It's very strange and I really wouldn't have believed it but since my last post, I've had many more
pain free days than otherwise. But when it was painful, my goodness, it was
painful ! So last Monday I phoned the ortho sec to ask how much longer I'd have to wait. She asked me to wait a few secs and then came back with some stunning news - apparently that very morning they'd had a cancellation .... for tomorrow! She said hopefully "I expect it's a bit too short notice for you to take it". No fear! I'd have taken it if it had been that afternoon!
Co-incidentally, I had an appointment with my cardiologist that day too which I'd been looking forward to as my pacemaker had been giving me problems. But I figured the aspiration was more of a priority than the cardiology appointment so accepted it then rang the other hospital to cancel the cardiology appointment. Yesterday I got a new appointment for that in the post already and not far away either!
So I made my way to the hospital on Tuesday for a 2pm list. At our local hospital we have an admissions ward where patients are put into a small room where they can change into the obligatory op gown and be interviewed by a few members of staff who all ask exactly the same questions as their colleagues. This is a safety thing as it means we've been checked at least five time by staff from various points of our surgical journey through the theatre. The usual things like name, address, date of birth, allergies, what other conditions we have, what medications we're on, what we are having done, which side - all that stuff.
So then I got taken through into the theatre in my op gown and dressing gown and the bouffant hat I always wore when I was working there! En route, I met around 6 individuals I'd worked with who all greeted me warmly which I found surprising since it was 13 years since I left!
A trolley awaited me in the theatre which I had to clamber up on and then the registrar (doctor in training) came in to do the job. I knew he would be doing it and was doing my best to be (literally) laid back about it but I was very reassured when the consultant came in to see how he was doing. Well he wasn't doing very well because he'd been probing around in my knee for several minutes and not succeeded in extracting even a ml of fluid! At which point, the boss patted me on the shoulder and quietly announced he was going to scrub up! I relaxed hugely!
Not that it was painful, you understand. As usual (and just like at the dentist) the worst part was having the local anaesthetic but I was just anxious about whether he was going to do the job! So Boss took over and within minutes, two 10ml syringes of straw coloured fluid were being waved in the are for me to see! Straw coloured means the likelihood of there being any infection where pretty much zero. Phew!
They also had the films up of the bone scan I had done a few weeks ago and even from across the theatre I could see the clear evidence of the loose tibial implant! MUST get copies of them so I can post them for you.
So I went to get off the trolley to return to the pre-op ward and someone said "where y'going?" It seems I was being chauffeured back to the ward on the trolley and into a recovery ward I had no idea was there. Quite honestly, I had expected to get dresses, ring for my taxi and go home! Oh no! I had to have two sets of obs done (BP, temp and sats) and a blood sugar test before I would be allowed out. I asked why and was told it was 'in case I had a faint or became unwell'! In vain I protested that I'd only had a local injection but no. And they put the cot sides up on the trolley to make sure I couldn't escape!
So after the second set of obs I was allowed to get dressed and then they phoned for a taxi and I was allowed to go through to the waiting room where a large notice on the wall pronounced that
PATIENT INFORMATION
ON NO ACCOUNT ARE PATIENTS ALLOWED
TO DEPART THIS WARD UNLESS
ACCOMPANIED BY A MEMBER OF STAFF!
Well that put ME in my place!
However, I was able to walk freely after the procedure and had no issues after at all. I fancy that the relief in knowing I definitely DON'T have any infection and Boss also told me the bloods I had done were clear too. Fantastic!
So the next step is waiting for the date for the revision.