortable feeling?

Glad everything else went ok though 

Hope you get better soon man, stay safe.

Get well soon, John!
Hang in there, and keep your chin up.




Kristi

Congrats on the surgery. Please watch those drains sites very carefully and maintain compression. 3 days is really early to pull the drains. In terms of fluid retention, please encourage him to walk around on level ground regularly and monitor fluid input and output. If you see any further swelling or other problems please attend you local emergency or A&E, If you see a change in fluid input or output please speak with personal care physician or GP.

W00t dude whoo hoo

Hi all,

just to let you know I'm back on the forum again. Went to have my dressing changed at Leicester last Wednesday and the nurse said it was ok to remove the stiches now, so she did and I am chuffed to bits with the result, very small scars, the nipple grafts have worked and not much pain now either so other than the haematoma (which hurt like hell) things are looking great.

Thanks to you all for your support before, during and after my op

Awesome, Snowdoggy. Glad to hear you're feeling better.

Dennis

Congrates Snowdog, I remember my surgery, I was so stoked. I sat out in the sun topless for hours:) with sun screen of course. Isn't it great that it is summer and no binding.

->-bleeped-<-boy

Only worry I have now is that the left side is quite a bit larger than the right side. I think this may be because they had to re-operate on the right side and they may have had to take more tissue away because  of the haematoma. Hoping I am not going to need another op to reduce the left hand side 

Did your op fees cover revisions?

I had it done on the NHS so didn't pay for the operation.

Oh ok, so the revisions will probably be free too?